The Queens Book Festival, “A Borough Without Borders” will make its inaugural debut on Sunday, August 7, 2016. The festival plans to showcase more than 100 local and national writers at Kaufman Astoria Studios from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm. Admission is free and seat reservations are available through EventBrite.com.
At 5:00 pm, Gabrielle David, publisher of 2Leaf Press, will moderate the panel “A Look Inside the Publishing World,” which will explore technological advances in the publishing world and the many options that are available for indie writers and publishers. David’s co-panelists are Mitchell Davis, founder of BookSurge (sold to Amazon in 2008) and currently the founder and of BiblioBoard, a sustainable ecosystem for the creation and distribution of digital content to libraries; Kima Jones, founder of Jack Jones Literary Arts, a public relations firm; and Bani Amor, a queer nonbinary travel writer, editor, photographer and activist. Says David, “We hope to present an informative and progressive panel that will provide people information on how to take advantage of the digital revolution by publishing well-formed creative works.” The panel discussion promises to be both lively and informative.
The Queens Book Festival is a free daylong literary event celebrating the literary arts. Johanne Civil, the director of the festival says, “We have been working to create a festival that reflects the people in the borough and the cultural identities they embody. We have panels about the duplicity of identity that most people have in our borough.” (See more of the Huffington Post interview). The panel discussions scheduled throughout the day reflect a wide range of topics, such as speculative fiction science fiction and fantasy; censorship; Caribbean literature; exploring multicultural and multiracial identities; cooking and culinary arts; comics and teen trauma. About 10,000 people are expected to attend.
Civil and her team have spent several years bringing this festival to fruition. “The festival is for you,” she has said. “It’s for you to come and enjoy the magic that comes out of a book, it’s for you to come and connect with your favorite author or to discover a new one. It’s an event you can share with your family, friends and neighbors.”Check out Queens Book Festival website for more information.
KAUFMAN ASTORIA STUDIOS
34-12 36TH STREET
QUEENS, NY 11106
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