Brooklyn Book Festival Is Five! Sunday, September 12 - Parties and Events All Weekend!

200 Authors, 175 Vendors, 13 Venues, Expanded "Bookend" Events

Renowned Poet John Ashbery to receive annual Award

BROOKLYN, N.Y., Aug. 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Now in its fifth year, the Brooklyn Book Festival is one of the top book festivals in the country. With the extraordinary literary heritage, vibrant publishing community and international reading audience of Brooklyn and New York City as its backdrop, the Festival offers the best and brightest stars in contemporary literature. The hip, huge and free all-star literary lineup includes Salman Rushdie, Naomi Klein, Paul Auster, Venus Williams, Nelson George, Sarah Silverman, Gary Shteyngart, Mary Gaitskill, John Ashbery, Rosanne Cash, Paul Krugman, Colson Whitehead, Francine Prose, Dennis Lehane, Per Petterson, Esmeralda Santiago, Pete Hamill, Jennifer Egan, Russell Banks, Michael Connelly, John Hodgman, Kristen Schaal, Sam Lipsyte, Sloane Crosley, Maaza Mengiste, Paul Harding, Amy Goodman, Marlon James, Sarah MacLean, Jean Valentine, Elizabeth Nunez and many more, as well as children's and young adult lit stars like Rebecca Stead, Sara Shepard, Jacqueline Woodson, Jon Scieszka, Jenny Han, Nina Crews, Mac Barnett, Tad Hills, Chris Raschka, Michael Rex, Matthew Reinhart and Francisco X. Stork.

Locations include Brooklyn Borough Hall/Columbus Park, St. Francis College and the Brooklyn Historical Society. Brooklyn Book Festival is presented by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, the Brooklyn Literary Council and Brooklyn Tourism.

"As the creative epicenter of New York, Brooklyn is already home to many of the world's greatest writers, and now we've got a festival that gathers together the rest of the best from across the nation and around the world," said Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.

This year's expansion includes weekend-long "Bookend" events at the coolest venues in Brooklyn, including BAM, Bell House, Brooklyn Bridge Park, The Brooklyn Kitchen, Brooklyn Public Library, Debut Lit, Freebird Books & Goods, Greenlight Bookstore, Irondale Center, Light Industry, Littlefield, Mainspring Collective, PEN American Center, Pizza D'Amore, powerHouse, St. Ann's Warehouse, WORD and more!

The Brooklyn Book Festival "BoBi" award, given each year to an author whose body of work exemplifies or speaks to the spirit of Brooklyn, will go to the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet John Ashbery.

With a festival this hip, smart and diverse—Brooklyn is indeed Book-lyn!

Visit www.brooklynbookfestival.org or check out the official Facebook page

On Twitter, follow @BKBF

The Brooklyn Book Festival PressLift page is at http://brooklynbookfestival.presslift.com/brooklynbookfestival

SOURCE Brooklyn Book Festival