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Saturday, October 26
 

10:00am EDT

Mohamed Amer Meziane: Why Are We Disenchanted? The States of the Earth
Saturday October 26, 2024 10:00am - 11:00am EDT
15 - French Library - Upstairs Room
Philosopher, performer, and professor, Mohamed Amer Meziane will present his book The States of the  Earth, offering a rereading of the history of Western modernity during the 19th century through the lenses of both its colonial matrix and its environmental consequences. In a world where material technology was considered divine, religious and secular forces both tried to achieve Heaven on Earth by destroying Earth itself. The author will be interviewed by Aliko Songolo and there will be an opportunity for audience Q&A.
Presenters
avatar for Mohamed Amer Meziane

Mohamed Amer Meziane

Mohamed Amer Meziane holds a PhD in Philosophy and Intellectual History from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. After teaching at Columbia University as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life, he joined Brown University as... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 10:00am - 11:00am EDT
15 - French Library - Upstairs Room
  Nonfiction

10:30am EDT

BBF Unbound: Bio-GRAPHIC: Women Comic Artists Draw their Truth
Saturday October 26, 2024 10:30am - 11:30am EDT
13 - Boston Public Library - Guastavino
Join us for an engaging session presented by the Boston Comic Arts Foundation, where we explore the art of visual storytelling in memoirs! Discover how personal choices shape the creator's narrative and how the medium influences the connection with readers. Join acclaimed creators Julie Heffernan and Jesse Lee Kercheval as they share their journeys of transforming their unique stories into compelling comic forms. Heffernan's Babe in the Woods follows a young mother lost in the woods who discovers a new perspective on life, while Kercheval's French Girl delves into the profound impacts of family—both tangible and intangible. Don’t miss this opportunity to dive into the creative process of graphic writing and portraying oneself in the visual. The session will be moderated by Caroline Hu, Assistant Professor of Integrative Sciences and Biological Arts at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
Moderators
avatar for Caroline Hu

Caroline Hu

Caroline Hu is a cartoonist and science communicator. She is a biology professor at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, where she brings art and science together in the classroom. Her comics are inspired by the lives of other organisms and her own.
Presenters
avatar for Julie Heffernan

Julie Heffernan

Julie Heffernan is a Professor of Fine Arts at Montclair State University, represented by Hirschl & Adler Modern in New York and Catharine Clark Gallery in San Francisco. Heffernan has had over 50 solo exhibitions nationally and internationally and is the recipient of numerous grants... Read More →
avatar for Jesse Lee Kercheval

Jesse Lee Kercheval

Jesse Lee Kercheval was born in France and raised in Florida. She is a writer, poet, and visual artist. Her memoir Space about growing up in Florida during the moon race won an Alex Award from the American Library Association. In 2020, during the pandemic lock down in Uruguay, she... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 10:30am - 11:30am EDT
13 - Boston Public Library - Guastavino
  Unbound

10:30am EDT

Make Your Very Own Book with Bright Horizons
Saturday October 26, 2024 10:30am - 1:00pm EDT
19 - Copley Square Outdoors - Brainstorm Tent
Our friends from Bright Horizons Early Education and Preschool® are turning the Brainstorm Tent into a writer's studio! Bring your child to this drop-in activity where they can write and illustrate their own hardcover book. With a variety of writing materials, your child can tell their own story and add their own drawings to a book that they can take home that day, complete with their own author/illustrator photo. Not sure what to write about? Don’t worry. We'll provide some story prompts! You can also learn about the Bright Horizons Growing Readers program, and take home tips on choosing the best books for children and how to make story time more engaging.


Saturday October 26, 2024 10:30am - 1:00pm EDT
19 - Copley Square Outdoors - Brainstorm Tent
  Kids

10:45am EDT

Storytime! Carole Boston Weatherford
Saturday October 26, 2024 10:45am - 11:15am EDT
10 - Boston Public Library - Children's Library
In Hair Like Obama’s, Hands Like Lebron, New York Times best-selling author Carole Boston Weatherford celebrates iconic Black figures inspiring children across America. | Ages 3-6 | BPL Children’s Library
Presenters
avatar for Carole Boston Weatherford

Carole Boston Weatherford

Carole Boston Weatherford writes the diverse books she lacked as a child. She is a New York Times bestselling author and critic, and a two-time NAACP Image Award winner. Since her 1995 debut, she has authored 70-plus books, including nine Coretta Scott King Award winners, a Newbery... Read More →
Sponsors and Partners
avatar for Globe Santa Fndn
Saturday October 26, 2024 10:45am - 11:15am EDT
10 - Boston Public Library - Children's Library
  Kids

10:45am EDT

Grub Street Presents Steve Almond
Saturday October 26, 2024 10:45am - 11:45am EDT
05 - Trinity Church - Undercroft
If you’ve ever been curious about what inspires writers, turns out it’s the same stuff that inspires all of us. Namely, our obsessions! In this fast-paced, irreverent session, New York Times bestselling author Steve Almond, whose latest book on the craft of writing is Truth Is the Arrow, Mercy Is the Bow, will speak about how obsessions power our stories, and give everyone in the room a chance to plug into that power source. Expect to have some creative fun, tap into a literary frame of mind, and leave with a slice of inspiration all your own.
Presenters
avatar for Steve Almond

Steve Almond

Steve Almond is the author of a dozen books of fiction and nonfiction, including All The Secrets of The World and the NY Times bestsellers Candyfreak and Against Football. His essays and reviews have been published in venues ranging from the New York Times Magazine to Ploughshares... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 10:45am - 11:45am EDT
05 - Trinity Church - Undercroft
  Writing

11:00am EDT

Musical Performance: Intertwined
Saturday October 26, 2024 11:00am - 11:50am EDT
18 - Copley Square Outdoors - Berklee Stage
Intertwined takes their listeners on a colorful journey through their music. Originating in the Philippines, it is Intertwined’s goal to have their music heard and enjoyed from all corners of the world. @intertwinedph
Presenters
avatar for Music Intertwined
Saturday October 26, 2024 11:00am - 11:50am EDT
18 - Copley Square Outdoors - Berklee Stage
  Music

11:00am EDT

Marc Levy: Writing secrets
Saturday October 26, 2024 11:00am - 12:00pm EDT
14 - French Library - 1st Floor
Marc Levy is the most-read contemporary French author, with 24 novels translated into 50 languages,  having sold more than 45 million copies worldwide. Many of his novels have been adapted for the screen, such as the successful Hollywood movie Just like Heaven, directed by Mark Waters and produced by Steven Spielberg. Marc Levy will explain the secret of his unique ability to tell compelling stories. His latest book translated in English, The Symphony of Monsters, is an unforgettable story of courage, resilience, and love. Marc Levy will discuss his work with internationally renowned media expert and journalist Jean Christian Agid for a horizon-expanding debate on novel writing and more.
Moderators
avatar for Jean-Christian Agid

Jean-Christian Agid

Jean-Christian Agid is a media and brand specialist with 20+ years of international experience primarily between France, the United States, Brazil, Myanmar and Mexico. He has worked both as a journalist for French and American television and radio and as a PR and Media Relations director... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Marc Levy

Marc Levy

Marc Levy was born in France. When he turned eighteen, he joined the Red Cross, where he spent the next six years. After those years, he created a computer graphics company based in France and the United States. Six years later, he co-founded an architecture firm with two friends... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 11:00am - 12:00pm EDT
14 - French Library - 1st Floor
  Fiction

11:00am EDT

Romance-ish: Public Lies, Private Loves
Saturday October 26, 2024 11:00am - 12:00pm EDT
02 - Old South Church - Mary Norton Hall
Can we keep this just between us? Join three authors as they dive into the infatuating interplay between public personas and private passions. In Riss M. Neilson’s A Love Like The Sun, lifelong best friends Laniah Thompson and Issac Jordan navigate a fateful summer that blurs the lines between friendship and romance. When Laniah, a private homebody, tells Issac, an internet sensation, that her family’s business is struggling, the two concoct the only obvious and rational plan: they must pretend to date. The longer they keep up this charade, the more undeniable their attraction becomes, forcing them to confront their true feelings outside of the spotlight. Acclaimed author and award-winning journalist, Iman Hariri-Kia, tells the story of The Most Famous Girl In The World, exploring the dark side of fame and the relentless quest for truth. Investigative journalist Rose Advani exposed socialite Poppy Hastings as a fraud years ago, but when Poppy rises as a beloved influencer after her release from prison, Rose becomes more determined than ever to uncover her secrets, with or without the help of a particularly handsome FBI agent. In Girls With Bad Reputations, bestselling author Xio Axelrod follows Mikayla, a drummer resolute to succeed and escape her past, and Tyrell, an ex-con who lands a job as her up-and-coming band’s bus-driver. Their growing romance is in danger when a tabloid exposé threatens to unravel their lives. What are they willing to sacrifice for success, and will fame stand in their way? Meena Jain, Ashland Public Library Director, navigates this conversation about contemporary romance under the public’s watchful eye. Sponsored by Lovestruck Books.
Moderators
avatar for Meena Jain

Meena Jain

Meena Jain is a Library Director and has always been a huge fan of authors and illustrators. She loves bringing creators and readers of all ages together - it's often a magical experience for both!
Presenters
avatar for Xio Axelrod

Xio Axelrod

Xio Axelrod is an award-winning, USA Today best-selling author. Xio grew up in the music industry and began recording at a young age. When she isn't writing, she can be found in the studio, writing songs, or performing. She lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
avatar for Iman Hariri-Kia

Iman Hariri-Kia

Iman Hariri-Kia is a writer, editor, and author born and based in New York City. A recipient of the Annabelle Bonner medal and a nationally acclaimed journalist, she covers sex, relationships, identity, and adolescence. Her work has appeared in Vogue, Teen Vogue, Cosmo, Nylon, Bustle... Read More →
avatar for Riss Neilson

Riss Neilson

Riss M. Neilson is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of the Rhode Island College where she won the English department’s Jean Garrigue Award, which was judged by novelist, Nick White. Her debut young adult novel, Deep in Providence, was a 2022 finalist for the New England Book Awards. She... Read More →
Sponsors and Partners
avatar for Lovestruck Books
Saturday October 26, 2024 11:00am - 12:00pm EDT
02 - Old South Church - Mary Norton Hall
  Fiction

11:00am EDT

SPARK: Using Form To Explore Universal Truths
Saturday October 26, 2024 11:00am - 12:00pm EDT
07 - Boston Public Library - Newsfeed Cafe
SPARK: Reading Series.
Grief, love, death, living: The writers in this session take these existential topics and grapple with them in exciting new ways. K. Iver’s debut collection, Short Film Starring My Beloved's Red Bronco, winner of the 2022 Ballard Spahr Prize for Poetry, is an elegiac tribute to a first love lost. “Framed by grief and longing, the poet's vivid and eclectic imagination sprawls through each poem." (Tyehimba Jess) Ananda Lima’s Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil centers on the modern Brazilian-American immigrant experience and is suffused with the ambition, loss, and longing that are specific to that experience as well as universal. “This is a remarkable debut that announces the arrival of a towering talent in speculative fiction" (NY Times). National Book Award finalist Joan Wickersham’s novel in verse, No Ship Sets Out To Be a Shipwreck, weaves a profound, personal story of loss from an encounter with an unsettling artifact: the sunken seventeenth-century Swedish warship Vasa, which lay undiscovered for three hundred years, and now sits in a museum exhibit dedicated to its failed journey. This session will be moderated by Dawn Tripp, bestselling author of Jackie and Georgia.
Moderators
avatar for Dawn Tripp

