![\"briana-parker-of-lofty-pigeon-books-provided-books-for-author-signings-_-photo-supplied-by_-ava-sharahy\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/briana-parker-of-lofty-pigeon-books-provided-books-for-author-signings-_-photo-supplied-by_-ava-shar.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nWhile Nor\u2019easter brought heavy rain and high winds, the Brooklyn Book Festival brought panels and space for literature.<\/p>\n
With warnings of a nor\u2019easter, the Brooklyn Book Festival had to make last-minute pivots so that the event could continue. Despite the storm’s threat to attendance, turnout proved the festival\u2019s success.<\/p>\n
Briana Parker, co-owner of Kensington independent bookstore, The Lofty Pigeon, was emailed about the changes earlier in the week, along with the other panelists and vendors.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Panels, vendors and author signings moved indoors to various institutions near Borough Hall, from the Brooklyn Heights Library to Brooklyn Law School to St. Ann & the Holy Trinity. While foot traffic was lower than in previous years, certain panels received a full house.<\/p>\n
The panels featured a variety of topics and speakers, from queer literary fiction (notably hosting author Marlon James, who spoke about his Booker Prize-nominated novel \u201cThe Disappearers\u201d), to horror poetry on the transgender experience, to a literary magazine centered on nature, Orion Magazine.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just a testament to how important literature is, to how people are still showing up, and how everyone\u2019s still willing to gather,\u201d said Rachel Fulkerson, the development director at Orion Magazine.<\/p>\n
After receiving the email about the panels moving indoors, the team at Orion pivoted from selling items like magazine issues and tote bags to giving them away and focusing on networking with those who were present.<\/p>\n
But despite the flexibility, the fully canceled outdoor marketplace event was a major reason they traveled from Massachusetts to Brooklyn for the festival.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor us, it was really more than the loss of the revenue that it might have brought in,\u201d Fulkerson said. \u201cIt was more just the opportunity to actually communicate and engage with folks. We felt like it was a really important thing to invest in, to meet people in Brooklyn face-to-face.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, while the panelists and certain vendors were indoors, the festival was unable to accommodate individual writers and small presses with outdoor booths. One of these writers was professor Joni Schwartz-Chaney, who teaches the humanities at LaGuardia Community College and John Jay College.<\/p>\n
Schwartz-Chaney\u2019s book, \u201cHealing Our Collective Wound: Racial Literacy and the Church,\u201d explores racial wounding in the church and how critical race theory can provide a framework for examining it.<\/p>\n
She expressed disappointment at losing out on networking and celebrating with other authors.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be presenting my own work at various Brooklyn bookstores,\u201d Schwartz-Chaney said, adding that she plans on contacting the festival organizers about participating in a larger role next year. \u201cBut this was different, because it was massive, and involves so many people and so many opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although the festival was unable to house the outdoor vendors, attendees like Leslie Kerby, a Boerum Hill resident who has been attending the festival since its founding in 2006, still saw the effort the festival made adjusting its original plans.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s obvious they\u2019re trying to accommodate everything,\u201d Kerby said. \u201cI don\u2019t think this is holding back from people trying to see what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Brooklyn literary community is really dedicated. People really travel to come to this,\u201d Parker said. \u201cSo they\u2019re coming, rain or shine.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While Nor\u2019easter brought heavy rain and high winds, the Brooklyn Book Festival brought panels and space for literature.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-359675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}