This year, the Women’s National Book Association’s booth was located at the northern end of the Brooklyn Book Festival, nestled under trees just beginning to shed their leaves onto the sidewalk. The sunny day, unusually warm for a Brooklyn September, drew a large crowd of book lovers to meander through the park, past the Emma Straub signing at the Books Are Magic booth, past the authors reading at the North Stage, and past the trucks selling coffee, ice cream, and remaindered books. Many of these book lovers curiously stopped by the WNBA booth to learn more about the organization and National Reading Group Month. They were drawn in by the array of books, the enthusiastic volunteers, and, of course, the candy.
As always, our joint WNBA-NYC and NRGM booth displayed many of the books chosen for this year’s Great Group Reads initiative. We also had postcards with the list of our chapter’s upcoming Fall events, bookmarks with information about the history of the WNBA, and free copies of a Reading Group Choices booklet. Those who stopped by ranged from readers to writers to publishers, from masters students writing about literacy programs, to members of other literary organizations. As always, it was an excellent opportunity for new members to meet longtime members, and for each of us to solidify our understanding of what it means to be an active participant in this vibrant NYC literary community.
Thoughts From the Volunteers
Our group of volunteers, many of whom attend every year, were happy to spread the word about our organization. Sheila Lewis, the WNBA-NYC Co-Recording Secretary, remarked, “Every year the changes in publishing really stand out and are evident at the Brooklyn Book Festival. This year, people want to know about what we offer to build a book community, and they’re excited about our events. I love walking around and also volunteering — for the last 4 to 5 years now.” The festival, a home for small presses, independent book sellers, and local writers, celebrates those changes in publishing Sheila spoke of, but also Brooklyn’s longstanding commitment to support local talent and businesses.
The booth was run by Rachel Slaiman, WNBA-NYC Co-Recording Secretary, and Lei Zhong, WNBA-NYC Membership Chair. As the Brooklyn Book Festival Co-Chairs for the past three years, this incredible duo set up, maintained, and ran a beautiful booth that ultimately helped us spread our message and achieve our goal of connecting, educating, advocating, and leading here in our own neighborhood. As they said, “We have more and more traffic every year, and some people have heard about us through media outlets. [We met] a great mixed bag of authors, readers, writers, and editors.”
For those of us who worked at the booth, we can only hope that those who stopped by will take away not just a bookmark, but a wonderful idea for their next book club selection, a renewed sense of community, and the inspiration to support women’s voices in the book world at large.
Upcoming NRGM Events
If anyone is still looking for some great book club reads, our upcoming National Reading Group Panel: Art of Writing Non-fiction is a great place to find some. We’ll have three non-fiction authors there to discuss their books and the nuances of writing non-fiction. Not only might you find a great read for your next book club meeting, but you might also walk away with some inside information from the authors that will leave your fellow book-clubbers impressed!
Hope you enjoyed this Brooklyn Book Festival recap!
Hannah Bennett is the acquisitions editor at Start Publishing and the immediate past president of the Women’s National Book Association, NYC. You can follow her on Twitter @helizbennett.