Dawn Tripp

Dawn Tripp is the acclaimed bestselling author of the biographical novels Jackie and Georgia, finalist for the New England Book Award and winner of the Mary Lynn Kotz Award for Art in Literature. Praised by The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, and... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for K Iver

K Iver

K. Iver was born in Mississippi. Their debut collection Short Film Starring My Beloved’s Red Bronco won the 2022 Ballard Spahr Prize for Poetry from Milkweed Editions, selected by Tyehimba Jess. Short Film is a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Award, the Kate Tufts Discovery Award... Read More →
avatar for Ananda Lima

Ananda Lima

Ananda Lima is a poet, fiction writer, and translator, author of Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil (Tor Books,2024) and Mother/land(Black Lawrence Press, 2021), winner of the Hudson Prize. Her work has appeared in four chapbooks, including Amblyopia (Bull City Press, 2020), and... Read More →
avatar for Joan Wickersham

Joan Wickersham

Joan Wickersham’s new book is No Ship Sets Out To Be A Shipwreck. Her memoir The Suicide Index was a National Book Award Finalist and appeared on “best books of the year” lists including The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times, New York Magazine, The Week, Salon, and The Washington... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 11:00am - 12:00pm EDT
07 - Boston Public Library - Newsfeed Cafe
  Fiction

11:00am EDT

Jump Start: Poetry Workshop
Saturday October 26, 2024 11:00am - 12:00pm EDT
17 - Goethe-Institut - Workshop Space
Would you like some new fuel for your poetic engine? Or could you use a jump start? Please join award-winning poet Charles Coe, a faculty member at the Newport MFA program, for a fun, relaxed workshop that will offer tools and strategies for generating new poetic ideas. Come spend an hour at "serious play."
Presenters
avatar for Charles Coe

Charles Coe

Charles Coe is the author of five books of poetry: All Sins Forgiven: Poems for my Parents, Picnic on the Moon, Memento Mori, Purgatory Road, and Charles Coe: New and Selected Works, all published by Leapfrog Press. He is also author of Spin Cycles, a novella published by Gemma Media... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 11:00am - 12:00pm EDT
17 - Goethe-Institut - Workshop Space
  Poetry

11:00am EDT

Poetry as a Radical Act
Saturday October 26, 2024 11:00am - 12:00pm EDT
16 - Goethe-Institut - 1st Floor
Audre Lorde said, “Poetry is not a luxury.” To think, write, and be fully engaged with the world around us in ways that matter is nothing less than a radical act of survival. Cast across continents and centuries, matrilineage and inherited silences, Joan Kwon Glass’s Daughter of Three Gone Kingdoms explores colonialism and postcolonialism through disordered eating, suicide loss, religious damage, familial estrangement, addiction, motherhood, and recovery. Matthew E. Henry’s latest collection, said the Frog to the scorpion, blurs the lines between pedagogy and prejudice, romance and anti-racism, from conversations in public school classrooms and faculty meetings, to arguments in restaurants and folding tents. Jennifer Martelli’s latest collection, Dear Justice, complicates the personal and political with a series of epistolary sonnets—addressed to conservative Supreme Court judges—that embody the struggle against gender oppression, systemic violence, and the ongoing threats to reproductive rights. In SKY.POND.MOUTH, Kevin McLellan’s poems navigate the poetic inheritance of experimental queer poets—Ashbery, Schuyler, Stein. McLellan records the inner echoes of mind and body: language and desire, illness and eros, flora and fauna, memory and moment. In poems of reclamation and warning, Anna V. Q. Ross’s Flutter, Kick plumbs motherhood, migration, childhood, and the cycles of violence and renewal that recur in each. Sponsored by Mass Poetry.
Presenters
avatar for Joan Glass

Joan Glass

Joan Kwon Glass is a Korean diasporic poet, winner of the 2024 Perugia Press Poetry Prize for her book Daughter of Three Gone Kingdoms and Night Swim, winner of the Diode Book Prize (Diode Editions, 2022). Joan’s poems have been featured or are forthcoming in Poetry, Poetry Daily... Read More →
avatar for Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry

Matthew E. Henry is the author of six poetry collections, including the Colored page (Sundress Publication, 2022), The Third Renunciation (NYQ Books, 2023), and said the Frog to the scorpion (Harbor Editions, 2024). He is editor-in-chief of The Weight Journaland an associate editor... Read More →
avatar for Jennifer Martelli

Jennifer Martelli

Jennifer Martelli has received fellowships from The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Monson Arts, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Her work has appeared in The Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day, Poetry, Best of the Net Anthology, Braving the Body Anthology, Verse Daily... Read More →
avatar for Kevin McLellan

Kevin McLellan

Kevin McLellan is the author of: Sky. Pond. Mouth. (winner of the 2024 Granite State Poetry Prize selected by Alexandria Peary); in other words you/ (winner of the 2022 Hilary Tham Capital Collection selected by Timothy Liu); Ornitheology; Tributary; Round Trip and the book objects... Read More →
avatar for Anna V.Q. Ross

Anna V.Q. Ross

Anna V. Q. Ross’s most recent book, Flutter, Kick (Red Hen Press), won the Benjamin Saltman Poetry Award, the Julia Ward Howe Award in Poetry, and was named a 2023 Best New Poetry Book by the New York Public Library. Her previous poetry collections include If a Storm (Anhinga Press... Read More →
Sponsors and Partners
avatar for Mass Poetry
Saturday October 26, 2024 11:00am - 12:00pm EDT
16 - Goethe-Institut - 1st Floor
  Poetry

11:00am EDT

Not-So Perfect Families
Saturday October 26, 2024 11:00am - 12:00pm EDT
09 - Boston Public Library - Teen Central
So many families seem picture perfect, but what happens once that camera goes away? Learn about three very different families whose teens all have secrets bubbling underneath the smooth surface, and they might just be at their breaking points! Patricia Park’s What’s Eating Jackie Oh? tells of Jackie’s desire to throw off the yoke of being your model minority while trying to keep her cool dealing with the expectations of her Korean-American parents as well as the cutthroat competition to win a cooking show. Chilling horror tale A Family of Killers by Bryce Moore depicts the cold and murderous Bender Family, alongside Warren, the teenage son of one of the Benders’ victims, determined to avenge his father. Desmond Hall’s Better Must Come follows the stories of Deja and Gabriel, two Jamaican teens aiming to find a way out for themselves while protecting the people they love most. Come hear these three authors discuss their characters’ different cultural expectations and circumstances in dealing with the funny, the treacherous, and the oh-so-real pressure to be picture-perfect. Simmons University Professor Cathryn Mercier moderates.
Moderators
avatar for Cathryn Mercier

Cathryn Mercier

Cathie Mercier serves as director of the Center for the Study of Children’s Literature and of the graduate degree programs in Children's Literature. Her interest in children’s literature – especially the visual images in picturebooks and the figurative power of adolescence in... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Desmond Hall

Desmond Hall

Desmond Hall was born in Jamaica, West Indies, and moved to Jamaica, Queens. He has worked as a high school biology and English teacher in East New York, Brooklyn; counseled teenage ex-cons after their release from Rikers Island; and served as Spike Lee’s creative director at Spike... Read More →
avatar for Bryce Moore

Bryce Moore

Bryce Moore is the author of The Perfect Place to Die and Don't Go to Sleep. When he’s not authoring, he’s a librarian in Western Maine and a past president of the Maine Library Association. And when he’s not up to his nose in library work, he’s watching movies, playing board... Read More →
avatar for Patricia Park

Patricia Park

Patricia Park is a tenured professor of creative writing at American University, a Fulbright Scholar in Creative Arts, and a Jerome Hill Artist Fellow. Her debut YA novel, Imposter Syndrome and Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim, received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews and School... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 11:00am - 12:00pm EDT
09 - Boston Public Library - Teen Central
  YA

11:15am EDT

MIDDLE GRADE: Adventures in Folklore
Saturday October 26, 2024 11:15am - 12:00pm EDT
11 - Boston Public Library - Children's Rey Room
Embark on a whirlwind adventure across the globe packed with dark magic, protector spirits, and enchanting mysteries! New York Times bestselling author Tracey Baptiste tells the tale of Moko Magic: Carnival Chaos, following twelve-year-old Misty who has just moved from sunny Trinidad to Brooklyn, New York, right in time for the annual carnival. As curious disasters and dark forces threaten the festivities, Misty and her cousins discover they’ve inherited magical powers from their ancestors—now they just need to learn to master their new powers in order to save the day…no big deal, right?! Cindy L. Rodriguez’s Lola Reyes Is So Not Worried follows a Guatemalan-American girl who fights to stop her cursed ‘worry dolls’ from absorbing all her friends' and families’ anxieties. Will Lola stop the dolls from bursting before it’s too late—and will she gather the strength to face her own anxieties and fears to finally break the curse? S.J. Taylor transports readers to 1700s Norway in Madsi The True as Madsi’s sister Lisbet is mysteriously taken by the Northern Lights. With a gang of unlikely companions, Madsi embarks on a daring quest to rescue her sister and uncover the truth. The Horn Book Editor-in-Chief Elissa Gershowitz moderates this conversation about middle grade adventures inspired by folklore.
Moderators
avatar for Elissa Gershowitz

Elissa Gershowitz

Elissa Gershowitz is editor in chief of The Horn Book, Inc., which is celebrating its one hundredth anniversary in 2024. She holds an MA from the Center for the Study of Children's Literature at Simmons University and a BA from Oberlin College.
Presenters
avatar for Tracey Baptiste

Tracey Baptiste

Tracey Baptiste (she/her) was born in Trinidad and lived there for fifteen years before moving to Brooklyn, New York. She is the New York Times best-selling author of Minecraft: The Crash, as well as the creepy Caribbean-inspired series the Jumbies, which includes The Jumbies, Rise... Read More →
avatar for Cindy Rodriguez

Cindy Rodriguez

Cindy L. Rodriguez is a lifelong book nerd and longtime advocate for Latinxs in children's literature. She is the author of the YA novel When Reason Breaks, Middle Grade novel Lola Reyes Is So Not Worried, and the award-winning picture book Three Pockets Full: A Story of Love, Family... Read More →
avatar for S.J. Taylor

S.J. Taylor

S. J. Taylor writes stories steeped in folklore and magic, where young protagonists tackle big adventures and bigger questions. Although she grew up in Arizona’s desert, her heart yearns for the Nordic lands. When she’s not writing, she can often be found knitting yet another... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 11:15am - 12:00pm EDT
11 - Boston Public Library - Children's Rey Room
  Kids

11:30am EDT

Meet Arthur!
Saturday October 26, 2024 11:30am - 12:00pm EDT
20 - Copley Square Outdoors - Costume Characters
Come meet your favorite book-loving, yellow sweater-wearing character. Near the Brainstorm Tent and walking around the outdoor fair.
Saturday October 26, 2024 11:30am - 12:00pm EDT
20 - Copley Square Outdoors - Costume Characters
  Kids

