The Brooklyn Book Festival (BKBF), scheduled to run this year from September 14–22, has in many ways outgrown its own name.

Now in its 20th year, the annual gathering of authors and readers to celebrate the literary arts in all their forms has grown from a one-borough show into a city-wide event. What began as a “small, one-day festival in downtown Brooklyn,” in the words of festival cofounder and producer Liz Koch, now spans all five boroughs of New York City.

For nine days, panels, workshops, and readings take over every corner of the city as a part of the Bookends arm of the festival, while Children’s Day, slated this year for September 20, caters to the city’s youngest residents with a slew of bookish activities. And on Virtual Festival Day—a Covid-era invention that will take place this year on September 14—BKBF broadcasts its free-of-charge offerings to viewers from around the globe. Considering its vast reach, the BKBF website offers a tongue-in-cheek explanation for why the event’s original name has stuck: “as we all know, Brooklyn is the world.”

There are sincerer reasons, too. The BKBF was “literally born in Brooklyn Borough Hall,” Koch said, explaining that then-borough president Martin Markowitz “felt that Brooklyn should have its own festival because so many authors lived here, and it was the bedroom community for so many people working in the publishing industry.” Simultaneously, Akashic Books publisher and Brooklynite Johnny Temple made his own proposal for a local lit fest to Markowitz. Markowitz went to Koch, his arts advisor at the time, and his special events director Carolyn Greer, and they assembled a group of writers, editors, and other publishing professionals to draft an initial plan for the festival.

Thus was born BKBF’s “literary council,” a rotating group of 20 to 25 people that has been the key to the festival’s success, Koch said. “It’s so hard for any one person to reflect Brooklyn, and the literary council allowed us to have a wide diversity of voices giving input to what the festival should look like,” she explained. BKBF also partners with other literary organizations, such as the National Book Foundation, the Poetry Society of America, and the Whiting Foundation, “because we want this to be everybody’s celebration,” Koch added.

The Festival Day & Literary Marketplace, arguably the centerpiece of the festival and its most well-known event, still hasn’t strayed far from the backyard of Borough Hall. Set to take place this year on Sunday, September 21, the Marketplace has tripled in size since its inception, according to Koch, and now convenes over 250 publishers selling books, magazines, and other merchandise to thousands of enthusiastic festival-goers, in addition to eight stages showcasing readings, panels, and other author events.

Koch explained the importance of the Marketplace as a venue for indie presses, specifically, to grow their readership. “You’re not necessarily going to walk into Barnes & Noble and see a lot of these [publishers],” Koch said. “What we hear from them is they’re just so thrilled about how responsive the audience is here to their work.”

But this year’s BKBF, Koch noted, is special for more than just the anniversary. “I’m not sure in recent history we’ve had such a moment when books have been under attack,” she said.

For the Festival Day, the literary council paid special care to curate events with nonfiction authors who could speak to the political moment, Koch said. For example, first thing Sunday morning, Clay Risen (Red Scare), Anne Applebaum (Autocracy, Inc.) and Elie Mystal (Bad Law) will discuss how “our rights, norms, laws, and institutions have always been more vulnerable than we recognize or care to admit,” per the BKBF website. Later, Cory Doctorow (Enshittification) will have a conversation with Adam Becker (More Everything Forever) about “Big Tech’s Big Heist.”

Koch said the hope with these, and other similar events, is to “delve deeply” into these timely topics and capitalize on the rare opportunity to expose a large audience to perspectives that go beyond “just the soundbites of what you hear on the news.”

Arguably, the very persistence of BKBF into its second decade carries a symbolic power. Like many literary organizations, the NEA withdrew its funding of the BKBF earlier this year. The BKBF gets foundation, corporate, and city funding, and is working on building its individual donor base, Koch said, but the loss of its NEA grant was still a big blow.

“Making sure that BKBF continues to thrive for the next 20 years is kind of a management goal for me,” Koch said, adding that she aims “to really make sure that nobody has to wake up one day, as they did with New York Book Country,” and see that it “just disappeared.”

“We certainly don’t intend to disappear,” she continued. “We really intend to continue to go well beyond surviving and to thrive in New York City.”