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).
Emily Witt Discusses Health and Safety with Alexandra Schwartz
BPL Presents welcomes journalist and author Emily Witt to discuss her latest book, Health and Safety, a lament for a broken relationship, for a changed nightlife scene, and for New York City just before the fall.
In the summer of 2016, a divisive presidential election was underway, and a…
Summer Screenings | Slumlord Millionaire
Join us for a screening of Slumlord Millionaire, a powerful documentary that exposes the David-and-Goliath struggles for housing justice in New York City. The film shines a light on the ordinary Brooklyn residents whose courageous fights against powerful landlords and developers…
Sips & Scholars: Robbie Howton on "Who Was Socrates?"
Sips & Scholars is a free lecture series in partnership with the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research set in bars and restaurants all over Brooklyn. This session, entitled: “Who was Socrates?” will be led by Professor Robbie Howton.
The story of philosophy begins in…
WNYC's Public Song Project Concert
WNYC's Public Song Project invites anyone to create new music by drawing from the public domain. Working musicians and hobbyists alike contribute song covers and musical adaptations of books, poetry, films, and more, showcasing the creative potential of the public domain and offering an opportunity…
Oysters & the Archive: The Legacy of Black Foodways and Entrepreneurship in Brooklyn
For centuries, New York Harbor—including the waters around Brooklyn—was home to some of the world's most abundant oyster beds, making the city synonymous with oyster culture. Before the 20th century, when people thought of New York, they thought of oysters. This industry provided…
Plaza Concert Series: 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: Robyn Marasco on "The Authoritarian Personality Today"
Sips & Scholars is a free lecture series in partnership with the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research set in bars and restaurants all over Brooklyn. This session, entitled: The Authoritarian Personality Today: Psychology, Politics, and the New Right-Wing Resurgence will be led…
Plaza Performance: 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…
Sips & Scholars: Alfred Lee on "Quantum Physics at 100"
Sips & Scholars is a free lecture series in partnership with the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research set in bars and restaurants all over Brooklyn. This session, entitled: "Quantum Physics at 100" will be led by Professor Alfred Lee.
When Werner Heisenberg sketched the…
CBH Talk | Renewing Rikers: From Punishment to Possibility
The future of Rikers Island is one of New York City’s most urgent and complex political challenges. Once home to a Civil War-era military training ground, the island was purchased by the city in 1884 for $180,000 to serve as a garbage dump. In 1932, construction began on what would…
Sips & Scholars: Lauren K. Wolfe on "What is Translation?"
Sips & Scholars is a free lecture series in partnership with the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research set in bars and restaurants all over Brooklyn. This session, entitled: "What is Translation? A Brief History of the Translator’s Task" will be led by Professor Lauren K. Wolfe.
…
Sips & Scholars: Nara Roberta Silva on "Revolution and Underdevelopment"
Sips & Scholars is a free lecture series in partnership with the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research set in bars and restaurants all over Brooklyn. This session, entitled: “Revolution and Underdevelopment: Walter Rodney’s African Perspective" will be led by Professor Nara Robert Silva.…
Sips & Scholars: Ruth Averbach on "Too Many Wives: Polygamist Nightmares in Gogol’s Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka and His Aunt"
Sips & Scholars is a free lecture series in partnership with the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research set in bars and restaurants all over Brooklyn. This session, entitled: "Too Many Wives: Polygamist Nightmares in Gogol’s Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka and His Aunt" will be led by Professor…
Sandy Hudson Discusses Defund: Black Lives, Policing, and Safety with Brian Jones for All
BPL Presents welcomes Sandy Hudson, author, activist and co-founder of Black Lives Matter Canada to discuss her new book Defund: Black Lives, Policing, and Safety for All. Hudson will be in conversation with Brian Jones, director of the Center for Educators and Schools at The New York Public…
Miriam Toews Discusses A Truce That is Not Peace, with Rumaan Alam
BPL Presents welcomes internationally bestselling author Miriam Toews, whose memoir of the will to write is a work of disobedient memory, humor, and exquisite craft set against a content-hungry, prose-stuffed society.
“Why do you write?” the organizer of a literary event in Mexico City…
CBH Talk | Howard W. French and Annette Gordon-Reed Discuss “The Second Emancipation”
Join us for a conversation between journalist and historian Howard W. French and Pulitzer Prize-winning scholar Annette Gordon-Reed about The Second Emancipation: The Rise of Global Black Power and the Retreat of Colonialism. In this sweeping narrative, French interweaves the struggles of…
Peter Guralnick and Elvis Costello Discuss The Colonel & The King
BPL Presents welcomes celebrated music historian Peter Guralnick, returning with his new biography The Colonel and the King: Tom Parker, Elvis Presley, and the Partnership that Rocked the World. He’ll be joined in-conversation by Elvis Costello—a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and…
Art Spiegelman Discusses MetaMaus
BPL Presents is delighted to welcome Pulitzer-Prize winner Art Spiegelman to discuss the MetaMaus paperback.
In the pages of MetaMaus, Spiegelman re-enters Maus, the the Pulitzer Prize–winning modern classic that has altered how we see literature, comics, and the Holocaust ever since…
Tour of Tove Jansson & The Moomins
Join us for a guided tour of our newest exhibition, Tove Jansson and the Moomins: The Door Is Always Open, that explores the queer Finnish author’s impact on children’s literature and social-emotional learning through her beloved Moomin characters, bold political cartoons and reflective adult…
Ken Follett Discusses Circle of Days
BPL Presents welcomes the bestselling author of epic fiction, Ken Follett, who brings us the deeply human story of one of the world’s greatest mysteries: the building of Stonehenge.
Seft, a talented flint miner, walks the Great Plain in the high summer heat, to witness the rituals that…
Colloquy: Emily Wilson & Luke Soucy on Translating the Epic
Please join World Poetry Books and the Brooklyn Public Library’s BPL Presents for the latest installment of Colloquy: Translators in Conversation, featuring translating the epic, with readings and discussion from Emily Wilson and Luke Soucy. Wilson will read from her translations of the Homeric…
Brian Jones Discusses Black History Is for Everyone
BPL Presents welcomes Brian Jones, a longtime educator whose Black History Is For Everyone explores how the study of Black history challenges our understanding of race, nation, and the stories we tell about who we are.
Black history is under attack from powerful forces that seek to excise…
Lance Richardson Discusses True Nature: The Pilgrimage of Peter Matthiessen
BPL Presents welcomes Lance Richardson and this first biography of Peter Matthiessen, the novelist, naturalist, and Zen roshi, whose trailblazing work championed Native American rights and helped usher in the modern environmental movement.
Peter Matthiessen (1927-2014), a towering figure…
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