The Brooklyn Book Festival has revealed its 2026 author lineup.
Amitav Ghosh, whose novels include The Shadow Lines, The Glass Palace, and Ghost-Eye, has been named the festival’s “Best of Brooklyn” honoree and will be honored at a ceremony; previous winners of the award include Edwidge Danticat, James McBride, Colson Whitehead, and Roz Chast.
The festival will kick off on Sept. 20 with the online Virtual Festival Day, which will feature authors including Maggie Haberman (Regime Change), Djaimilia Pereira de Almeida (Three Stories of Forgetting), and Chloe Benjamin (Under Story).
The festival’s flagship event, Festival Day, will be held in downtown Brooklyn on Sept. 27, with participating authors that include Joyce Carol Oates (Fox), Marlon James (The Disappearers), Douglas Stuart (John of John), Whitehead (Cool Machine), and Tracy K. Smith (Fear Less).
Children’s Day, scheduled for Sept. 26, brings a lineup of writers and illustrators including R. J. Palacio (The Haunted Playground), Mahogany L. Browne (A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe), Bess Kalb (Buffalo Fluffalo), Jorge Aguirre (Monster Locker), and Adam Gidwitz (Max in the Land of Lies).
Liz Koch, the festival’s producer, said in a statement, “For us, authors are the undisputed heroes of our culture. We are thrilled to present hundreds of authors in discussions about timely and relevant topics at the Festival, whether through fiction, poetry, children’s books, graphic novels, or deeply researched journalism.”
A full list of participating authors and illustrators is available on the festival’s website.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
