Jennifer Egan

Brooklyn writers are joining the fight against Bruce Ratner's vision for Atlantic Yards by donating short essays and stories to Brooklyn Was Mine, an anthology compiled by two Vogue senior editors that will benefit Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn. The book will be available in stores—mostly in the quaint, tweedy-type joints—starting today. According to press notes, 20 authors submitted works, including Jonthan Lethem, who published "a wild, dystopian ride into Brooklyn's future" called "Ruckus Flatbush," and Jennifer Egan, who wrote about a Brooklyn Navy Yard worker who writes letters to her husband fighting in World War II. "Who is to say what will become of the place, or whether Brooklyn will retain its soul?" asked contributing writer Phillip Lopate in the introduction. "Whatever happens to Brooklyn," he answers, "its literary soul is sound and robust, and its writers fiercely loyal."

Jennifer Egan, Susan Choi and Darin Strauss will have a reading at the Park Slope Barnes & Noble next Wednesday, Jan. 9 at 7:30 p.m.

Full release after the jump.  read more »

Just when the fight over Atlantic Yards threatened to devolve into a detailed dissection of whether Brownstone Brooklyn was blighted or not, Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn has decided to bring back a little star dust. It looks like the celebrity advisory board, appointed last spring just to sit around and get picked apart by the project's proponents, is going to do a little work for once: next Wednesday, Jhumpa Lahiri and Jennifer Egan are going to crash Tillie's in Fort Greene with a reading, the highlight of a weeklong warm-up for the opposition group's walkathon Oct. 21. The cafe's website says, "Come one, come all, and bring your laptops." That goes for you too, Jason Kidd! -Matthew Schuerman

When Danny was a kid, he and his cousin Howie—an awkward, overweight, nerdy sort of boy who di  read more »

When Danny was a kid, he and his cousin Howie—an awkward, overweight, nerdy sort of boy who didn  read more »

The Summer Guest , by Justin Cronin. The Dial Press, 369 pages, $24.  read more »

The Art of Travel , by Alain de Botton. Pantheon, 256 pages, $23.  read more »

New York Exposed: Photographs from the Daily News , by Shawn O'Sullivan. Harry N.  read more »

Look at Me , by Jennifer Egan. Nan A.  read more »