The Brooklyn Book Festival which just completed its sixth year was quite intense. Full of free panels with many scheduled at the same time and all taking place while there’s an actual book festival within Columbus Park it is a lot to take in.
Unlike Conventions such as New York Comic Con or Book Expo America, the book festival is only one day. While it claims a four day existence with many events designed to be part of the Expo beforehand, the major crux, the beautiful outdoor fest directly outside Borough Hall and star studded panels in the surrounding areas are relegated to one Sunday.
Since this entire fest is free and completely about fan service with its panels and helping smaller publishers who would normally not get noticed at the book store (which there are less and less of these days) by the average consumer, it is perfectly acceptable for one day.
Although for someone as me with such a broad expanse of book love, it really isn’t. I was able to successfully make it to four panels and see maybe 75% of the Festival in the time allotted.
I did enjoy those panels though and I got some great book info and even ended up making one singular purchase of a book on sale that was brand new and I couldn’t resist.
It’s called “The Recipe Book”, the newest project from music duo, One Ring Zero and the first publication of Black Baloon Publishing. It’s got recipes, food and music inspired essays and a CD. Josh Besh, Chris Cosentino, Tom Collichio, Mario Batali and more are involved. If I can think of more to say about it I will, but that’s all I got.
Unfortunately other than my photos during the Comics Quick Draw and a few photos of the beautiful church some of the panels took place in, there wasn’t much to capture visually. While author portraits would’ve been interesting, a press pass at this event doesn’t afford one anything special or extra. One would need to miss panels for specific author signings to get that photo and with time being a major issue here I couldn’t achieve that. Yet, I must share one of those windows from St. Ann and The Holy Trinity. They have an amazing history and should be seen purely from an artist standpoint, ignoring the religious concepts.
All in all I truly look forward to near year. The festival brings in some serious talent for their panels and the community and neighborhood make it a not miss event for anyone who loves or just even like books and reading.