Books + Jane = Brooklyn Book Festival

Literature lovers flocked to Brooklyn on Sunday, September 17 for the annual Brooklyn Book Festival, and JASNA-NY was in the thick of it—“talking Jane” and introducing festival attendees to the fun of JASNA.

The Brooklyn Book Fair is one of America’s premier book festivals and the largest free literary event in New York City. In addition to hundreds of literary societies, publishers, and vendors who lined the plaza in front of Brooklyn Borough Hall, dozens of talks and panel discussions took place.

A team of volunteers, organized by programming chair Monica Alvarez, staffed the JASNA-NY table, sold Austen novels and ephemera, and helped raise awareness about the group. Broadway leading man and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” star Raúl Esparza even stopped by the table. (He’s read Pride and Prejudice, he told the excited volunteers.)

JASNA-NY wishes to express their sincere thanks to the various members who volunteered their time and energy to help out at the Brooklyn Book Festival, including Kerri Spenicchia, Mary Phillips, Kathleen Flynn, Jen Malat, Bryanna O’Mara, Adina Bernstein, Mary Houts, and Marybeth Ihle.

– Marybeth Ihle