The day started with a breakfast for librarians at the Brooklyn Heights Library, where early risers heard author Libba Bray speak about her latest book, The Diviners (Little, Brown, Sept. 2012), and offer two pieces of advice to young aspiring writers: “read everything” and “be brave.”

The dedicated “Youth Stoop” tent hosted panel discussions on humor, comics, writing for middle schoolers, books with guy-appeal, romance, drama, and supernatural novels. Kid lit and YA author favorites, such as Adam Gidwitz, Gordon Korman, and Carolyn Mackler took part.

In the “Target Children’s Area” tent, young listeners were treated to presentations and readings by Stephen Savage, Marc Brown, Judith Viorst, and several other beloved picture book authors and illustrators.

Johnny Temple, chair of the Brooklyn Literary Council, said, “The Festival has matured into one of the world’s premier literary destinations, attracting renowned authors, publishers of all sizes, musicians, humorists, graphic novelists, and all of the creative forces that make up our eclectic and constantly evolving literary universe.”

About 40,000 book lovers, librarians, writers, and authors turned out for the free event, some 5,000 more than last year.

Check out SLJ’s pictures from the big day in the slide show below and on our Tumblr.