this week in literature

DUMBO ARTS FESTIVAL

Sean Boggs’s “Blue Monster” is among the many multimedia projects at this year’s DUMBO Arts Festival

Multiple venues in DUMBO
September 23-25, free
www.dumboartsfestival.com

The fifteenth annual DUMBO Arts Festival begins today, kicking off a weekend of live performances, art exhibitions, site-specific projections and installations, and just about anything else you can think of inside and outside of the thriving neighborhood Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. Such locations as St. Ann’s Warehouse, Tobacco Warehouse, Smack Mellon, Superfine, and Brooklyn Bridge Park will host Tajna Tanovic, the Great Small Works Procession, the Jack Grace Band, a panel discussion on immersive surfaces, the White Wave Dance Company, the “Runaway Cape-Cart,” Janet Biggs’s “Wet Exit” multimedia presentation on the East River, “Kafkaesque Hammock,” the “Samsara” scroll, arm wrestling, a Mobile Tea Garden, “The Dumpster Project,” a series of virtual pavilions, Sean Boggs’s “Blue Monster,” the Fisher Ensemble’s Kocho, a steel cage Battle Royal, “Foop,” Carl Skelton and Luke DuBois’s interactive “Sweet Stream Love’s River,” readings by Sapphire and Samantha Thornhill, Bubby’s Pie Social, the newly moved and reopened Jane’s Carousel, and art projects just about everywhere you look, in stores, on street corners, in lobbies, and up in the sky.

CELEBRATE MEXICO NOW

Botellita de Jerez will rock out at SOB’s as part of annual celebration of Mexican art and culture

Multiple venues
September 21 – October 1
www.mexiconowfestival.org

The eighth annual Celebrate México Now festival celebrating Mexican culture begins tonight with the free panel discussion “México se escribe con J: A Celebration of Gay Culture in Mexico” at NYU’s King Juan Carlos 1 of Spain Center, with Nayar Rivera, Michael Schuessler, Alejandro Varderi, and Earl Dax talking about “The Famous 41” and other issues of sexual orientation in Mexico, and continues through October 1 with dance, music, theater, art, films, food, and parties. Anthology Film Archives will screen “Gen Mex: Recent Films from México,” the Queens Museum of Art will host the Trajinera Xochitl Project and the multimedia theatrical presentation “Hecho en Mexico: Estreno Nacional,” Mexican electronica band Sweet Electra will play the Church of All Nations, chef Daniel Ovadía will prepare special dishes for the panel demonstration “History and Traditions of Mexican Gastronomy” (yes, the audience will get to sample his food), Botellita de Jerez will rock out at SOB’s, the collective Rey Trueno will perform the multimedia Radio Soap Opera at the Bowery Poetry Club, and the folkloric Pasatono Orchestra will play a free show at the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center and a ticketed show at Casa Mezcal.

BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL 2011

Jhumpa Lahiri will receive the BoBi (Best of Brooklyn) Award at this year’s Brooklyn Book Festival

Multiple venues in Brooklyn
Sunday, September 18, free, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
www.brooklynbookfestival.org

Three’s just something about Brooklyn that both raises many of the world’s best writers and lures them to the Borough of Kings to do their most insightful writing. On Sunday, more than 250 writers will come together for the sixth annual Brooklyn Book Festival, with panel discussions, signings, lectures, workshops, live performances, and other events taking place at Borough Hall, Columbus Park, St. Francis College, St. Ann’s Church, and the Brooklyn Historical Society. This year’s BoBi (Best of Brooklyn) Award goes to Jhumpa Lahiri, who will be at St. Ann’s at 2:00 to speak with Liesl Schillinger. Everything is free, although some of the events require advance ticketing available one hour before program time. Below are our top ten recommendations; other participants include Colson Whitehead, John Sayles, Lawrence Block, Susan Isaacs, Madison Smartt Bell, Edmund White, Alina Simone, DJ Spooky, Pete Hamill, Russell Banks, Nicole Krauss, Larry McMurtry, Jennifer Egan, Tom Perrotta, Cory Doctorow, Dean Haspiel, J Hoberman, Phillip Lopate, Nick Bertozzi, Rita Williams-Garcia, and many more.

