The Brooklyn Book Festival

I had a great time wandering around the Brooklyn Book Festival yesterday. I would have had an even better time if it had not been hellishly hot and humid. I do not sunburn easily, and I picked up my first real sunburn of 2008.

The talks were interesting, but I found it difficult, with the heat to sit in one place, in direct sunlight, for very long. Still, I did catch a sizable chunk of the conversation between Adrian Tomine and John Wray. I hadn't heard of Wray before, but am interested in reading some of his work after hearing him talk. I already knew that I liked Tomine's work. It was a great conversation, full of interesting information about international influences, particularly in comics.

My favorite part of the festival was all of the representation by small publishers. I found some interesting things and people over at the Verso Books table. They will soon be publishing a graphic novel biography of Che Guevara, written and drawn by Spain Rodriguez, and I got my hands on a copy. It's excellent, and I'm enjoying watching graphic novels expand in the direction of history and biography of historical figures.

On the subject of books as beautiful objects, I loved the booth for Chin Music Press, who describe themselves quite accurately as 'publishers of beautiful and engaging books and media.'

Both of these publishers, and a number of other groups, had information on upcoming readings and events, and I have to sort through them all, because I want to go to all of them and many occur at the same time in disparate parts of the city.

Also, in a bit of silliness, I wore this shirt. It clearly proved to be the right choice, and helped start a number of interesting conversations. If you're in the area next year, I highly recommend the Brooklyn Book Festival.