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 | Building Access: The History and Future of Disability Rights
The disability rights movement has transformed American life and expanded access, opportunity, and civil rights for millions of people. These hard-won gains are the result of decades of organizing, advocacy, and political struggle. And the fight for equality continues.
As we celebrate July…
Off The Record with the Sohei Narita Quartet
Off The Record is Adams Street Library's occasional live concert series that combines live music, immersive reading, and artist talks. Drop in and join us for an afternoon of live music with the Sohei Narita Quartet and conversation with composer Sohei Narita.
2:30-3:15 PM Enjoy a mix of…
Map Your Brooklyn Summer: A Collaging Workshop
Celebrate the season with a creative collage workshop inspired by the parks, people, playgrounds, and beaches that make Brooklyn a summertime oasis!
Using Brooklyn maps past and present as your canvas, pull from a fun selection of vintage photographs, archival images, and ephemera…
Brasil Summerfest with Os Clavelitos
Os Clavelitos is an "American Samba" band based in New York City, who creates original music combining traditional Brazilian rhythms (samba, baiao, bossa nova, and frevo) with English lyrics. With band members from Brazil, Japan, and the U.S., the six piece ensemble celebrates Brazil's rich…
Sips & Scholars: The Architecture of Red Vienna with Isi Litke
Class is in session this summer! We’re partnering with the Brooklyn Institute of Social Research to offer the second annual Sips & Scholars series, free lectures set in bars, parks, cafes, and restaurants all over Brooklyn. This session, entitled "The Architecture of Red Vienna" will be led…
CBH Talk | Country of Lords: Kim Phillips-Fein in Conversation with Steven Hahn
As the United States commemorates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, debates about equality, democracy, and power remain as urgent as ever. Join Pulitzer Prize finalist and Columbia University historian Kim Phillips-Fein for a discussion of her new book, Country of Lords:…
DJ Max Glazer
Max Glazer has represented New York City touring the world DJing parties for superstars like Naomi Campbell, Missy Elliott, 50 Cent, Branford Marsalis, and Jay-Z, to name just a few. Separate from the glamorous celebrity parties he was known for, Max was always cultivating his interest…
CBH Talk | An Unfinished Revolution: Dialogues on Freedom and Democracy with Elizabeth Hinton
Marking the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding, join us to reflect, reckon, and reimagine the ideals at the heart of the American experiment.
Across three evenings, CBH invites distinguished historians to select short readings as starting points for guided public…
Queer Book Culture with LittlePuss Press and Hive Mind Books
Park Slope Library is pleased to welcome Emily Zhou and Sasha Karbachinskiy of LittlePuss Press, Jules Wernersbach, co-founder of Hive Mind Books, and Professor of Gothic Literature and queer Studies Laura Westengard, to discuss queer publishing, bookselling, and readership in Brooklyn. …
Sips & Scholars: C.L.R. James and the Politics of Self-Liberation with Nara Roberta Silva
Class is in session this summer! We’re partnering with the Brooklyn Institute of Social Research to offer the second annual Sips & Scholars series, free lectures set in bars, parks, cafes, and restaurants all over Brooklyn. This session, entitled "C.L.R. James and the Politics of Self-…
Sips & Scholars: Pythagoras and the Invention of Musical Theory with Bruce M. King
Class is in session this summer! We’re partnering with the Brooklyn Institute of Social Research to offer the second annual Sips & Scholars series, free lectures set in bars, parks, cafes, and restaurants all over Brooklyn. This session, entitled: “Pythagoras and the Invention of Musical…
Swingtime Big Band
In case of rain, this concert will relocate to the Dweck Center, located on the lower level of Central Library.
Dedicated to the performance of America's greatest popular standards, SWINGTIME BIG BAND is a 20-piece authentic swing band comprised of master interpreters of music from the…
Sips & Scholars: Freud’s Political Dreaming with Danielle Drori
Class is in session this summer! We’re partnering with the Brooklyn Institute of Social Research to offer the second annual Sips & Scholars series, free lectures set in bars, parks, cafes, and restaurants all over Brooklyn. This session, entitled: "Freud’s Political Dreaming" will be led by…
Sips & Scholars: Jane Jacobs, Greenwich Village, and the Life of the City with Andy Battle
Class is in session this summer! We’re partnering with the Brooklyn Institute of Social Research to offer the second annual Sips & Scholars series, free lectures set in bars, parks, cafes, and restaurants all over Brooklyn. This session, entitled: "Jane Jacobs, Greenwich Village, and the…
CBH Talk | An Unfinished Revolution: Dialogues on Freedom and Democracy with Kellie Carter Jackson
Marking the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding, join us to reflect, reckon, and reimagine the ideals at the heart of the American experiment.
Across three evenings, CBH invites distinguished historians to select short readings as starting points for guided public…
Sips & Scholars: On Earthly Delights: Theorizing Paradise with Hieronymus Bosch with Rebecca Ariel Porte
Class is in session this summer! We’re partnering with the Brooklyn Institute of Social Research to offer the second annual Sips & Scholars series, free lectures set in bars, parks, cafes, and restaurants all over Brooklyn. This session, entitled "On Earthly Delights: Theorizing Paradise…
CBH Talk | The Untold Story of Brooklyn’s Revolutionary War Prison Ships
As the nation marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, many stories of the American Revolution are being revisited, yet few are as harrowing as the story of the British prison ships anchored in Brooklyn’s Wallabout Bay. Following the Battle of Brooklyn, thousands of…
Sips & Scholars: Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment with Michael Stevenson
Class is in session this summer! We’re partnering with the Brooklyn Institute of Social Research to offer the second annual Sips & Scholars series, free lectures set in bars, parks, cafes, and restaurants all over Brooklyn. This session, entitled "Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment"…
CBH Talk | Richard North Patterson and Bret Stephens Discuss “Tripwires”
How did American democracy arrive at its current moment? Which decisions, institutions, and political turning points brought us here, and what would it take to rebuild public trust?
Join bestselling author and former attorney Richard North Patterson for a conversation about his new book,…
CBH Talk | Jesse Wegman and Alexis Coe Discuss “The Lost Founder”
For most Americans, the story of the nation's founding begins and ends with a familiar cast of names: Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison. But what if one of the most influential architects of American democracy has been hiding in plain sight?
Join journalist and Senior Fellow at the…
Art Spiegelman Discusses In the Shadow of No Towers
25 years after 9/11, BPL Presents welcomes the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of Maus, with a series of comix broadsides that captures the events of 9/11 and the calculated hijacking of that event by the Bush government.
With Maus, Spiegelman resurrected the graphic novel for a new…
2026 Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize Shortlist Readings
BPL Presents and Brooklyn Public Library are excited to welcome you back to this annual Shortlist Reading.
This BPL Book Prize event features the shortlisted authors for 2026. Past winners include Mosab Abu Toha, Emet North, Kaveh Akbar and Blair L.M. Kelley. This talk will…
The Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize Winners Panel at BKBF
Join BPL Presents in celebrating winners at our annual BPL Book Prize Winners Reading & Panel, who will be in conversation at the Brooklyn Book Festival.
Each fall, BPL honors outstanding works of nonfiction and fiction/poetry. Selected by librarians and staff, who draw on their broad…
Arts & Culture Newsletter
Be the first to know about our finest literary and cultural programming. Sign up today!
Get Social with BPL Presents
