BPL Presents is BPL’s curated cultural program, with arts and culture offerings including author talks, live performances, music, film and visual art exhibitions that explore the critical issues of our time in Brooklyn and beyond.
Center for Brooklyn History
Brooklyn's culture past and present from the Center for Brooklyn History
Upcoming
CBH Talk | “Capitalism and Its Critics” with John Cassidy and Doug Henwood
In his new book, Capitalism and Its Critics: A History from the Industrial Revolution to AI, The New Yorker’s John Cassidy traces 200 years of global capitalism through the voices of its most insightful and influential critics. At a time when technology, climate change, inequality,…
Carnegie Hall Citywide: Emiliano Messiez
This program is at capacity.
Latin Grammy Award–nominated pianist and composer Emiliano Messiez is one of the most sought-after tango musicians in the US. Originally from Buenos Aires, Messiez has performed at world-renowned venues including Lincoln Center, and has…
CBH Talk | Voices from the Past: Tracing Black Lineage and the Power of Genealogy
Being the narrators and experts of our own pasts comes with unique challenges for Black Americans. What we know about our families matters—and everyone deserves the ability to honor their ancestors’ stories.
CBH’s new exhibition, Trace/s, explores the crucial…
Joan C. Williams Discusses Outclassed with Gideon Lewis-Kraus
BPL Presents welcomes Joan C. Williams who discusses Outclassed: How the Left Lost the Working Class and How to Win Them Back with Gideon Lewis-Kraus.
Is there a single change that could simultaneously protect democracy, spur progress on climate change, enact sane gun policies, and improve…
Books & Brews: Ledia Xhoga Discusses Misinterpretation
Join us for an evening of books and brews with author Ledia Xhoga. The discussion and Q&A will center on Xhoga's Misinterpretation, a finalist for the 2024 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize.…
CBH Talk | Five Years After George Floyd: The Fight Today
On May 25, 2020, the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin stunned the nation and ignited a global uprising.
As we mark the fifth anniversary of that tragic day, CBH brings together three leading voices to examine the protests, their…
Miguel Ángel Hernández Discusses Anoxia
Join us for a discussion with author Miguel Ángel Hernández on his new book Anoxia (translated by Adrian Nathan West, Other Press, 2025). Hernández will be in conversation with award-winning journalist and writer Ana Vidal Egea. In this mesmerizing psychological novel, a strange job leads a…
Classical Interludes: Opera Essentia
Opera Essentia provides under-reached NYC communities with approachable performances in gardens, parks, libraries, churches, and other neighborhood gathering centers, for Free.
"The Queen's Heart" is a One-Hour Distillation of Handel's Radamisto (1720), created by Artistic Director and…
Environmental Injustice: Race, Class, and Toxic Inequality | The Path to Today
Join us for the first event in a three-part series exploring the intersection of racial inequality and the environment. Part 1 delves into the systemic roots of environmental racism and confronts a critical question: Why are communities of color and low-wealth populations…
Ruha Benjamin Discusses Race After Technology: BPL Book Prize at 10
In honor of the 10th year anniversary of the Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize, we've invited Ruha Benjamin back to the Dweck stage to discuss her 2020 prize-winning book Race After Technology and its pressing resonances with the recent explosion of artificial intelligence. Joining her in…
Deborah Baker Discusses Charlottesville
BPL Presents welcomes Deborah Baker, whose new book Charlottesville has been hailed as a “vivid account that … illuminates the evils half-hidden under a flickering torch” (Kirkus).
In August 2017, over a thousand members of the far-right descended on a small southern city to protest the…
CBH Talk | Deborah Archer and James Forman Discuss “Dividing Lines”
In her new book, Dividing Lines: How Transportation Infrastructure Reinforces Racial Inequality, acclaimed scholar and ACLU President Deborah Archer shows how seemingly innocuous transit planning functions – the development of roads, sidewalks, dividers, and other infrastructures –…
Yrsa Daley-Ward Discusses The Catch with Zakiya Dalia Harris
BPL Presents welcomes Yrsa Daley-Ward who discusses The Catch—named one of the Most Anticipated Books of 2025 by TIME, Publishers Weekly, Lit Hub, We Are Bookish, and Book Riot—in conversation with Zakiya Dalia Harris.
Twin sisters Clara and Dempsey have always struggled to relate, their…
Children of the Movement: Growing up with Parents in the Black Panther Party
This program is offered in partnership with The Guardian.
In March, The Guardian published a landmark article and produced a short film spotlighting the self-described “Panther cubs”—offspring of members of the Black Panther Party. This project, two…
Elie Mystal Presents the 2025 Kahn Humanities Lecture
BPL Presents invites you to the 2025 Kahn Humanities Lecture with Elie Mystal—a legal scholar, author, and commentator.
A legal analyst for the storied Nation magazine, Mystal is a fellow at Type Media Center and a New York Times bestselling author of several books. In this unique talk…
Environmental Injustice: Race, Class, and Toxic Inequality | The Present Crisis
Join us for Part 2 of a three-part series exploring the intersection of racial inequality and the environment. This time we explore the situation today. Leaders from across the country share solutions to environmental crises within their communities and discuss a new urgent challenge…
Environmental Injustice: Race, Class, and Toxic Inequality | The Way Forward
The final program in this three-part series on the intersection of racial inequality and the environment looks ahead. Join us in imagining a future free from the race and class based divides that determine who is — and isn’t — protected from toxins, pollutants, flooding, and the…
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