11:30am EDT

Storytime! Ismee Williams
Saturday October 26, 2024 11:30am - 12:00pm EDT
10 - Boston Public Library - Children's Library
Ismée Williams weaves a heartfelt story of immigration, family connection, and love when she reads her book Abuelo, the Sea, and Me. In the book, Cuba comes alive through Abuelo's memories of his youth and the stories he tells his grandchild. | Ages 4-8 | BPL Children’s Library
Presenters
avatar for Ismée Williams

Ismée Williams

Ismée Williams is the award-winning author of Water in May (2017) and This Train Is Being Held (2020) published by Amulet books, a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection and winner of the ILBA Gold Medal for best YA Romance. Ismée also co-edited the YA anthology, Boundless... Read More →
Sponsors and Partners
avatar for Globe Santa Fndn
Saturday October 26, 2024 11:30am - 12:00pm EDT
10 - Boston Public Library - Children's Library
  Kids

11:30am EDT

BBF Unbound: National Book Critics Circle at 50: The Past, Present, and Future
Saturday October 26, 2024 11:30am - 12:30pm EDT
12 - Boston Public Library - Orientation Room
The National Book Critics Circle, founded in 1974, brings together vital voices in cultural
criticism and practitioners of literary arts in its annual prizes and other programming throughout
the year. In celebration of NBCC’s 50th anniversary, come join this dynamic conversation led by Boston-area critics and writers who have served on the NBCC, been recognized for its prizes, or both. This session will offer insight about becoming a book critic, how decisions are made about what books get reviewed, and the critic’s relationship to writing criticism and making art. There also will be a Q&A period with the audience. Kate Tuttle, past NBCC president and current editor of the books coverage of The Boston Globe, moderates the panel with literary critic and poet Stephanie Burt, memorist and literary critic Nina MacLaughlin, and essayist and cultural critic Jesse McCarthy.
Moderators
avatar for Kate Tuttle

Kate Tuttle

Kate Tuttle is a book critic, essayist, and editor. A past president of the National Book Critics Circle and judge for the National Book Award, she edits the books pages of the Boston Globe. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and elsewhere... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Stephanie Burt

Stephanie Burt

Stephanie Burt is the Donald and Katherine Loker Professor of English at Harvard. She writes about poems, poets, poetry, science fiction, fantasy, comic book superheroes, trans and queer lives, and pop music for a bevy of journals, academic, semipopular and fan-facing, among them... Read More →
avatar for Nina Maclaughlin

Nina Maclaughlin

Nina MacLaughlin is the author of Wake, Siren (FSG), a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award and the Massachusetts Book Award, as well as Summer Solstice and Winter Solstice (Black Sparrow), a finalist for the Massachusetts Book Award. Her first book was the acclaimed memoir Hammer... Read More →
avatar for Jesse Mccarthy

Jesse Mccarthy

Jesse McCarthy is the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities and of the Social Sciences at Harvard University. He is the author of The Blue Period: Black Writing in the Early Cold War; Who Will Pay Reparations on My Soul?, winner of the 2022 Whiting Award for Nonfiction... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 11:30am - 12:30pm EDT
12 - Boston Public Library - Orientation Room
  Unbound

11:45am EDT

Between Worlds: Memory, Revelation, and Coming of Age
Saturday October 26, 2024 11:45am - 12:45pm EDT
03 - Old South Church - Guild Room
Three profoundly moving novels map the complex and intimate bonds between parents and children along with the redemptive power of stories that transcend time. Praised by the New York Journal of Books as “fresh and provocative and deep,” Days of Wonder, the latest novel of NY Times bestselling author Caroline Leavitt is a bold, intricately woven story about a young mother who must reinvent her identity to clear her name and search for her lost daughter. Jeanne Blasberg’s Daughter of a Promise is a “sagacious and graceful-modern day retelling of a biblical love story” (Kirkus Reviews) that explores the tensile forces between ambition and desire. Praised  by Booklist as “a deceiving and entrancing tale”, Henriette Lazaridis’ Last Days in Plaka is a deft and layered coming-of-age novel, set in Athens, where a young Greek-American woman’s hunger to belong draws her into a fateful encounter with an aging widow. This session will be moderated by Jessica Keener whose most recent novel, Strangers in Budapest, was praised as a “tense and atmospheric thriller” by the Boston Globe.
Moderators
avatar for Jessica Keener

Jessica Keener

Jessica Keener's bestselling debut novel, Night Swim, was followed by an award-winning collection of stories, Women in Bed. Her second novel, Strangers in Budapest, was an Indie Next pick, an Entertainment Weekly Best New Book selection, and a Southern Independent Bookseller Association... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Jeanne Blasberg

Jeanne Blasberg

Jeanne Blasberg is an author and essayist whose third novel, Daughter of a Promise, was released in April 2024. The Nine was honored with the 2019 Foreword Indies Gold Award in Thriller & Suspense, and the Gold Medal and Juror's Choice in the 2019 National Indie Excellence Awards... Read More →
avatar for Henriette Lazaridis

Henriette Lazaridis

Henriette Lazaridis’s latest novel Last Days in Plaka was a Good Morning America Buzz Pick. Her second, Terra Nova, was called “ingenious” and “provocative” by the New York Times, and her debut The Clover House was a Boston Globe bestseller. Her short work has appeared... Read More →
avatar for Caroline Leavitt

Caroline Leavitt

Caroline Leavitt is the critically acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of 13 novels, including Days of Wonder, With or Without You, Is This Tomorrow, Pictures of You, Girls in Trouble, Coming Back to Me, Living Other Lives, Into Thin Air, Family, Lifelines, Meeting Rozzy Halfway... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 11:45am - 12:45pm EDT
03 - Old South Church - Guild Room
  Fiction

11:45am EDT

Science and Society Keynote: Francis Collins
Saturday October 26, 2024 11:45am - 12:45pm EDT
06 - Boston Public Library - Rabb Hall
Francis Collins has a distinguished career by any standard. He was the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute and, more recently, was head of the National Institutes of Health. He is a man of science and a man of faith. In his new book, The Road to Wisdom: On Truth, Science, Faith, and Trust, he proposes a philosophical and scientific framework to address the plague of distrust, cynicism, partisanship, and racism that our country is experiencing. He makes a case for four core sources of judgment and clear thinking: truth, science, faith, and trust. He believes these values can work together and not in conflict and that with courage and humility, we can embrace what we all have in common and rebuild a fractured society. Join us for a probing and enlightening discussion led by Boston Public Library President, David Leonard. Sponsored by the Boston Public Library.
Moderators
avatar for David Leonard

David Leonard

David Leonard is President of the Boston Public Library, a thriving 170-year-old institution and one of Boston’s great educational, cultural, and civic treasures. David began working at the BPL in 2009, bringing a wealth of experience from the technology, management, and consulting... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Francis Collins

Francis Collins

Francis S. Collins is a physician and geneticist. His groundbreaking work has led to the discovery of the cause of cystic fibrosis, among other diseases. In 1993 he was appointed director of the international Human Genome Project, which successfully sequenced all 3 billion letters... Read More →
Sponsors and Partners
avatar for Boston Public Library
Saturday October 26, 2024 11:45am - 12:45pm EDT
06 - Boston Public Library - Rabb Hall
  Nonfiction

11:45am EDT

The Temper of Revolution, The Wardrobe of Liberation
Saturday October 26, 2024 11:45am - 12:45pm EDT
08 - Boston Public Library - Commonwealth Salon
This session takes a fresh look at the French Revolution from the perspective of public opinion and fashion. Robert Darnton’s The Revolutionary Temper: Paris 1748 – 1749, considers the period prior to the Revolution, showing how public opinion among ordinary Parisians was fueled by real and fake news from diverse sources including pamphlets, engravings, and rhyming doggerel. Anne Higonnet’s Liberty, Equality, Fashion: The Women Who Styled the French Revolution, describes the sartorial revolt of fashion influencers Joséphine Bonaparte, Térézia Tallien, and Juliette Récamier. The story of these women’s styles and celebrity is a study in creativity, liberation, and female empowerment. Join us for a rip-roaring look at the French Revolution, led by Rachel Slade, author of Making It in America: The Almost Impossible Quest to Manufacture in the U.S.A. (And How It Got That Way.) Vive la révolution!
Moderators
avatar for Rachel Slade

Rachel Slade

Rachel Slade is the acclaimed author of Into the Raging Sea, a national bestseller, New York Times Notable Book, and winner of the Maine Literary Award for nonfiction. She spent a decade in the city magazine trenches at Boston—first as the design editor, ultimately as executive... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Robert Darnton

Robert Darnton

Robert Darnton is the author of many award-winning works in French cultural history, and taught for years at Princeton and Harvard. He is a chevalier in the Légion d’Honneur, and winner of the National Humanities Medal.
avatar for Anne Higonnet

Anne Higonnet

Anne Higonnet is professor of art history at Barnard College, Columbia University, where she teaches a course called “Clothing.” She has received many awards, including Guggenheim and Harvard Radcliffe Institute fellowships.
Saturday October 26, 2024 11:45am - 12:45pm EDT
08 - Boston Public Library - Commonwealth Salon
  Nonfiction

12:00pm EDT

Walking Tour 1
Saturday October 26, 2024 12:00pm - 12:45pm EDT
22 - Outside BPL Boylston Street Entrance
Join Boston By Foot to explore the Back Bay neighborhood and see historic sites connected to literature and writers of all flavors. From literary clubs to literary greats, this mini 45-minute tour aims to whet your appetite for more!

Start: Meet in front of the Boylston Street entrance to the Boston Public Library
End: In Copley Square
Terrain: Mostly flat
Distance: .45 miles
Saturday October 26, 2024 12:00pm - 12:45pm EDT
22 - Outside BPL Boylston Street Entrance
  Tour

12:00pm EDT

Musical Performance: Maxwell Vai Duo
Saturday October 26, 2024 12:00pm - 12:50pm EDT
18 - Copley Square Outdoors - Berklee Stage
Maxwell Vai, a young bass player from Milwaukee, has always harbored a profound passion for jazz music. His grandfather, an accomplished bassist, inspired him to take up the instrument. Maxwell’s musical journey began in middle school, where he first discovered his love for music. Since then, he has dedicated himself to the art of music and honoring his grandfather’s legacy. Maxwell is currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in Performance at Berklee College of Music. @mkswll
Presenters
avatar for Maxwell Vai Duo
Saturday October 26, 2024 12:00pm - 12:50pm EDT
18 - Copley Square Outdoors - Berklee Stage
  Music

12:00pm EDT

Mystery Keynote: The Art and Allure of Suspense
Saturday October 26, 2024 12:00pm - 1:00pm EDT
04 - Church of the Covenant - Sanctuary
As a wave of murders grips Southern California, an unlikely pair in the form of rule-abiding Carmen Sanchez and outside-the-lines Professor Jake Heron, must untangle the mysterious patterns of an elusive killer. Join bestselling authors Jeffery Deaver and Isabella Maldonado for an exciting behind-the-scenes peek at their collaborative creative process on Fatal Intrusion, Book 1 in the new Sanchez-Heron series. Jeffery Deaver is the #1 internationally bestselling author of the Lincoln Rhyme and Colter Shaw series which have both been turned into TV series, as well as a major feature film starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. Maldonado is the WSJ bestselling author of the Miranda Cruz and X series; her novel The Cipher is currently in development as a feature film with Netflix and Jennifer Lopez. Prior to her career as a writer, Maldonado worked in law enforcement, where she was the first Latina woman to attain the rank of captain in her police department and was hand-picked to go to the FBI Academy in Quantico. These two masters of mystery—a former homicide detective and lawyer—will share how they create suspense, compelling characters, and compulsively readable stories that keep readers up late. They will be joined by Sara DiVello, author of Broadway Butterfly, a true crime thriller exploring corruption, justice, and power in the Jazz Age. Sponsored by Meet Boston.
Moderators
avatar for Sara Divello

