All BPL Presents programs at the Dr. S. Stevan Dweck Cultural Center at Central Library are free of charge (unless otherwise noted) and reservations are required for most adult programs. Patrons with reservations will be seated on a first-come, first-served basis. Unclaimed reservations will be released fifteen minutes before the start of an event; we recommend arriving early. Patrons without reservations will be seated as capacity allows.
Reservations can be made 24 hrs. a day, 7 days a week on our website by visiting the program’s calendar entry at bklynlibrary.org/bplpresents or by phone at 718.230.2200 (please see our phone reservation policy for hours and additional details). Reservations can be made up to approximately one hour before the scheduled program start time. The maximum number of seats that can be reserved per event is 3.
The Dweck Center is an accessible venue. To request additional information regarding accessibility or accommodations at the event, please contact BPLPresents@bklynlibrary.org.
Reservations for adult programs can be made with a BPL representative Monday-Friday from 9:00 am – 4:00 pm. For weekend events, reservations must be made by 4 pm on the Friday before the event takes place. Any reservations received after 4pm will not be processed. If leaving a message, please slowly and clearly state your first and last name, your phone number, the name and date of the program you would like to attend, and the number of seats you are requesting (maximum of 3).
Poetry Café of the National Black Writers Conference
As part of Brooklyn Public Library's longtime partnership with National Black Writers Conference, the Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College co-presents an annual poetry café featuring four amazing poets: Angela Du, Kaiyah Ellison, Bonafide Rojas, and Zora Satchel.
Participants…
Jinwoo Chong Discusses I Leave It Up To You With Grant Ginder
Join us at Brooklyn Heights Library to hear Jinwoo Chong discuss his new novel I Leave It Up to You with Grant Ginder.
From the award-winning author of Flux comes a dazzling novel about love, family, and the art of sushi that asks: What if you could return to the point of a fateful…
CBH Talk | Elie Mystal and Christina Greer Discuss “Bad Law”
In Bad Law, Elie Mystal, author of the New York Times bestseller Allow Me To Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution, brings his legal acumen and signature snark to take down ten of what he considers the most awful laws on the books today. Join us as he explains how laws…
Classical Interludes: Orchestra of St. Luke's: The Music of Chen Yi
Discover the remarkable music of Chen Yi, a celebrated Chinese-American composer whose work connects cultures and tells stories that resonate around the world. This special program brings Chen Yi’s music to life offering an experience that blends tradition, inspiration, and creativity.
…
CBH Talk | Discussing “Waterworks,” Stanley Greenberg’s Photographs of New York’s Hidden Water System
This program is offered in partnership with Open House New York.
We take our water for granted; turn on the tap and it’s there. Yet New York City’s faucets are endpoints in a journey through a vast, sophisticated, and visually humbling infrastructure of aqueducts,…
Kevin Young Discusses a Century of Poetry in The New Yorker with Deborah Garrison
BPL Presents welcomes Kevin Young, poetry editor for The New Yorker, to discuss a new anthology celebrating one hundred years of "influential, entertaining, and taste-making verse" published in the magazine. Young will be in conversation with Deborah Garrison.
Some of the stellar names…
Classical Interludes: ArcoStrum
Strauss Shi – violin, erhu, dizi
TY Zhang – classical guitar, electric guitar
Embark on a truly groundbreaking musical journey with The ArcoStrum Experience…
CBH Talk | Russell Shorto and Andrea Mosterman Discuss “Taking Manhattan”
Join us for an evening with master storyteller and historian Russell Shorto as he discusses his latest book, Taking Manhattan: The Extraordinary Events that Created New York and Shaped America. Building on his acclaimed The Island at the Center of the World, Shorto delves into the…
ReelAbilities Film Festival: The Trouble with Mr. Doodle
Dir. Jaimie D'Cruz, Ed Perkins
Documentary - English -2024 ‧ UK‧ 1h 30m
…
Agnes Callard Discusses Open Socrates with Elizabeth Bruenig
BPL Presents partners with the Authors Guild Foundation to co-present Agnes Callard, an iconoclastic philosopher who revives Socrates for our time, showing how we can answer—and, in the first place, ask—life’s most important questions. Callard will be in conversation with Elizabeth Bruenig.
