On Saturday, September 16, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and the Brooklyn Literary Council will present the first-ever Brooklyn Book Festival at Borough Hall, celebrating the borough’s growing reputation as a hip, multiethnic literary enclave, and attracting new audiences to enjoy Brooklyn’s historic and contemporary literary culture. The event begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 6 p.m.

The festival will feature three outdoor stages in Borough Hall Plaza as well as two “reading rooms” inside historic Borough Hall, with appearances and readings by authors including Jonathan Lethem, Colson Whitehead, Jhumpa Lahiri, Pete Hamill, Phillip Lopate, Leonard Lopate, Jaime Manrique, Eileen Myles, Rick Moody, Philip Levine, Jennifer Egan, Mo Willems, Liz Holtzman, Katha Pollitt, Laura Flanders, Robert Sullivan, Edmund White, Gary Shteyngart, Kenji Jasper, Jonathan Ames, Myla Goldberg, Nelly Rosario, Carl Hancock Rux, Paula Fox, Steve Hindy, and Asha Bandele.

A complete schedule of events and list of authors is available at www.brooklynbookfestival.org.

Programming will also include a pavilion for children’s authors and young writers, panels and readings on Brooklyn food, politics, historical fiction, and books on film, poetry readings, a Gleason’s Gym women’s boxing exhibition, presentations by the Brooklyn Philharmonic and Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and nearly 100 exhibitors, including local and national bookstores, publishers, literary organizations, and more.

The Festival Mingle, an evening launch party under the stars tonight, Friday, September 15, from 6 to 8 p.m., at the Tobacco Warehouse in Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park, will add to the event’s buzz, with authors, booksellers, publishers, business leaders, and elected officials in attendance.

To obtain a press badge, arrange interviews, or attend the Festival Mingle, please contact Eric Demby at 718-802-3836 or edemby@brooklynbp.nyc.gov.