Sara Divello

Sara DiVello is a true crime writer and the creator/host of Mystery and Thriller Mavens, a popular author interview series and interactive Facebook group. Her book, Broadway Butterfly: A Thriller, was a CBS New York Book Club Pick, an Entertainment Weekly Most Anticipated Book, was... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Jeffery Deaver

Jeffery Deaver

Jeffery Deaver is a New York Times bestseller, Grand Master of Mystery Writers of America, and the author of the books that are the basis for Tracker, the CBS drama that is the number one TV show in America
avatar for Isabella Maldonado

Isabella Maldonado

Isabella Maldonado is the award-winning and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Dani Vega, Veranda Cruz, and Nina Guerrera series (being developed by Netflix for a feature film starring Jennifer Lopez). Her books are published in 24 languages. Maldonado wore a gun and... Read More →
Sponsors and Partners
avatar for Meet Boston
Saturday October 26, 2024 12:00pm - 1:00pm EDT
04 - Church of the Covenant - Sanctuary
  Fiction

12:00pm EDT

Foundational American Stories
Saturday October 26, 2024 12:00pm - 1:00pm EDT
13 - Boston Public Library - Guastavino
Each of the astonishing books discussed in this session tells America’s origin stories by examining the histories of specific families. In Heart of American Darkness: Bewilderment and Horror on the Early Frontier, Robert Parkinson describes the decidedly unheroic, bloody savagery of the frontier through the tragic story of an Iroquois clan and a family of frontiersmen. John Kaag follows the fortunes of the Blood family from their involvement in the British Civil Wars of the seventeenth century through the founding of the colonies, the American Revolution, the Industrial Revolution and first-wave feminism in American Bloods: The Untamed Dynasty That Shaped a Nation. Lori Ginzberg, in Tangled Journeys: One Family’s Story and the Making of American History, traces the descendants of one slave, whose complicated blood kin relationships demonstrate the impact of Black life on every aspect of American history. The conversation among these stellar scholars will be led by Megan Marshall, whose biography, Margaret Fuller: A New American Life, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2014.
Moderators
avatar for Megan Marshall

Megan Marshall

Megan Marshall is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Margaret Fuller: A New American Life, Elizabeth Bishop: A Miracle for Breakfast, and The Peabody Sisters: Three Women Who Ignited American Romanticism, a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Her biographies have been awarded the Frances... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Lori Ginzberg

Lori Ginzberg

Lori D. Ginzberg is Professor Emeritus of History and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Pennsylvania State University. A historian of nineteenth-century American women with a particular interest in the intersections between intellectual and social history, her research has... Read More →
avatar for John Kaag

John Kaag

John Kaag is a professor of philosophy at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. He is the author of American Philosophy: A Love Story and Hiking with Nietzsche, both of which were named best books of the year by NPR. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Harper’s Magazine... Read More →
avatar for Robert Parkinson

Robert Parkinson

Robert G. Parkinson is associate professor of history at Binghamton University. He is the author of The Common Cause and Thirteen Clocks. He lives in Charles Town, West Virginia.
Saturday October 26, 2024 12:00pm - 1:00pm EDT
13 - Boston Public Library - Guastavino
  Nonfiction

12:00pm EDT

Threats to Democracy: Elections and Algorithms
Saturday October 26, 2024 12:00pm - 1:00pm EDT
01 - Old South Church - Sanctuary
Constitutional law scholar Lawrence Lessig believes that the effort to overthrow the results of the 2020 election employed the “dumbest possible strategy.” In How to Steal a Presidential Election, Lessig lays out seven far more plausible ways that the vote could be overturned. If the Republicans lose the 2024 election, they may make use of loopholes in the Constitution that you could drive a truck through, most of them by way of statehouses and governors’ mansions. Can these efforts be foiled? Renée DiResta, in Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies into Reality, refers to an “asymmetry of passion” on social media which leads to small, rabidly dedicated groups having outsize influence on public discourse, causing a “crisis of social consensus.” This has been especially true of the COVID-19 deniers, election deniers, and anti-vaxxers. The algorithms behind the social media platforms exaggerate and amplify the views of these right-wing influencers. Learn about these very real threats to democracy and how they can be countered in this important session moderated by Adam Reilly, GBH political reporter and host of Talking Politics.


Moderators
avatar for Adam Reilly

Adam Reilly

Adam Reilly is a politics reporter and the host of GBH’s Talking Politics.Before joining GBH, Adam covered media and politics for the Boston Phoenix. He is a graduate of Carleton College and Harvard Divinity School.
Presenters
avatar for Renee DiResta

Renee DiResta

Renée DiResta’s work examines rumors and propaganda in the digital age. She has analyzed geopolitical campaigns created by foreign powers such as Russia, China, and Iran; voting related rumors that led to the January 6 insurrection; and health misinformation and conspiracy theories... Read More →
avatar for Lawrence Lessig

Lawrence Lessig

Lawrence Lessig is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School.
Saturday October 26, 2024 12:00pm - 1:00pm EDT
01 - Old South Church - Sanctuary
  Nonfiction

12:15pm EDT

Storytime! Alex London and Paul O. Zelinsky
Saturday October 26, 2024 12:15pm - 12:45pm EDT
10 - Boston Public Library - Children's Library
A still-life painting is a painting where everything is supposed to stay still. But what if it doesn’t?! Acclaimed author Alex London and Caldecott Medal-winning artist Paul O. Zelinsky team up to read Still Life–a book full of art, rule-breaking, and a whole lot of fun! | Ages 4-8 | BPL Children’s Library
Presenters
avatar for Alex London

Alex London

Alex London is the acclaimed author of more than thirty books for children and teens, including the picture book Still Life, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky. His middle grade novels include The Princess Protection Program, Search & Rescue, Dog Tags, and two titles in the 39 Clues... Read More →
avatar for Paul O. Zelinsky

Paul O. Zelinsky

Paul O. Zelinsky is the illustrator of many acclaimed books for children. He is the illustrator of Kelly Bingham’s Z Is for Moose and Circle, Square, Moose, Jack Prelutsky’s Awful Ogre’s Awful Day, Emily Jenkins’s Toys Go Out, and Anne Isaac’s Dust Devil. He is also the... Read More →
Sponsors and Partners
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Saturday October 26, 2024 12:15pm - 12:45pm EDT
10 - Boston Public Library - Children's Library
  Kids

12:15pm EDT

Zeke from Work it Out Wombats!
Saturday October 26, 2024 12:15pm - 12:45pm EDT
20 - Copley Square Outdoors - Costume Characters
Zeke the Wombat is here to say hello!  Near the Brainstorm Tent and walking around the outdoor fair.
Saturday October 26, 2024 12:15pm - 12:45pm EDT
20 - Copley Square Outdoors - Costume Characters
  Kids

12:15pm EDT

Trends in Technology: Devilish or Divine?
Saturday October 26, 2024 12:15pm - 1:15pm EDT
05 - Trinity Church - Undercroft
Both the internet and AI are in many ways a boon to society, and yet the threats they pose are undeniable. This session looks at both the benefits and perils and offers a nuanced approach to managing these powerful technologies. Internet maven Jeff Jarvis defends the internet in The Web We Weave: Why We Must Reclaim the Internet from Moguls, Misanthropes, and Moral Panic. The internet is only as good as the people who use it, he argues, and the regulations that have been proposed will fail to fix hate speech, but may imperil freedom. AI researcher and computer scientist Daniella L. Rus, co-author of The Mind’s Mirror: Risk and Reward in the Age of AI, highlights the enormous benefits to society of AI, while also addressing how to mitigate the potential dangers. Andrew Smith explores how algorithmic code works by learning how to write it. In Devil in the Stack: Searching for the Soul of the New Machine, he explores the fascinating history of coding and the threats to privacy and human autonomy that fuel this ultimately anti-social technology. Join us for a provocative discussion led by Dan Lothian, Editor-in-Chief of GBH News and The World.


Moderators
avatar for Dan Lothian

Dan Lothian

Dan Lothian is the Editor-in-Chief of GBH News and The World. He also lectures on Journalism, ethics and news literacy at Northeastern University in Boston. Prior to joining The World, Lothian was a White House Correspondent at CNN where he also covered political campaigns and breaking... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Jeff Jarvis

Jeff Jarvis

Jeff Jarvis is the Tow Professor of Journalism Innovation Emeritus at CUNY's Newmark Graduate School of Journalism. He is the author of six books, including The Web We Weave as well as The Gutenberg Parenthesis and Magazine. He cohosts the podcasts "This Week in Google" and "AI Inside... Read More →
avatar for Daniela Rus

Daniela Rus

The author of The Mind's Mirror and The Heart and the Chip, Daniela Rus is a pioneering roboticist and a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, where she is the director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. A global leader in robotics... Read More →
avatar for Andrew Smith

Andrew Smith

Andrew Smith has worked as a critic and feature writer for the Sunday Times, the Guardian, the Observer, and The Face, and has penned documentaries for the BBC. He is the author of the internationally bestselling book Moondust, about the nine remaining men who walked on the moon between... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 12:15pm - 1:15pm EDT
05 - Trinity Church - Undercroft
  Nonfiction

12:30pm EDT

MIDDLE GRADE: Fantasy: Different worlds… right in front of you
Saturday October 26, 2024 12:30pm - 1:15pm EDT
11 - Boston Public Library - Children's Rey Room
Prepare to explore enchanted realms and mysterious dark regions in these tales of young adventurers! Dive into the Ghanaian supernatural with Craig Kofi Farmer and learn how twelve-year old Kwame sets out to help his late grandmother save humanity from the wrath of the nature gods in Kwame Crashes the Underworld. Piper CJ, author of the best-selling series The Night and Its Moon, invites you to enter a school like no other where part-human and part-fae students learn to work their peculiar powers to unravel the mystery at the heart of Fern’s School for Wayward Fae: Graveyard Gift. Soar with Zuli in Majorie Liu’s Wingborn, the sequel to Wingbearer, as she embarks on a quest to free the spirits of her bird friends. After escaping a merchant airship, Zuli must uncover ancient secrets in order to restore the world’s broken magic. Boston Public Library children’s librarian Patty Lawley guides us on this fantastical tour.
Moderators
avatar for Patricia C. Lawley

Patricia C. Lawley

Patty Lawley was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs before moving to Boston. She's a children's librarian who loves reading children's literature and graphic novels for all ages. Her favorite part about working with kids is how they too appreciate the timeless humor of a good... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Piper Cj

Piper Cj

Piper CJ has an M.A. in Folklore and a B.A. in Broadcasting. She is the author of the USA Today and Barnes & Noble bestselling adult fantasy series The Night and Its Moon (Bloom Books), and a member of the LGBTQIA+ community. When she isn’t making TikToks for her 1 million plus... Read More →
avatar for Craig Kofi Farmer

Craig Kofi Farmer

Craig Kofi Farmer is a Prince George's County native, with two Bachelor of Science degrees from Towson University and one Master of Education degree from the University of Maryland, College Park. He works in higher education administration, helping students achieve work-life balance... Read More →
avatar for Marjorie Liu

