Boston Book Festival
| Industry | Literature and Publishing |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2009 |
| Founder | Deborah Z. Porter |
| Headquarters | Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America |
|
Area served
|
Greater Boston area |
| Website | bostonbookfest.org |
The Boston Book Festival is an independent nonprofit group based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the name of its main event. The nonprofit was founded in 2009 by Deborah Z Porter, and aims to "celebrate the power of words to stimulate, agitate, unite, delight, and inspire by holding year-round events culminating in an annual, free Festival that promotes a culture of reading and ideas and enhances the vibrancy of our city."
The annual book festival combines a street festival with an array of authors and other literary presenters from around the world. Daytime events at the BBF are free. In 2014, 32,000 people attended.
Throughout the year, BBF hosts several literary events, several of which fall under their annual "Lounge Lit" series of literary outings, such as readings, cookbook author demos, and an annual literary pub trivia night. Since 2011, BBF has also hosted evening “kick-off” activities leading up to the Saturday festival.
The Festival is held each October in Boston's Back Bay. Speaker presentations have taken place in the Boston Public Library, Church of the Covenant, Old South Church, Trinity Church, and Back Bay Events Center, among other locations in and around Copley Square.
The street festival is hosted on Copley Square, and usually includes a live music stage, dozens of exhibitors and vendors, and many free participatory activities for attendees and their families. This includes programming and activities for children, writing workshops and contests, and open mic opportunities.
The inaugural festival on October 24, 2009 included more than seventy-five authors, including Ken Burns, Anita Diamant, Andre Dubus III, Tom Perrotta, Alicia Silverstone, and John Hodgman. Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk delivered the keynote address in the sanctuary of Old South Church to over 1000 festival-goers. Popular sessions were “Ties That Bind” (featuring Elinor Lipman, Richard Russo, and Michael Thomas), “Power of Place” (featuring Anita Diamant, Elizabeth Nunez, Carolina De Robertis, and Anita Shreve), and "The Obama Year," featuring Jack Beatty, David Gergan, Lani Guinier, and Michael E. Porter.
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