The Brooklyn Book Festival unveiled its initial 2023 lineup, with scores of authors scheduled to come to the borough for the annual celebration of literature.
Author Hilton Als (White Girls, My Pinup) will be honored with the festival’s Best of Brooklyn Award. The prize, given annually to “an author from Brooklyn and whose work best exemplifies or speaks to the spirit of Brooklyn,” has previously gone to writers including Jonathan Lethem, N.K. Jemisin, and Mo Willems.
The lineup for Festival Day, which will be held on Oct. 1, includes dozens of authors with recent releases, including Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (Chain-Gang All-Stars), Gina Chung (Sea Change), Colson Whitehead (Crook Manifesto), S.A. Cosby (All the Sinners Bleed), and Henry Hoke (Open Throat).
Samantha Irby (Quietly Hostile), Ruth Madievsky (All-Night Pharmacy), and Selby Wynn Schwartz (After Sappho) are among the authors scheduled to appear on Sept. 24 for Virtual Festival Day, while the lineup for Children’s Day (Sept. 30) includes writers such as Emma Straub (Very Good Hats), Nikki Grimes (Garvey in the Dark), and Doug Salati (Hot Dog).
This year’s festival runs from Sept. 24 to Oct. 2 and will take place at a number of venues including Borough Hall and Brooklyn Commons in MetroTech. Admission is free. The full initial lineup is available at the Brooklyn Book Festival website.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