Marjorie Liu

Marjorie Liu is the New York Times bestselling author of the Monstress series, illustrated by Sana Takeda. She also writes for Marvel Comics, including Black Widow, X-23, and Astonishing X-Men. Marjorie teaches comic book writing at MIT and divides her time between Boston, Massachusetts... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 12:30pm - 1:15pm EDT
11 - Boston Public Library - Children's Rey Room
  Kids

12:30pm EDT

Turn Back Now!
Saturday October 26, 2024 12:30pm - 1:15pm EDT
09 - Boston Public Library - Teen Central
Join us for a series of chilling tales where the past and present collide, dark secrets are revealed, and courage is tested. From haunted houses to the wayward web, characters must land in uncharted territories to face their demons! In Ciera Burch’s Something Kindred, Jericka Walker’s summer plans take an unexpected turn when she’s sent to Coldwater, Maryland to care for her dying grandmother. As Jericka explores eerie Coldwater, she encounters Kat, a ghostly girl eager to escape. The town holds a chilling grip, revealing haunting truths about Jericka’s family and blurring the lines between the living and the dead. Will Jericka unravel Coldwater’s secrets before its sinister past consumes her? Kelly Andrew’s Your Blood, My Bones follows Wyatt Westlock, who’s inherited her family’s farmhouse and has one goal: to destroy it. However, her plans come to a shocking halt when she discovers someone from her past who is bound to the farm. As ancient forces gather, the two must work together and dare to overcome their mutual mistrust in order to survive and repair the property’s protective spells. Tatiana Schlote-Bonne’s Such Lovely Skin tells the story of Viv, a chronic liar and avid gamer haunted by guilt of her sister’s death. When she returns to Twitch streaming in hopes of redemption, she accidentally summons a demonic mimic by revealing her darkest secret. Infamously known as a liar, Viv struggles to convince others of her doppelganger’s existence. To save herself and those she’s wronged, she must confront her dark past and all-consuming lies once and for all. Hannah Robinson, Porter Square Books bookseller, moderates.
Moderators
avatar for Hannah Robinson

Hannah Robinson

Hannah Robinson has been a bookseller at Porter Square Books for the past four years, a recent grad of Lesley University’s English and Digital Filmmaking program, and a high School English teacher in training!
Presenters
avatar for Kelly Andrew

Kelly Andrew

Kelly Andrew is the New York Times bestselling author of Your Blood, My Bones and The Whispering Dark. She lost her hearing when she was four years old and has been telling stories ever since. Kelly lives in New England with her husband, two daughters, and a persnickety Boston T... Read More →
avatar for Ciera Burch

Ciera Burch

Ciera Burch is the author of Something Kindred and Out of Step, into You. She has a B.A. from American University and an M.F.A. from Emerson College. When she’s not reading or listening to podcasts, she can probably be found playing Dungeons & Dragons, eating ice cream, or trying... Read More →
avatar for Tatiana Schlote-Bonne

Tatiana Schlote-Bonne

Tatiana Schlote-Bonne is a mixed-race Japanese American author with an MFA in creative writing from the University of Iowa. She won the 2020 Diverse Worlds grant from the Speculative Literature Foundation and 2nd place in the 2019 Tucson Festival of Books Literary Awards for short... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 12:30pm - 1:15pm EDT
09 - Boston Public Library - Teen Central
  YA

12:30pm EDT

Colombe Schneck: Swimming in Paris: Sexuality, Abortion, Friendship, and Femininity
Saturday October 26, 2024 12:30pm - 1:30pm EDT
14 - French Library - 1st Floor
Written in a style that evokes Annie Ernaux’s precise and intimate work on social milieu and sexuality, Swimming in Paris is a decades-long exploration of the complicated relationships that women so often have with their own bodies. Whether depicting a teenage abortion in the midst of a privileged Parisian upbringing, or unexpected romances, Colombe Schneck’s prose exudes an unwavering elegance and intimacy. In Pamela Druckerman’s words, “Schneck offers a periscopic view into bourgeois Paris and captures the terror and truth of love like only a Frenchwoman can.” Join the author to know more about  this powerful meditation on a lifelong journey to reclaim the female body. She will be interviewed by Shuchi Sarawsat, writer, journalist and founder of the Transnational Literature Series at Brookline Booksmith, a reading series focused on stories of migration, the intersection of politics & literature.
Moderators
avatar for Shuchi Saraswat

Shuchi Saraswat

Shuchi Saraswat’s essays are forthcoming in Ploughshares and Orion. The founder and former director of the Transnational Literature Series at Brookline Booksmith, she’s now the senior editor of the literary magazine, AGNI.
Presenters
avatar for Colombe Schneck

Colombe Schneck

Colombe Schneck is documentary film director, a journalist, and the author of twelve books of fiction and nonfiction. She has received prizes from the Académie française, Madame Figaro, and the Société des gens de lettres. The recipient of a scholarship from the Villa Medici in... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 12:30pm - 1:30pm EDT
14 - French Library - 1st Floor
  Fiction

12:30pm EDT

Fate and Artistic Awakening
Saturday October 26, 2024 12:30pm - 1:30pm EDT
02 - Old South Church - Mary Norton Hall
In these three novels, the protagonists make decisions that alter their life trajectory and spark new creative awakenings. In Ann Hood’s page-turning novel, The Stolen Child, an elderly Rhode Island man, haunted by a choice he made during World War I, seeks to make amends with the help of a college dropout. This unlikely duo embark on a journey through France and Italy to find out what happened to the French artist who thrust her paintings and baby in the young soldier's arms. In J. Courtney Sullivan’s “capacious and engaging sixth novel,” (NYTimes) The Cliffs, Jane Flanagan returns to her childhood home in Maine after a terrible mistake that threatens both her career and marriage. While there, she is hired to research the history of a house that has always enchanted her. Jane uncovers the stories of the house’s inhabitants, which tell a larger and more complicated tale of forbidden love, colonialism, and stolen historic artifacts. The book “makes the case that knowing what came before offers us our best chance to truly understand our connections to one another, and what we owe to the land we inhabit” (NYTimes). Diane Richards’ debut novel, Ella, examines the teenage years of Ella Fitzgerald and how she struggled to escape her abusive stepfather, poverty, and racism. During her struggles, she comes to the realization that it is her voice, and not the dancing career she had embarked on, that would set her on the path to fame, success and renown. Richards, who was a former background vocalist for Whitney Houston, “conducted extensive research, resulting in bringing the sights and sounds of 1930s Harlem to vivid life” (PW, Starred Review). Hood, Sullivan and Richards are joined by Katherine Sherbrooke, the award winning author of three novels including NYTimes notable and MA Book Award finalist, Leaving Coy's Hill.  Sponsored by Lesley University.
Moderators
avatar for Katherine Sherbrooke
Presenters
avatar for Ann Hood

Ann Hood

Ann Hood is the author most recently of The Stolen Child and the bestselling novels The Knitting Circle, The Obituary Writer, and The Book That Matters Most, and 5 memoirs, including Comfort: A Journey Through Grief and Fly Girl.
avatar for Diane Richards

Diane Richards

Diane Richards is the Executive Director of the Harlem Writers Guild and a writer, playwright, music producer. She is also a singer who cut her own album in the 1980s and performed backup for Whitney Houston. Like Ella, Diane won a talent competition that launched her career—singing... Read More →
avatar for J. Courtney Sullivan

J. Courtney Sullivan

J. Courtney Sullivan is the best-selling author of the novels Commencement, Maine, The Engagements, Saints for All Occasions, and Friends and Strangers. Her work has been translated into seventeen languages. Sullivan’s writing has appeared in the New York Times Book Review, The... Read More →
Sponsors and Partners
avatar for Lesley University
Saturday October 26, 2024 12:30pm - 1:30pm EDT
02 - Old South Church - Mary Norton Hall
  Fiction

12:30pm EDT

SPARK: The Suspenseful, Speculative, and Surreal
Saturday October 26, 2024 12:30pm - 1:30pm EDT
07 - Boston Public Library - Newsfeed Cafe
SPARK: Reading Series. In this session, you’ll hear three authors whose work takes us to far-flung locales: from the Scottish Highlands to the wilds of Calabria to surreal interplanetary worlds—all of them peopled with richly depicted characters who blaze with life. Juliet Grames’s The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia is a wild ride through the crime-ridden cliffs of Southern Italy, where an American woman tries to solve a murder—and find meaning in her life at the same time, described by The Boston Globe as a “deeply compelling, well-crafted mystery.” In NY Times bestselling author Margot Livesey’s historical novel, The Road From Belhaven, a young girl with the gift of second sight sets out to forge her own future at a time when women’s options were limited by circumstance. “Margot Livesey is an incandescent writer…always imbuing her characters with astonishing humanity and grace” (NY Times). The stories in Ruben Reyes Jr.’s There is a Rio Grande in Heaven range widely across time and place, creating dreamlike worlds that help us to make sense of our own. "Tethered to historical fact and enlivened by speculative elements, Reyes' fiction brings into focus the troubling legacies that stalk so many Central American nations." (Kirkus) This session will be moderated by Whitney Scharer, founder of the Arlington Author Salon and author of The Age of Light.


Moderators
avatar for Whitney Scharer

Whitney Scharer

Whitney Scharer holds a BA in English from Wesleyan University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Washington. Her first novel, The Age of Light, was a Boston Globe and IndieNext bestseller, People Pick, and Massachusetts Book Award "Must Read," and was chosen as... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Juliet Grames

Juliet Grames

Juliet Grames is the best-selling author of The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna and The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia. Her essays and short fiction have appeared in Real Simple, Parade, and The Boston Globe, and she is the recipient of an Ellery Queen Award from the Mystery Writers... Read More →
avatar for Margot Livesey

Margot Livesey

Margot Livesey grew up on the edge of the Scottish Highlands and has taught in numerous writing programs including Emerson College, Boston University, Bowdoin College and the Warren Wilson low residency MFA program. She is the author of a collection of stories and nine novels, including... Read More →
avatar for Ruben Reyes

Ruben Reyes

Ruben Reyes Jr. is the son of two Salvadoran immigrants and the author of There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and Harvard College, his writing has appeared in The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, Lightspeed Magazine, and other publications... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 12:30pm - 1:30pm EDT
07 - Boston Public Library - Newsfeed Cafe
  Fiction

12:30pm EDT

Blue Flare: Haitian Women Poets of the Now
Saturday October 26, 2024 12:30pm - 1:30pm EDT
16 - Goethe-Institut - 1st Floor
This session will feature the internationally lauded poet Marie-Célie Agnant (former Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate) in conversation with Danielle Legros Georges (former Boston Poet Laureate). The writers will discuss the riveting work that appears in the newly released anthology Blue Flare, written from the standpoints of 21st century Haitian, Caribbean and African diasporic women. Join this dynamic conversation by award-winning Haitian and American women committed to literary and cultural works that reveal, dream, instigate interrogations, express deep commitments to questions of ethics, occupy crossroads, and mine intersections. Sponsored by Mass Poetry.
Presenters
avatar for Marie-Célie Agnant

Marie-Célie Agnant

Marie-Célie Agnant is a writer, translator, and activist whose novels have been widely translated, including The Book of Emma (2004), which evokes the hardships endured by enslaved women in the Caribbean and the challenges to giving voice to this history today. She received the Prix... Read More →
avatar for Danielle Legros Georges

