Mark your calendar for Brooklyn’s annual writing celebration

In his poem “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,” Walt Whitman captured the exhilaration of traversing the East River—“Cross from shore to shore, countless crowds of passengers! Stand up tall masts of Manahatta! Stand up beautiful hills of Brooklyn! Throb, baffled and curious brain! Throw out questions and answers!”

While the Brooklyn Ferry has now been replaced by the Brooklyn Bridge, the curious brain may still find reason to throb at the Brooklyn Book Festival this Sunday. Emphasizing Brooklyn’s position as the creative capital of America, Borough President Marty Markowitz declared, “It just makes sense that Brooklyn and our own ‘City Hall’—Borough Hall—will be at the epicenter of a festival chock full of writers of every stripe and the enthusiastic and curious reading audience that they draw.”

Over 220 writers will appear on ten stages during the daylong festival, in an event as large and diverse as the borough itself. According to Johnny Temple, the literary council chair of the festival, “The idea is to present a truly international book festival while also having a local taste. Brooklyn is one of the most diverse places on the planet and we use that to create frankly one of the best book festivals in the world.”

Brooklyn is a natural place for what Temple called “the hippest, smartest, most cutting-edge public book fair in New York City.” On top of its incredible diversity, the borough has a substantial literary community that has been growing in the past couple of decades. In the words of Markowitz, “Brooklyn is where trendsetting artists live and thrive.” Since its days as an independent city, Brooklyn has been a destination for writers and artists in search of a vibrant collaborative community, as well as cheaper rent. “The Brooklyn area code 11211 has the most writers per capita in the country,” said Temple. Today, authors such as Jonathan Lethem, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Colson Whitehead all call Brooklyn home.

The festival was created in 2006 as a joint effort by many Brooklyn literary enthusiasts, including Temple and Markowitz. The growth of the festival in the few years it has been around only attests to the vivacity of Brooklyn’s artistic climate. “The Brooklyn Book Festival has experienced explosive growth since we started it in 2006, and it has expanded to become a major annual literary destination that draws people from all over the world,” Markowitz explained. And not only bibliophiles will enjoy the festival, giants of film such as Melvin Van Peebles and musicians like Lupe Fiasco will also be featured speakers.

The events are free, they start at 10 a.m. and run until 6 p.m. Topics ranging from “Satire and Comic Relief in 2009” (Borough Hall Courtroom, 2 p.m.) to “Feeding Love in NYC” (North Stage, 1 p.m.) will be discussed by some of the most prominent names in literature, film, theory, and criticism. “Really there’s an event for everyone, whether you’re five or 85,” said Temple.

For more information and a complete schedule of events, visit brooklynbookfestival.org. Check Spectator and A&E’s blog, Spectacle, on Monday for dispatches from the festival.