N.Y. / REGION

The New York City Poetry Festival Expands on Governors Island

Summer is the season to take a break from essential reading, a chance to flip through lighter fare or tackle that hefty classic you’ve been putting off for years.
Typically, the Miser’s summer reading list is overly ambitious. Throughout the season books will be packed into suitcases or backpacks only to emerge with uncreased spines. This weekend, a handful of literary events offer an opportunity to expand your summer reading lineup.
Now in its fifth year, the free weekend-long New York City Poetry Festivalon Governors Island continues to grow — organizers are expecting 4,000 people this year — and gathers a book fair, food trucks, around 50 vendors and a children’s festival on Colonels’ Row.
Drawing on the variety of poetry groups from all five boroughs, readings at the event can be academic or high-minded, musical or theatrical — which will be the case for Kiss Punch Poem, a group that uses poetry readings as a foundation for improv.
Nicholas Adamski, a founder of the festival, said he was surprised by how diverse the event had become, adding that attendees can expect to see a wide-ranging group of poets and performers, including the headliners Nick Flynn and Patricia Spears Jones (Sunday at 3 p.m.), high school writers from the Bronx, M.F.A. students and Nuyorican poets.
Nearby, inside one of the elegant officers’ quarters, visitors can join “The Typewriter Project,” an installation that fuses the analog and the digital by uploading and publishing text from a typewriter online. Upstairs, you can get your kicks at the poetry brothel — where the trade is in words, not flesh.
(Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Colonels’ Row, Governors Island; newyorkcitypoetryfestival.com. “The Typewriter Project” and poetry brothel are in Building 407. Ferries run from South Ferry, in Lower Manhattan, and from Brooklyn Bridge Park; schedules are at govisland.com.)
On Saturday, the intimate Pete’s Mini Zine Fest, an open studio for self-published magazines, features unusual reads.
Among the 25 writers and artists presenting their work at the festival are Ayun Halliday, author and illustrator of The East Village Inky and the so-called queen of zines; Elvis B, a transgender activist and author of the zine Homos in Herstory; and the writer and graphic designer Adam J. Kurtz, of BuzzFeed and Urban Outfitters fame.
This is an adult event — it takes place at Pete’s Candy Store, a bar that serves liquor, not sweets — and perusing titles with a drink in hand is encouraged.
Before the weekend is over, stop by Greenlight Bookstore’s midsummer sidewalk sale, where hundreds of slightly worn books can be had at a discount.
(Pete’s Mini Zine Fest: Saturday 2 to 7 p.m., Pete’s Candy Store, Williamsburg, Brooklyn; petesmzf.blogspot.com. Sidewalk sale: Greenlight Bookstore, Fort Greene, Brooklyn; 718-246-0200; greenlightbookstore.com.)