The sixth annual Brooklyn Book Festival kicks into high gear this Sunday, but early events are already putting literary types in a festive mood.
Last night, Jay McInerney’s reading from his upcoming new wine book at Brooklyn Winery and Bookforum’s party at the bookstore BookCourt celebrating its own Fall issue were two of six “bookends” at six different locales.
McInerney talked about his March 2012 release The Juice: Vinous Veritas, a collection of essays with Thomas Matthews, executive editor of the Wine Spectator. Introducing McInerney, Matthews said: “he talks, he writes, he drinks.”
McInerney said he had grown up in the suburbs with parents who did not regularly serve wine at home, noting that he had some of his fondest memories of drinking Mateus Rosé as a college student. He is now a columnist on wine for the Wall Street Journal in addition to being an acclaimed novelist. He warned listeners at Brooklyn Winery not to see the movie based on his most famous novel, Bright Lights, Big City, starring Michael J. Fox even though he wrote the screenplay for it.
This evening, there are additional Bookends, including a new edition of PEN American Center’s free ”Literary Pub Quiz,” during which readers can compete with or against various authors. It takes place at St. Ann’s Warehouse in DUMBO at 38 Water St. from 7 to 9 p.m.
Tonight at Boulevard Books & Café, 7518 13th Ave. in Dyker Heights, chef and author Jamie-Lynn of Jamie-Lynn’s Kitchen offers an appetizer cooking demonstration and tasting with wine. The price, $22 includes a signed copy of her book. Those who want to keep the evening going can migrate via shuttle service to Jamie-Lynn’s Kitchen for a pre-fixe dinner ($40) with a free glass of wine and a show by BrooklynONE Theater. RSVP at 718-680-5881.
There are a variety of far-flung bookends tomorrow (Saturday Sept. 17) including The New Black Aesthetic: Twenty Years Later, a discussion featuring Trey Ellis, whose 1989 essay spotlighted a new breed of black artists “unafraid of trading in unflattering images and borrowing as heavily from the dominant culture as their own.” What’s the situation now? Ellis talks about it at the Brooklyn Public Library’s main branch at Grand Army Plaza at 2 p.m.(Free)
The multi-ring circus of readings, discussions and performances that form the core of the Brooklyn Book Festival takes place near Borough Hall in downtown Brooklyn starting at 10 a.m. Sunday.
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