Danielle Legros Georges

Danielle Legros Georges is a poet, translator, and editor whose work has been supported by fellowships and grants from organizations including the American Antiquarian Society, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Boston Foundation... Read More →
Sponsors and Partners
avatar for Mass Poetry
Saturday October 26, 2024 12:30pm - 1:30pm EDT
16 - Goethe-Institut - 1st Floor
  Poetry

12:30pm EDT

Braving the Body: A Generative Writing Poetry Workshop
Saturday October 26, 2024 12:30pm - 1:30pm EDT
17 - Goethe-Institut - Workshop Space
Join two of the coeditors of a new poetry anthology, Braving the Body (Harbor Editions, 2024) that Dawn Lundy Martin calls “astonishing.” Martin states, “after these 116 poems—at times achingly visceral, at others necessarily light-filled—you’ll wonder how you ever thought a body was a thing you knew.” Pichchenda Bao and Jennifer Franklin will lead participants through generative writing prompts inspired by a series of poems in the anthology by Diane Seuss, Ellen Bass, Fred Marchant, Martha Collins, Iain Haley Pollock, Kim Addonizio, and Caridad Moro-Gronlier.
Presenters
avatar for Pichchenda Bao

Pichchenda Bao

Pichchenda Bao is a Cambodian American poet and writer, infant survivor of the Khmer Rouge genocide, daughter of refugees, and stay-at-home mother. Her work has most recently been published by The Offing, Sunday Salon, New Ohio Review, Cultural Daily, great weather for MEDIA, and... Read More →
avatar for Jennifer Franklin

Jennifer Franklin

Jennifer Franklin (she/her) holds an AB from Brown University and an MFA from Columbia University. She is the author of three poetry collections including If Some God Shakes Your House (Four Way Books, 2023), finalist for the 2024 Paterson Poetry Prize and finalist for the 2023 Julie... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 12:30pm - 1:30pm EDT
17 - Goethe-Institut - Workshop Space
  Poetry

1:00pm EDT

Meet Arthur
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:00pm - 1:30pm EDT
20 - Copley Square Outdoors - Costume Characters
Come meet your favorite book-loving, yellow sweater-wearing character. Near the Brainstorm Tent and walking around the outdoor fair.
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:00pm - 1:30pm EDT
20 - Copley Square Outdoors - Costume Characters
  Kids

1:00pm EDT

Storytime! Nadia Hohn
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:00pm - 1:30pm EDT
10 - Boston Public Library - Children's Library
Nobody knows maps like Nikki, who traces her family’s roots all across the globe. After a wrong turn on a road trip, can Nikki use her knowledge to reroute them in time for Uncle Travis’ wedding? Find out when award-winning educator and artivist Nadia L. Hohn reads Getting Us To Grandma’s. | Ages 4-8 | BPL Children’s Library
Presenters
avatar for Nadia Hohn

Nadia Hohn

Nadia L. Hohn, B.A. (Hon.), B.Ed., M.Ed., M.F.A. is a multilingual, award-winning author of several books for young people, including A Likkle Miss Lou: How Jamaican Poet Louise Bennett Coverley Found Her Voice (Owlkids, 2019), Harriet Tubman: Freedom Fighter (HarperKids, 2018), and... Read More →
Sponsors and Partners
avatar for Globe Santa Fndn
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:00pm - 1:30pm EDT
10 - Boston Public Library - Children's Library
  Kids

1:00pm EDT

Walking Tour 2
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:00pm - 1:45pm EDT
22 - Outside BPL Boylston Street Entrance
Join Boston By Foot to explore the Back Bay neighborhood and see historic sites connected to literature and writers of all flavors. From literary clubs to literary greats, this mini 45-minute tour aims to whet your appetite for more!

Start: Meet in front of the Boylston Street entrance to the Boston Public Library
End: In Copley Square
Terrain: Mostly flat
Distance: .45 miles
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:00pm - 1:45pm EDT
22 - Outside BPL Boylston Street Entrance
  Tour

1:00pm EDT

Musical Performance: Eli Yacinthe
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:00pm - 1:50pm EDT
18 - Copley Square Outdoors - Berklee Stage
Eli Yacinthe is a North Carolina born guitar player, singer, songwriter, and producer. Taking influence from artists like Stevie Wonder, D’Angelo, and Marvin Gaye, he produces music with a rich sense of harmony, and colorful melodies. His live band features a full horn section, and makes a point of approaching each tune with a unit mentality, bringing about a unique and tight sound. @eliyacinthemusic
Presenters
avatar for Eli Yacinthe
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:00pm - 1:50pm EDT
18 - Copley Square Outdoors - Berklee Stage
  Music

1:00pm EDT

BBF Unbound: Get the Scoop, the Skinny, the Low-Down: Associates of BPL Writer-in-Residence Program
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT
12 - Boston Public Library - Orientation Room
The Associates of the Boston Public Library’s Writer-in-Residence (WIR) celebrates its 20th year this month. This prestigious program has launched the successful careers of several authors, resulting in over 90 books published in children's and YA genres. Come learn from recent alumni about how they earned a spot in this unique Boston residency that provided them with a stipend and an office at the BPL so they could complete their work. Authors Elaine Dimopoulos (The Remarkable Rescue at Milkweed Meadow), Autumn Allen (All You Have to Do), and Jennifer De Leon (Borderless) will share insights about the application process and about how the WIR program impacted their lives and writing careers. 
Moderators
LK

Laura Koenig

Laura Koenig is the team leader for children’s services at the Boston Public Library’s Central Library. In addition to reading children’s and young adult fiction, Koenig enjoys baking, contra dancing, traveling, watching Cardinals baseball, and playing the banjo very poorly... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Autumn Allen

Autumn Allen

Autumn Allen is the author of All You Have to Do, and is an editor, an educator, and a children's literature specialist.
avatar for Elaine Dimopoulos

Elaine Dimopoulos

Elaine Dimopoulos is the author of the 2024 Massachusetts Book Award Honor Title The Remarkable Rescue at Milkweed Meadowand its sequel, The Perilous Performance at Milkweed Meadow, both middle grade animal adventure stories illustrated by Caldecott Medalist Doug Salati. Turn the... Read More →
avatar for Jennifer De Leon

Jennifer De Leon

Jennifer De Leon is the award-winning author of the YA novels Borderless, featured on the TODAY show, and Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From. She is also the author of White Space: Essays on Culture, Race, & Writing, which won the Juniper Prize from the University of Massachusetts Press... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT
12 - Boston Public Library - Orientation Room
  Unbound

1:15pm EDT

Faith, Desire, Devotion - The Power of Relationships
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:15pm - 2:15pm EDT
06 - Boston Public Library - Rabb Hall
What are the repercussions of our most powerful relationships, and how do faith, desire and devotion formed from these relationships shape our personal histories? Award-winning author Susan Minot’s provocative new novel Don’t Be a Stranger traces a woman’s relationship with a man twenty years her junior, exploring themes of intimacy and obsession, integrity and art, in a story praised by Booklist as “ravishing, haunting, and insightful.” The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali maps the story of two best friends - their initial loyalty, inevitable betrayal, and costly redemption set against three transformative decades in Tehran, Iran. A national bestseller, Kamali’s latest is described as “a powerful portrait of friendship, feminism, and political activism” (People). In Jamie Quatro’s new novel Two-Step Devil, two societal outsiders form an unlikely but tender friendship that shapes a young woman’s future and solidifies a self-proclaimed prophet’s faith. Praised by Booklist as “a spectacular masterpiece,” Two-Step Devil explores the intricacies that steer the course of human lives. Quatro, Kamali and Minot will be joined in conversation by Tim Ehrenberg, creator of Tim Talks Books, President of the Nantucket Book Foundation, and co-host of the literary podcast Books, Beach, & Beyond.
Moderators
avatar for Tim Ehrenberg

Tim Ehrenberg

Tim Ehrenberg is the creator of Tim Talks Books and the co-host of the new literary podcast Books, Beach, & Beyond, along with #1New York Times best-selling author Elin Hilderbrand. Tim is also the President of the Nantucket Book Foundation, which presents the Nantucket Book Festival... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Marjan Kamali

Marjan Kamali

Marjan Kamali is the national and international bestselling author of the The Lion Women of Tehran (Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster), The Stationery Shop (Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster), and Together Tea (EccoBooks/HarperCollins). She is a 2022 recipient of the National Endowment... Read More →
avatar for Susan Minot

Susan Minot

Susan Minot is an award-winning novelist, short-story writer, poet, and screenwriter. Her first novel, Monkeys, was published in a dozen countries and won the Prix Femina Étranger in France. Her novel Evening was a worldwide best seller and became a major motion picture. She lives... Read More →
avatar for Jamie Quatro

Jamie Quatro

Jamie Quatro is the New York Times Notable author of I Want to Show You More, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award and the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize, and Fire Sermon, a Book of the Year for the Economist, San Francisco Chronicle, LitHub... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:15pm - 2:15pm EDT
06 - Boston Public Library - Rabb Hall
  Fiction

1:15pm EDT

Hidden Histories
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:15pm - 2:15pm EDT
08 - Boston Public Library - Commonwealth Salon
This session examines shocking episodes in American History that are little known yet have an extraordinary impact on contemporary society. In Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum, award-winning journalist for NBC News, Antonia Hylton, tells how so-called “feebleminded” Blacks were rounded up and placed in asylums where they were put to work as indentured servants. To add insult to injury, insanity was blamed on freedom, not subhuman conditions. The lack of understanding and treatment of the mental health of Black people is a theme throughout. Pulitzer Prize winner and Yale historian David Blight, in Yale and Slavery: A History, brings to light Yale’s long and complex involvement in slavery and racism. Northeastern professor Caleb Gayle wrote We Refuse to Forget: A True Story of Black Creeks, American Identity, and Power, to reveal the story of the Creek Nation, a Native tribe that both owned slaves and accepted Blacks as full citizens, at least until tribal leaders revoked that citizenship in the 70’s. Join GBH’s Executive Producer of American Experience, Cameo George, for an eye-opening exploration of little known episodes from American history that illustrate that the past is ever-present.
Moderators
avatar for Cameo George

Cameo George

Cameo George is the Executive Producer of American Experience, PBS' longest-running and most-watched history documentary series.
Presenters
avatar for David Blight

David Blight

David W. Blight is a teacher, scholar, and public historian. At Yale University he is Sterling Professor of History and director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition. He is the author of many books, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography... Read More →
avatar for Caleb Gayle

Caleb Gayle

Caleb Gayle is an award-winning journalist who writes about race and identity. A professor at Northeastern University, he is a fellow at New America, PEN America, Harvard's Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Studies, and a visiting scholar at New York University. Gayle’s writing has... Read More →
avatar for Antonia Hylton

Antonia Hylton

Antonia Hylton is a Peabody and Emmy-award winning journalist at NBC News reporting on politics and civil rights, and the co-host of the hit podcast Southlake and Grapevine. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University, where she received prizes for her investigative research... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:15pm - 2:15pm EDT
08 - Boston Public Library - Commonwealth Salon
  Nonfiction