Laugh Your Head Off: Teen beauty pageant contestant Mad Libs! with Jon Scieszka, Libba Bray, Paul Acampora, and Tommy Greenwald, moderated by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, Youth Stoop, Borough Hall Plaza / Columbus Park, 10:00 am

The Phantom Tollbooth at 50: Norton Juster and Jules Feiffer in conversation with Leonard Marcus, St. Francis Auditorium, 180 Remsen St., tickets required, 12 noon

Epic Confusion: Readings and discussion with Nadia Kalman, Chuck Klosterman, and Sam Lipsyte, moderated by Tiphanie Yanique, St. Francis McArdle Hall, 180 Remsen St., 12 noon

Words of Personal: Readings by Jonathan Safran Foer, Joyce Carol Oates, and Nina Revoyr, followed by a Q&A moderated by Brigid Hughes, St. Francis Auditorium, 180 Remsen St., tickets required, 2:00

Gumshoes: Eoin Colfer and Walter Mosley, moderated by David L, Ulin, St. Ann and the Holy Trinity Church, 157 Montague St., 3:00

Making Difficult Choices: Panel discussion with Cory Doctorow, Jacqueline Woodson, and Gayle Forman, moderated by Caragh O’Brien, Youth Stoop, Borough Hall Plaza / Columbus Park, 3:00

Comics Writ Large and Small: Panel discussion with Craig Thompson, Anders Nilsen, and Adrian Tomine, moderated by Meg Lemke, St. Francis Auditorium, 180 Remsen St., tickets required, 3:00

CATCH-22 at 50: Examining the classic novel with Tracy Daugherty, Bruce Jay Friedman, and Troupe, North Stage, Borough Hall Plaza / Columbus Park, 3:00

Where Are We? Panel discussion with Deborah Eisenberg, Fran Lebowitz, and Wallace Shawn, moderated by Harold Augenbraum, St. Ann and the Holy Trinity Church, 157 Montague St., 4:00

Kickstarter Conversations: A Symposium on Creative Ideas with Ted Rall, Nelson George, and Meaghan O’Connell, moderated by Yancey Strickler, North Stage, Borough Hall Plaza / Columbus Park, 4:00

CRAIG THOMPSON: HABIBI

Multiple venues
September 17-20, free – $40
www.dootdootgarden.com
www.habibibook.com

Born in Traverse City, Michigan, and based in Portland, Oregon, graphic novelist Craig Thompson redefined the genre with his 2003 smash, Blankets, which won the prestigious Eisner, Harvey, and Ignatz awards and is on nearly all lists of the greatest graphic novels ever. He has followed that massive tome with a new massive tome, Habibi (Pantheon, September 20, 2011, $35). Habibi is a gorgeously designed tour de force for Thompson, who tells the epic love story of a pair of child slave refugees seeking their place in a complex, changing world. The tale unfolds amid spectacularly detailed panels and spreads that include filigreed borders, Middle Eastern motifs, Islamic writing, and glorious illustration depicting exciting action, intimate moments, and the spiritual search for identity. Thompson will be making several appearances in New York over the next few days, beginning with tonight’s “An Evening with Craig Thompson” at Greenpoint’s WORD bookstore ($40, 8:00), a meet-and-greet bookend event of the Brooklyn Book Festival. He’ll be participating in two discussions at the festival on Sunday afternoon, “The Heart of the Matter: Stories of Epic Love” with Alan Cheuse and Julie Orringer, moderated by Jeffrey Lependorf, at 12 noon at the St. Francis Volpe Library, and the can’t-miss all-star panel “Comics Writ Large and Small” at 3:00 at St. Francis Auditorium with Anders Nilsen and Adrian Tomine, moderated by Meg Lemke (free tickets required). On Tuesday, September 20, he’ll be at Midtown Comics Downtown on Fulton St. for a signing from 12 noon to 2:00, followed that night at 7:00 by a signing and Q&A with Bill Kartalopoulos in the Strand’s Rare Book Room.

