Soraya Palmer will be featured in a panel of debut authors called Who? New! during Festival Day at the Brooklyn Book Festival.

A passage from Palmer's book "The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts" reads, "It is a story that sounds like all the others, and yet is is also the one that is allowed for the existence for all that will come afterward." Palmer, a Brooklyn native, stayed close to home by writing about two sisters growing up in a Caribbean family in Flatbush.

“The big thing is that the family also tells a lot of stories and that the stories kind of come to life,” said Palmer, who grew up in Flatbush.


What You Need To Know

  • The Brooklyn Book Festival was founded as a one-day event in 2006. It's now a nine-day festival 

  • There are citywide "bookend" events underway at locations around the five boroughs 

  • Saturday, Sept. 30 is Children's Day, where kids can meet and create projects with their favorite authors 

  • Festival Day is Sunday, Oct. 1, with a literary marketplace and multiple stages with author talks 

Producer Liz Koch and Carolyn Greer co-founded the Brooklyn Book Festival 18 years ago while working in the Brooklyn borough president’s office.

“It’s grown from a one-day event to being nine days throughout the city,” Koch said.

The festival brings together more than 400 authors from around the world. It also features “bookend” events, both in-person and virtual, in all five boroughs at places like the Center For Fiction in Brooklyn. Brooklyn Commons in Downtown Brooklyn also hosts Children’s Day on Saturday.

Festival day in the Borough Hall area includes multiple stages, with author talks and a literary marketplace featuring hundreds of publishers and literary organizations.

“It’s representing the best in independent publishing from all over the country, and really, a place you can make a lot of new discoveries of books,” Koch said.

Palmer is looking forward to being at the festival as an author, after first attending as a fan.

“What I remember the first time I went, it was a sea of books, walking around, and there are so many tables everywhere and there is so much happening,” Palmer said.

For a full schedule of events, head to https://brooklynbookfestival.org/.