1:15pm EDT

Memoir: Creating Identity 
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:15pm - 2:15pm EDT
03 - Old South Church - Guild Room
Three memoirists offer an intimate look at their literary and life paths as they contemplate how identity is created. Anne Anlin Cheng, a noted scholar of race and identity, gives us a fresh look at being an Asian American woman in her recent book, Ordinary Disasters. Jerald Walker, recipient of the PEN New England Award for nonfiction and finalist for the National Book Award, presents his new book, Magically Black, where he shares Black life and culture with equal parts humor and empathy. Frighten the Horses takes us inside Oliver Radclyffe’s journey from what appears to be a perfect life, into the world of queerness as he comes out and then transitions. Join us for a candid and revealing discussion about the memories and desires that influence our lives and ultimately help us define our futures. James Bennett II, arts and culture reporter for GBH News, will lead the conversation.
Moderators
avatar for James Bennett

James Bennett

James Bennett II is an arts and culture reporter for GBH News (and a contributor in the music land known as CRB). Bennett cut his public media teeth with New York Public Radio before joining this particular Boston outfit. At any given point in time, you can find him frantically catching... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Anne Cheng

Anne Cheng

Anne Anlin Cheng was born in Taiwan, grew up in the American South, and is author of three books on American racial politics and aesthetics. Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. Cheng is the 2023-2024... Read More →
avatar for Oliver Radclyffe

Oliver Radclyffe

Oliver Radclyffe is part of the new wave of transgender writers unafraid to address the complex nuances of transition, examining the places where gender identity, sexual orientation, feminist allegiance, social class, and family history overlap. His work has appeared in the New York... Read More →
avatar for Jerald Walker

Jerald Walker

Jerald Walker is the author of How to Make a Slave and Other Essays, a Finalist for the National Book Award and Winner of the Massachusetts Book Award, The World in Flames: A Black Boyhood in a White Supremacist Doomsday Cult, and Street Shadows: A Memoir of Race, Rebellion, and Redemption... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:15pm - 2:15pm EDT
03 - Old South Church - Guild Room
  Nonfiction

1:30pm EDT

Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt: Paradises Lost
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:30pm - 2:30pm EDT
15 - French Library - Upstairs Room
Renowned and most lauded French playwright, short story writer, novelist and member of the Goncourt Academy, Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt will present his latest book published in the United States, Paradises Lost, where he combines his religious, scientific and philosophical research to propel readers from one world to another, and from pre-history to today. This publication is the first installment of Schmitt’s monumental project of recounting the history of humanity, the fruits of more than thirty years of research.  Stephanie Ravillon will moderate. This session takes place at THE FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH, across the street from the French Library.
Presenters
avatar for Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt

Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt

Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt is a celebrated French-language author and playwright whose works have become a staple in contemporary literature and theater. With numerous plays winning Molières and the prestigious French Academy’s Grand Prix du Théâtre, Schmitt has earned acclaim from... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:30pm - 2:30pm EDT
15 - French Library - Upstairs Room
  Fiction

1:30pm EDT

Mystery: Who is in control? Pulse-pounding Secrets and Scandals
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:30pm - 2:30pm EDT
04 - Church of the Covenant - Sanctuary
Two sisters. A lost imperial treasure. The world’s greatest puzzle master has 24 hours to unlock an ancient puzzle box with ties to Japan’s Imperial Family in NYT bestselling novelist Danielle Trussoni’s The Puzzle Box which has been praised by Booklist as “a first rate thriller.” Teddy Wayne’s The Winner is an explosive literary thriller, described by Vogue as a “page-turning story of sex, power, and money." A young tennis pro from Yonkers finds himself in uncharted perilous waters at an oceanfront paradise, navigating steamy flings with a client until he makes an irreversible mistake. In highly acclaimed author Vincent Tirado’s propulsive psychological thriller, We Came to Welcome You, a married couple moves to a seemingly idyllic gated community, where strange and inexplicable things start happening in their dream house, and the gated community closes in. These three novels harness the pulse-pounding engine of mystery to wrestle with complex dynamics of class, systemic racism, and the injustices that have kept women from the highest realms of power. This session will be moderated by Deborah Goodrich Royce, whose latest thriller, Reef Road, was a national bestseller and named one of the best books of 2023 by Kirkus. Sponsored by Mystery Writers of America - New England.
Moderators
avatar for Deborah Goodrich Royce

Deborah Goodrich Royce

Deborah Goodrich Royce’s thrillers examine puzzles of identity. Reef Road, a national bestseller, was named one of the best books of 2023 by Kirkus Reviews and an Indie Next pick by the ABA. Ruby Falls won the Zibby Award for Best Plot Twist, and Finding Mrs. Ford was hailed by... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Vincent Tirado

Vincent Tirado

Vincent Tirado is a nonbinary Afro-Latine Bronx native. They ventured out to Pennsylvania and Ohio to get their bachelor’s degree in biology and master’s degree in bioethics. Their debut YA novel Burn Down, Rise Up was the 2022 winner of the Pura Belpré Award and was a finalist... Read More →
avatar for Danielle Trussoni

Danielle Trussoni

Danielle Trussoni is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels Angelology, Angelopolis, The Ancestor, and The Puzzle Master, chosen by the Washington Post as one of the Best Thrillers of 2023. She is also the author of the memoirs The Fortress and Falling Through the Earth... Read More →
avatar for Teddy Wayne

Teddy Wayne

Teddy Wayne is the author of the novels The Winner, The Great Man Theory, Apartment, Loner, The Love Song of Jonny Valentine, and Kapitoil. He is the winner of a Whiting Writers’ Award and an NEA Creative Writing Fellowship as well as a finalist for the Young Lions Fiction Award... Read More →
Sponsors and Partners
avatar for Mystery Writers of America - New England
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:30pm - 2:30pm EDT
04 - Church of the Covenant - Sanctuary
  Fiction

1:30pm EDT

What is the Future of Free Speech on Campuses and Beyond?
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:30pm - 2:30pm EDT
01 - Old South Church - Sanctuary
The First Amendment is a cornerstone of our democracy, and yet free speech has become a contentious issue. Are there, or should there be, limits to free speech? Who decides? Renowned legal scholar Cass R. Sunstein, in Campus Free Speech: A Pocket Guide, tackles the complicated issue of free speech on college campuses with a case-by-case guide to solving the dilemma of when regulating free speech is permissible. Throughout his career, former Columbia University president Lee C. Bollinger has written and spoken about global free speech, free press, and academic freedom. His latest work, In Search of an Open Mind: Speeches and Writings, offers a selection of his speeches and articles on these and other topics that are central to our civic and political life. This not-to-be-missed session with some of the leading thinkers of our time will be moderated by psychiatrist, philosopher, and proponent of academic freedom, Omar Sultan Haque.
Moderators
avatar for Omar Sultan Haque

Omar Sultan Haque

Omar Sultan Haque, M.D., Ph.D. is a philosopher and psychiatrist at the Harvard Medical School Program in Psychiatry and the Law, who studies empirical and normative questions ranging across medicine, psychology, religion, bioethics, and law.
Presenters
avatar for Lee C. Bollinger

Lee C. Bollinger

Lee C. Bollinger served as Columbia University’s nineteenth president from 2002 to 2023, the longest tenure of any contemporary Ivy League president. He is the first Seth Low Professor of the University, a member of the Columbia Law School faculty, and a renowned constitutional... Read More →
avatar for Cass R. Sunstein

Cass R. Sunstein

Cass R. Sunstein is the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard and the founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School. He is the author of hundreds of articles and dozens of books, including Impeachment: A Citizen’s Guide... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:30pm - 2:30pm EDT
01 - Old South Church - Sanctuary
  Nonfiction

1:30pm EDT

Women, Politics, and Power
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:30pm - 2:30pm EDT
13 - Boston Public Library - Guastavino
Join us for a conversation with three writers who explore how women have struggled to win influence in U.S. politics and how laws and public policies, mostly designed by men, have profoundly affected women’s lives. Jackie, the fifth novel by bestselling author Dawn Tripp, explores the complex emotional truths behind the myths surrounding the Kennedys, to give readers a nuanced story of a brilliant woman who forged a legacy out of grief, shaping history even as she lived it. In A Termination, award-winning poet and memoirist Honor Moore recounts her harrowing experience in the 1960s with an unwanted pregnancy and raises the alarm about a world without reproductive freedoms. Gioia Diliberto’s eighth book, Firebrands: The Untold Story of Four Women Who Made and Unmade Prohibition, relates the fierce battle waged by women over Prohibition in the first expression of female political power after winning the right to vote. The cross-genre session will be moderated by Pulitzer Prize winner Debby Applegate, whose most recent book, Madam: The Biography of Polly Adler, Icon of the Jazz Age, depicts the life of the notorious madam who wielded unprecedented power in the 1920s in New York City’s demimonde of gangsters, politicians, policemen, columnists and society figures. Sponsored by Beacon Hill Books & Cafe.
Moderators
avatar for Debby Applegate

Debby Applegate

Debby Applegate is a historian whose first book, The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher, won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Biography. Her second book, Madam: The Biography of Polly Adler, Icon of the Jazz Age, was a New York Times Editors' Choice for Best... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Gioia Diliberto

Gioia Diliberto

Gioia Diliberto is the author of eight books and a play. Her work, which focuses on women's lives, has been praised for combining rich storytelling and literary grace with deep research to bring alive worlds as varied as Jazz Age Paris, nineteenth century Chicago, Belle Epoque Paris... Read More →
avatar for Honor Moore

Honor Moore

Honor Moore’s previous six books include a biography, two memoirs, and three collections of poems. The Bishop’s Daughter was shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award and was an LA Times Favorite Book of the Year. Our Revolution was featured on the New York Times... Read More →
avatar for Dawn Tripp

Dawn Tripp

Dawn Tripp is the acclaimed bestselling author of the biographical novels Jackie and Georgia, finalist for the New England Book Award and winner of the Mary Lynn Kotz Award for Art in Literature. Praised by The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, and... Read More →
Sponsors and Partners
avatar for Beacon Hill Books
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:30pm - 2:30pm EDT
13 - Boston Public Library - Guastavino
  Nonfiction

1:45pm EDT

Storytime! Winsome Bingham and Wiley Blevins
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:45pm - 2:15pm EDT
10 - Boston Public Library - Children's Library
Two families—both filled with love, hardship, and joy, both living in the same place—and the one table that connects them all. Coretta Scott King Book Award winner Winsome Bingham and long-time educator Wiley Blevins tell a story about families who are more alike than they are different through their new book, The Table. | Ages 4-8 | BPL Children’s Library
Presenters
avatar for Winsome Bingham

Winsome Bingham

Winsome Bingham is a soul food connoisseur, master cook, and disabled U.S. Army war veteran. She has over fifteen years of teaching experience and holds an MFA in writing for children and young adults. She is the author of the picture book Soul Food Sunday, which received a Coretta... Read More →
avatar for Wiley Blevins

Wiley Blevins

Wiley Blevins is an early reading specialist who attended Harvard and holds a doctorate in education. He has taught elementary school in both the United States and Ecuador. Born in North Carolina and raised in West Virginia, he now lives in New York City.
Sponsors and Partners
avatar for Globe Santa Fndn
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:45pm - 2:15pm EDT
10 - Boston Public Library - Children's Library
  Kids

1:45pm EDT

Zeke from Work it Out Wombats!
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:45pm - 2:15pm EDT
20 - Copley Square Outdoors - Costume Characters
Zeke the Wombat is here to say hello!  Near the Brainstorm Tent and walking around the outdoor fair.
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:45pm - 2:15pm EDT
20 - Copley Square Outdoors - Costume Characters
  Kids

