The Lit Set’s Day in the Sun

Several participants in the eighth annual Brooklyn Book Festival on Sunday were thrown by their surroundings. Sitting near the altar of St. Ann & the Holy Trinity on Montague Street, Cristina García paused while reading a vivid description of a man’s naked body from her novel “King of Cuba”: “I just realized I’m in a church, so perhaps I should have chosen something else.”

Later in the day, all three panelists in a conversation on writing about sex expressed their surprise that the main stage on which they sat was outdoors. They gazed at the large crowd in front of Borough Hall, including some children roaming on the periphery, and decided to read less graphic sections from their books. Sam Lipsyte took in the number of anticipatory faces and said, “This really is a nightmare.”

Kathryn Kirk, Office of the Brooklyn Borough President Chuck Klosterman, left, and Rob Sheffield at the Brooklyn Book Festival on Sunday.

Perfect weather made the main stage an even more popular place than usual for festivalgoers. The pop-culture critics and memoirists Chuck Klosterman and Rob Sheffield shared the prime spot to talk about their recent books, and the sunshine contrasted with the chummy, late-night-barstool tone of their talk. Mr. Sheffield described his theory that life can be divided into three stages that correspond to one’s opinion of Rod Stewart: “You think Rod Stewart is cool. You think Rod Stewart is not cool. And then you are Rod Stewart.” Mr. Klosterman responded: “I feel like I’m in the third camp for the rest of my life now.”

The festival prominently features international authors, and the subject matter elsewhere had a bit more gravity than the Stages of Rod. Inside Borough Hall, the Colombian author Juan Gabriel Vásquez disputed the theory that writers write about where they’re from because they understand those places well. “These are the places we thought we understood,” he said. “And then something surprises us.” On the same panel, the Argentine novelist Patricio Pron said fiction allowed for a continuing dialogue about historical events. “You can’t heal wounds just by building a memorial,” he said.

Kathryn Kirk, Office of the Brooklyn Borough President Attendees at the Brooklyn Book Festival crowded the steps of Borough Hall on Sunday.

Jamaica Kincaid had to cancel her appearance Sunday for personal reasons, but even the loss of such a notable name was just a blip on a day that featured Tom Wolfe, Claire Messud, Edwidge Danticat, Art Spiegelman and Lois Lowry, among many others.

The festival is geared toward a low-tech, indie crowd. Many display booths feature smaller publishers, literary magazines and used-book dealers, and not many gadgets or corporate brands are in sight. I strolled into a Barnes & Noble down the block between events, and one cashier, spotting the festival badge and concerned for my credibility, asked: “Are you supposed to be in here?” She described a nervous customer who had come from the festival earlier: “He didn’t want a Barnes & Noble bag. He wanted a plain black bag.”