The Brooklyn Book Festival represents the diversity of New York itself, with hundreds of authors from all backgrounds sharing stories via fiction, poetry, literary nonfiction, graphic novels, children’s books and beyond. The main event — taking over Brooklyn Borough Hall on Sept. 16 — can be overwhelming, so to help, here’s a look at new titles by five participating authors.
‘If They Come For Us’
By Fatimah Asghar
Some may know the writer from her Emmy-nominated web series “Brown Girls” (if not, sub a reading break for a streaming break), and Asghar continues to inspect the concept of identity, especially in the context of living in America as a Pakistani-Muslim woman, in her debut collection of poetry.
Find her at BKBF: “The Joy of Poetry”; Sept. 16 at 5 p.m., St. Francis College
‘The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel That Scandalized the World’
By Sarah Weinman
True crime fans and literary buffs alike (OK, we know there’s already a lot of overlap) will tear through Weinman’s nonfiction narrative telling the story of the missing girl who inspired Vladimir Nabokov’s novel “Lolita.”
Find her at BKBF: “Hidden Realities”; Sept. 16 at 3 p.m., Brooklyn Law School, room 401
‘Passing for Human’
By Liana Finck
The Brooklyn-based New Yorker cartoonist and doodling Instagrammer’s graphic memoir is a coming-of-age tale that reckons with not always being like everyone else. (Out Sept. 18)
Find her at BKBF: “Find Your Family”; Sept. 16 at noon, Brooklyn Historical Society Library
‘My Mother. Barack Obama. Donald Trump. And the Last Stand of the Angry White Man.’
By Kevin Powell
Tear yourself away from the cable news cycle for this new memoir by the Brooklyn-based activist and author. Powell’s latest — a collection of personal essays — ruminates on contemporary cultural and political issues in America, from #MeToo to mass shootings.
Find him at BKBF: “Checks and Balances of Presidential Powers”; Sept. 16 at 12:30 p.m., St. Ann & The Holy Trinity Church
‘Little Panic: Dispatches from an Anxious Life’
By Amanda Stern
Anxiety and stress may be inherent qualities in any New Yorker (or maybe they just push so many transplants to move here), but Brooklynite Stern takes a more lyrical, personal approach exploring her lifetime of anxiety in this new memoir.
Find her at BKBF: “Coming of Age in NYC”; Sept. 16 at 1 p.m., North Stage, Cadman Plaza East
