Celebrating the Brooklyn Book Festival’s 20th Birthday & #YeahYouWrite’s 10th!

The Reading & the Room & the Sidewalk!

Robin and Lisa created a chalk mural outside Someday to celebrate the Brooklyn Book Festival’s 20th Birthday and #YeahYouWrite’s 10th Birthday, and to celebrate our authors. We loved how people in the community came to watch us draw, stepped carefully around our images, and especially walked right over them—that’s just what we wanted: for the drawings to be a part of Someday’s Brooklyn neighborhood!

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Lauren Morrow, Moon Unit Zappa, & Princess Joy L. Perry

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Just a few details before we begin…

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#LiteraryCocktails
by Megan Rickerson

Paquesen for Princess Joy L. Perry & This Here Is Love ~ with a vocal performance by Hjordys Perez Matos, singing a slave song from Princess’s book. We presented Princess with a cornhusk doll and a slice of 30-day Friendship cake, wrapped in a handkerchief.
Revival for Lauren Morrow & Little Movements ~ with a dance performance by Rivkins Christopher of the Syren Dance Company, cast by the wonderful Vivienne James. (See their bios at the bottom of this post.) We presented Lauren with a poster for the performance presented at BAM…in her novel.
Forgiveness for Moon Unit Zappa & Earth to Moon: a Memoir ~ with another vocal performance by Hjordys Perez Matos, who sang “Paper Moon” with new lyrics just for Moon, including some choice “Valley Girl” exclamations.
Many thanks to sound engineer Daniel Smith for coordinating the music!

* Eendraght Maeckt Maght is the motto of Brooklyn, NY, from the Dutch. It means, “In unity, there is strength.” In honor of the Brooklyn Book Festival, Someday Bar-owner and mixologist Megan Rickerson designed a cocktail by the same name, using local ingredients. Thanks, Megan!

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Lauren reads the recipe for Revival

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Open Mic Readers:

Ben WW: Raised between New Jersey, Idaho, New Orleans, and Brooklyn – Ben WW studies the forging of whiteness in 17th century Virginia – and is working on a mosaic, fictional telling of Bacon’s Rebellion.

Favorite Brooklyn Authors Nikole Hannah-Jones and Shawn Carter

Brooklyn Trivia The oldest building in the state of New York can be found in East Flatbush, and is home to an active farm – where young people can apprentice in cultivating fresh vegetables and herbs. (Wyckoff House, built 1652)

Amy Grech has sold over 100 short stories to various anthologies and magazines. Alien Buddha Press published her poetry chapbook, A Shadow of Your Former Self. You can find her on her website crimsonscreams.com

Favorite Brooklyn Author Jonathan Lethem

Brooklyn Trivia After “usurping'” land from the Canarsee tribe, John Vanderbilt owned the land which became Windsor Terrace during the 17th century.

Ceilidh Michelle is from Nova Scotia and is the author of the novel Butterflies Zebras Moonbeams and the memoir Vagabond: Venice Beach, Slab City and Points In Between.

Favorite Brooklyn Author Jennifer Egan!

Favorite Place to read or write in Brooklyn The Brooklyn Botanical Gardens

Brooklyn Trivia Love, Brooklyn is an awesome Brooklyn film. Not sure if this is trivia but it’s true!

Pritha RaySircar is a writer, social practice artist and urbanist, a candidate for an MFA in creative nonfiction at NYU, and an Aspen Fellow.

Favorite Brooklyn Author Hala Alyan!

Favorite place to read / write in Brooklyn B69 bus / her apartment

Brooklyn Trivia Credit cards were invented in Brooklyn. The very first credit card was issued in 1946 by John Biggins of Flatbush National Bank.

Zooriel Tan is a writer, screenwriter, and playwright based in New York City and Los Angeles, and a graduate of Dartmouth College. She tackles themes of culture and queerness in her writing, and is currently developing her new bilingual musical.

Favorite Brooklyn Author Walt Whitman

Favorite place to read / write in Brooklyn on the Q train!

Brooklyn Trivia Since Zooriel just moved to Brooklyn ten days before our event and is still exploring, she has no Brooklyn trivia as yet! We gave her a pass. 🙂