RIGHT NOW! (A WeDaPeoples Cabaret)

Nona Hendryx, Nelson George, and Citizen Reno team up for a night of music, comedy, poetry, and social commentary at the Harlem Stage Gatehouse

Harlem Stage Gatehouse
150 Convent Ave. at West 136th St,
Saturday, September 17, $45, 7:30
212-281-9240
www.harlemstage.org

Writer, director, and cultural critic Carl Hancock Rux has brought together three uniquely talented individuals for Right Now!, a WeDaPeoples Cabaret taking place September 17 at the Harlem Stage Gatehouse. Funk/rock/soul/R&B legend Nona Hendryx, comedian Citizen Reno, and award-winning writer and filmmaker Nelson George will come together to examine social and individual identity in our highly politicized and increasingly fragmented world. Trenton’s Hendryx will feature songs from her brand-new, politically charged Mutadis, Mutandis album (her first full-length record in nearly twenty years), Brooklyn’s George will honor the life and career of poet-activist Gil Scott-Heron (including introducing a short film by Rux about the recently deceased Heron), and New York City native Reno will look at the events of 9/11 and their aftermath as only she can.

MICHAEL BUCKLEY: NERDS 3 BOOK LAUNCH

BookCourt
163 Court St. between Dean & Pacific Sts.
Saturday, September 10, free, 6:00 – 8:00
718-875-3677
www.bookcourt.org
www.abramsbooks.com/nerds

Nerds! No, it’s not another Revenge of the Nerds movie. Instead, it’s the third book in Michael Buckley’s NERDS children’s book series, The Cheerleaders of Doom (Abrams, September 1, 2011, $14.95). Buckley, who hit the New York Times bestseller list with his wildly popular Sisters Grimm series, is back on the list with NERDS, which began with National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society and continued with M Is for Mama’s Boy. Dedicated to “dorks, dweebs, geeks, spazzes, waste cases, and nerds everywhere [because] someday you too will change the world,” the series features such wild characters as Flinch, Choppers, Gluestick, Pufferfish, Wheezer, and Braceface and is illustrated by Ethen Beavers. Buckley, an effervescent fellow who has also written and developed animated shows for the Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, MTV, and other outlets, will be at BookCourt tonight for the official launch of The Cheerleaders of Doom, discussing the project and signing copies. Buckley’s whirlwind U.S. tour will also take him to such local spots as Clinton, New Jersey, on September 23, Huntington Station, Long Island, on October 14, Cherry Hill, New Jersey, on October 20, and Rhinebeck, New York, on October 23.

LIVE AT BARNES & NOBLE: MOBY

Harlem native Moby will be at the Union Square B&N for a talk, signing, and acoustic performance on September 7

Union Square B&N
33 East 17th St.
Wednesday, September 7, free, 7:00
212-253-0810
www.moby.com
www.barnesandnoble.com

Born on September 11, 1965, in Harlem, Richard Hall, better known as Moby, has been making cutting-edge electronic music since the early 1980s. He is currently on the road supporting his latest project, Destroyed, a CD (Mute, May 2011) and photography book (Damiani, May 2011) that takes a long, hard look at the loneliness of life on the road. Moby, who played this weekend at the Electric Zoo Festival on Randall’s Island, will be at the Union Square B&N on September 7 at 7:00 for a talk with Oscar-nominated, Emmy-winning director Lucy Walker, a signing, and a live acoustic performance; please note that he will only sign copies of Destroyed, nothing else, and people who purchase the book and/or CD will be given priority seating.