I had the great good fortune of going with a coworker (Hey, Kathleen) to the Brooklyn Book Festival on September 12. The biggest dilemma of the festival for us was figuring out how best to maximize our total book festival experience. Every hour on the hour, between 10:00 AM and 5:00 PM, there were no fewer than 10 separate programs to choose from, forcing us to make seemingly impossible choices between the likes of Paul Krugman and Francine Prose (we chose Krugman), Michael Connelly and Paul Auster (we chose Connelly) and Sarah Silverman and Pete Hamill (we chose Silverman), which, if nothing else, made for an extremely eclectic BBF experience.
In keeping with my commitment to becoming a more informed participant on Dead Guy, I made a point of attending "Poetry of the Gumshoe," a program which included readings by the mystery writers Gabriel Cohen, Michael Connelly, and Paco Ignacio Taibo II. The venue for this particular panel discussion happened to be the especially appropriate and totally spectacular courtroom of Brooklyn Borough Hall. Cohen and Connelly each did a reading from their most recent books while Taibo chose to share with the audience the strange circumstances surrounding a commission he received to co-write a novel according to a very circumscribed set of rules.
During the question and answer period that followed, each author addressed the issue of mystery novels as literature. Noting Western culture's fear of death, Cohen explained that the mystery genre was a vehicle for him to explore "deep and interesting" issues rather than just a means of providing "fluffy entertainment." Connelly noted that his goal was to write mysteries with a social message. Taibo stated that he was drawn to mystery fiction as a way to "create atmospheres and build cities," also pointing out that mysteries "provide an impression of how society works" and that crime is what results when there is a breakdown of society.
There was also some interesting back and forth between Connelly and Cohen regarding the relative merits of having a recurring character who, over the course of a series, can give the writer more freedom to focus on the story line (Connelly) versus the desire to treat each novel as a distinct story with its own settings and characters (Cohen).
I am a huge fan of the HBO series The Wire (I consider it the best TV program ever) but, since I have never thought of it as belonging to the mystery genre, I was surprised when a member of the audience asked the members of the panel to share their opinions regarding its success. Taibo, also a huge fan, said that one reason for its artistic excellence was the fact that the story arc of The Wire was spread over five seasons which allowed the writers sufficient time and space to explore many different issues, giving the series the breadth and feel of a novel.
Additional Observations regarding The Brooklyn Book Festival
1. The audience for "Poetry of the Gumshoe" skewed toward middle age while "Exposing a Difficult Past," a presentation by a panel of memoir writers, appeared to be attended mostly by people in their twenties. Can we infer from this that a disproportionately large number of young folk are chomping at the bit to write about the dysfunction that was inherent in growing up during the 80's and 90's?
2. The Brooklyn Book Festival is much more enjoyable when it is not raining with a an accompanying cold breeze. However, had the weather been better, the size of the crowd would probably have been such that I would not have been able to get in to attend any of the programs.
3. Listening to Paul Krugman and Robin Wells talk about the current economic crisis was extraordinarily depressing.
4. The food vendors at BBF were not really fast food but it was food definitely worth waiting for, especially the pupusas ( stuffed corn tortillas served with cabbage and sour cream on the side) and ginger flavored ice cream.
5. Sarah Silverman is really smart and very funny. Dave Rakoff, Sarah's co-panelist, is also smart and funny.
6. A stroll by the many vendor tables offered a chance to chat with people from small publishing houses and on-line publishers who are passionate about what they do and who are creatively exploring ways to get the work of talented writers into the hands of readers.
7. Brooklyn Book Festival was simultaneously exhilarating (all those great authors I got to hear speak) and depressing (all those great authors I did not get to hear speak.)