…
CBH Talk | Jeanne Theoharis and Eddie Glaude Discuss “King of the North: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Life Struggle Outside the South”
Just when you thought you knew everything about Martin Luther King Jr., historian Jeanne Theoharis proves you wrong. In a radical reframing of King’s life and work, Theoharis’ new book King of the North: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Life of Struggle Outside the South redirects our…
Mother Tongues: Exhibition Opening
Please join artist Alva Mooses and friends as we open the exhibition Mother Tongues--a celebration of visual art, music, poetry, and experimental translation across these media that will stir the senses and our collective imagination. Mooses' visual art dovetails with the literary and visual art…
Pankaj Mishra Discusses The World After Gaza with Nermeen Shaikh
From one of our foremost public intellectuals, an essential reckoning with the war in Gaza that reframes our understanding of the ongoing conflict, its historical roots, and the fractured global response. In this BPL Presents conversation, Pankaj Mishra discusses The World After Gaza with…
Poets in the Archive
CBH’s special collections are a treasure trove of inspiration. In celebration of Poetry Month, we invited eight accomplished poets to explore our archives in search of creative sparks. Delving into a range of subjects—from local wildlife and the built environment to Brooklyn’s LGBTQ+…
Madhu Kaza on Lines of Flight with Youmna Chlala, Jacqui Cornetta, Yasmine Seale & Mónica de la Torre
BPL Presents welcomes Madhu H. Kaza who presents her latest work, Lines of Flight, with Youmna Chlala, Jacqui Cornetta, Yasmine Seale, and Mónica de la Torre.
Join us for an evening of collaborative performance and experiments in error based on Lines of Flight, Madhu H. Kaza's chapbook on…
Greg Grandin Discusses America, América with Francisco Goldman
BPL Presents welcomes the Pulitzer Prize–winning historian, with the first comprehensive history of the Western Hemisphere, a sweeping five-century narrative of North and South America that redefines our understanding of both…
The story of how the United States’ identity was formed is…
CBH Talk | Apology and Repair for Slavery: Grenada as a Case Study
To The People of Grenada
We, the undersigned, write to apologise for the actions of our ancestors in holding your ancestors in slavery…Slavery was and is a crime against humanity. Its damaging effects continue to the present day. …
The People's Ball: Style is a Revolution
You’re invited to THE PEOPLE’S BALL, Brooklyn Public Library’s free annual celebration of fashion, personal style and inclusivity. THE PEOPLE’S BALL, named Time Out New York’s Best Nightlife Event of 2023, welcomes you to dress up in the clothes that make you feel your most beautiful and…
CBH Talk | Claire Hoffman and Eliza Griswold Discuss “Sister, Sinner: The Miraculous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson”
On a spring day in 1926, Aimee Semple McPherson wandered into the Pacific Ocean and vanished. The nation’s most famous evangelist, Aimee was known as a sophisticated marketer who had used Hollywood magic and the newest technology to bring her message to the masses. Although Aimee’s Pentecostal…
Katie Kitamura Discusses Audition with Meghan O'Rourke
Join BPL Presents as Katie Kitamura takes the Dweck stage to discuss Audition, an exhilarating, destabilizing Möbius strip of a novel that asks whether we ever really know the people we love.
Two people meet for lunch in a Manhattan restaurant. She’s an accomplished actress in rehearsals…
Bridgett M. Davis Discusses Love, Rita with Deesha Philyaw
BPL Presents welcomes Bridgett M. Davis, who discusses a searing tribute of sisterhood and family, profound love and loss from the acclaimed author of The World According to Fannie Davis.
In Love, Rita Bridgett M. Davis tells the story of her beloved older sister Rita, who knew Bridgett…
Carnegie Hall Citywide: Emiliano Messiez
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 collaborated with icons like Paquito D’Rivera, John…
Joan C. Williams Discusses Outclassed: How the Left Lost the Working Class & How to Win Them Back
BPL Presents welcomes Joan C. Williams who discusses Outclassed: How the Left Lost the Working Class and How to Win Them Back.
Is there a single change that could simultaneously protect democracy, spur progress on climate change, enact sane gun policies, and improve our response to the…
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…
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…
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