1:45pm EDT

Old Tales, New Spins
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:45pm - 2:30pm EDT
09 - Boston Public Library - Teen Central
What’s the magic that makes a story worth coming back to over and over again? And what sparks a writer to consider turning a classic into something fresh and bold? Come meet three authors who take inspiration from ancient myths, the middle ages, and the not-so-long ago English countryside to spin radically contemporary tales. Anne Camlin’s Mismatched, takes the drama, romance, and matchmaking of Jane Austen’s Emma and brings it into the social media age with Instagram influencer Evan Horowitz. Award winning author Sajni Patel fuses Medusa with Indian mythology in A Drop of Venom. With A Tale of Two Knights, James Persichetti rounds out the panel with a Queer graphic novel retelling of Arthurian legends, and the twists that happen at the Round Table! Join the conversation to learn what inspired these authors to revisit old stories, and create new adventures. Simmons University Professor Amy Pattee moderates.
Moderators
avatar for Amy Pattee

Amy Pattee

Amy Pattee is a professor of library science and children's literature at Simmons University in Boston, Massachusetts.
Presenters
avatar for Anne Camlin

Anne Camlin

Anne Camlin is a writer of fiction and graphic novels. Originally from Long Island, they live in Connecticut with a small battalion of schnauzers.
avatar for Sajni Patel

Sajni Patel

Sajni Patel is an award-winning author of women’s fiction and young adult books. Her works have appeared on numerous Best Of the Year and Must Read lists from Cosmopolitan, Teen Vogue, Apple Books, AudioFile, Tribeza, NBC, Insider, and many others.
avatar for James Persichetti

James Persichetti

James Persichetti is a writer, freelance editor, and language enthusiast who enjoys writing about queer characters going on adventures. He earned an English degree and studied Arthurian legends, where he drew inspiration for his debut graphic novel, A Tale of Two Knights. He lives... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:45pm - 2:30pm EDT
09 - Boston Public Library - Teen Central
  YA

1:45pm EDT

MIDDLE GRADE: Kaboom!: Laugh Out Loud Mayhem in Graphic Books
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:45pm - 2:45pm EDT
11 - Boston Public Library - Children's Rey Room
How do your favorite graphic novels make you double over in laughter with just a few comic frames?  Come to Kaboom! and learn about the antics in graphic novels from two of the most popular authors who make them. John Patrick Green, New York Times bestselling author of the InvestiGators series, writes his latest adventure about Mango and Dash, two detective alligators who are sure to make a splash! Jorge Cham writes Oliver’s Great Big Universe, the diary of a science-loving eleven year old, comparing the mysteries of the universe to the trials and crazy antics of his school life. In the session, Green and Cham will go pen to pen in a live DRAW-OFF! Come with your suggestions, some of them might be used to decide this graphics duel. Boston Public School’s very own head of libraries Liz Phipps-Soeiro will facilitate.
Moderators
avatar for Liz Phipps-Soeiro

Liz Phipps-Soeiro

Liz Phipps Soeiro (she/her/hers) holds a BSEd from Lesley University, an MLS from Simmons University, EdM from Harvard Graduate School of Education, and is currently a PhD student in the Urban Education, Policy and Leadership program at UMass Boston. She is the Director of Library... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Jorge Cham

Jorge Cham

Jorge Cham is the bestselling, Emmy Award–nominated creator of . . . many things: from the hit PBS show Elinor Wonders Why to the hit nonfiction book for adults called We Have No Idea, along with the hit podcast Daniel & Jorge Explain the Universe and the popular webcomic PhD Comics... Read More →
avatar for John Patrick Green

John Patrick Green

John Patrick Green is a human with the human job of making books about animals with human jobs, notably the smash-hit graphic novel series InvestiGators. John is definitely a multiple New York Times-bestselling human author and not just a bunch of animals in a trench coat pretending... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:45pm - 2:45pm EDT
11 - Boston Public Library - Children's Rey Room
  Kids

1:45pm EDT

Memoir: Rising Above
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:45pm - 2:45pm EDT
05 - Trinity Church - Undercroft
Stories of hope, courage, faith, and determination to rise above difficult and fraught beginnings are the subject of this memoir session. Tom Seeman’s Animals I Want to See: A Memoir of Growing Up in the Projects and Defying the Odds, chronicles his childhood as one of fourteen kids and tracks his journey from teenage delinquent to student at Yale and Harvard. Nikkya Hargrove’s Mama: A Queer Black Women’s Story of a Family Lost and Found, reveals the power of faith and community in overcoming generational trauma, difficulties posed by the court system, and her personal journey as a black, queer woman taking on the responsibility of caring for her half-brother. Wonderland: A Tale of Hustling Hard and Breaking Even, by Nicole Treska, is a story of growing up in a family of mobsters in the Winter Hill gang and how Treska reconciles with her past and its impact. This inspiring session will be moderated by Tina Cassidy, Chief Marketing Officer at GBH and author of Mr. President, How Long Must We Wait?
Moderators
avatar for Tina Cassidy

Tina Cassidy

Tina Cassidy is the chief marketing officer at GBH, our local public media powerhouse, which is the presenting sponsor for the Boston Book Festival. Tina is also a former journalist who spent many years at the Boston Globe and an author who writes about women and culture. Her books... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Nikkya Hargrove

Nikkya Hargrove

Nikkya Hargrove is a graduate of Bard College and currently serves as a member of the school's Board of Governors and chair of the alumni/ae Diversity Committee. A LAMBDA Literary Nonfiction Fellow, she has written about adoption, marriage, motherhood, and the prison system for The... Read More →
avatar for Tom Seeman

Tom Seeman

Tom Seeman is a businessperson who has owned and led several businesses. He grew up in a family of fourteen on welfare and food stamps in the projects of Toledo, Ohio. He earned his B.A. from Yale graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, before going on to earn his J.D. at Harvard... Read More →
avatar for Nicole Treska

Nicole Treska

Nicole Treska is the author of the debut memoir Wonderland. Her short fiction has appeared in New York Tyrant magazine, Epiphany literary journal, and Egress: New Openings in Literary Art. Her interviews and reviews are up at Electric Literature, Guernica, The Millions, BOMB, The... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 1:45pm - 2:45pm EDT
05 - Trinity Church - Undercroft
  Nonfiction

2:00pm EDT

Walking Tour 3
Saturday October 26, 2024 2:00pm - 2:45pm EDT
22 - Outside BPL Boylston Street Entrance
Join Boston By Foot to explore the Back Bay neighborhood and see historic sites connected to literature and writers of all flavors. From literary clubs to literary greats, this mini 45-minute tour aims to whet your appetite for more!

Start: Meet in front of the Boylston Street entrance to the Boston Public Library
End: In Copley Square
Terrain: Mostly flat
Distance: .45 miles

Saturday October 26, 2024 2:00pm - 2:45pm EDT
22 - Outside BPL Boylston Street Entrance
  Tour

2:00pm EDT

Musical Performance: Axel & Lolo
Saturday October 26, 2024 2:00pm - 2:50pm EDT
18 - Copley Square Outdoors - Berklee Stage
Axel & Lolo are a best friend and folk-pop duo. They craft melodies that are as heartwarming as they are infectious. Through imaginative storytelling, Axel & Lolo write about themes of friendship and feelings. Their unique sonic world transports listeners to a place where every note is a vibrant expression of their profound connection. Axel & Lolo's music invites you to dance, dream, and celebrate the beauty of humanity — making them a beloved fixture in the indie music scene. @axelandlolo
Presenters
avatar for Axel & Lolo
Saturday October 26, 2024 2:00pm - 2:50pm EDT
18 - Copley Square Outdoors - Berklee Stage
  Music

2:00pm EDT

SPARK: The Call to Adventure
Saturday October 26, 2024 2:00pm - 3:00pm EDT
07 - Boston Public Library - Newsfeed Cafe
SPARK: Reading Series.
Any writer worth their salt knows about “The Hero’s Journey”, Joseph Campbell’s archetypal template for storytelling. The first step on that journey? The hero gets a “call to adventure”… and what happens next is up to the novelist. In Stephen McCauley’s You Only Call When You’re In Trouble, the story begins with a literal call that sends the main character on a journey to save a family member’s career—and shows us how meaningful the bonds of even the most dysfunctional family can be. This witty novel is a perfect example of there being  “no greater pleasure than reading a seasoned writer at the top of his form” (Shelf Awareness). Mark Cecil’s Bunyan and Henry reimagines the origin stories of folk heroes Paul Bunyan and John Henry, who join forces in the novel to battle the ultimate nemesis: corporate greed. “This big-hearted take on the mythic past feels all too relevant right now” (Ben Percy). In Crystal King’s In The Garden of Monsters, a model receives a call to a truly surreal adventure: to accompany Salvador Dali on an artistic journey to the Sacro Bosco—Italy's Garden of Monsters. Eerie and hauntingly atmospheric, the novel “is an exciting reinterpretation” (Publishers Weekly) of the myth of Prosperpina. This session will be moderated by Whitney Scharer, founder of the Arlington Author Salon and author of The Age of Light.

Moderators
avatar for Whitney Scharer

Whitney Scharer

Whitney Scharer holds a BA in English from Wesleyan University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Washington. Her first novel, The Age of Light, was a Boston Globe and IndieNext bestseller, People Pick, and Massachusetts Book Award "Must Read," and was chosen as... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Mark Cecil

Mark Cecil

Mark Cecil is host of The Thoughtful Bro show, for which he conducts interviews with an eclectic roster of award-winning and breakout storytellers. Formerly a journalist for Reuters, he is Head of Strategy for literary social media startup A Mighty Blaze and has taught writing at... Read More →
avatar for Crystal King

Crystal King

Crystal King is an author, culinary enthusiast, and marketing expert. Her writing is fueled by a love of history and a passion for the food, language, and culture of Italy. She has taught classes in writing, creativity, and social media at Harvard Extension School, Boston University... Read More →
avatar for Stephen McCauley

Stephen McCauley

Stephen McCauley is the author of eight novels, including national bestsellers My Ex-Life, The Object of My Affection, and Alternatives to Sex. His fiction, reviews, and columns have been widely published, and he was named a Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters by the French... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 2:00pm - 3:00pm EDT
07 - Boston Public Library - Newsfeed Cafe
  Fiction

2:00pm EDT

The Poetry of Nature
Saturday October 26, 2024 2:00pm - 3:00pm EDT
02 - Old South Church - Mary Norton Hall
Two beautiful books offer different looks at the wonders of nature. Renée Bergland’s Natural Magic: Emily Dickinson, Charles Darwin and the Dawn of Modern Science, tells intertwining stories of two of the greatest minds of the nineteenth century. Darwin’s work was informed by his belief in the interconnectedness of all life, while Dickinson’s poetry was shaped by her study of astronomy, botany, and chemistry. In The Miraculous from the Material: Understanding the Wonders of Nature, physicist and novelist Alan Lightman pairs gorgeous photos of natural phenomena with essays that reflect his belief that we can embrace spiritual experiences without letting go of our scientific worldview. The session will be moderated by Julia Cort, Deputy Executive Producer for NOVA at GBH.
Moderators
avatar for Julia Cort

Julia Cort

Julia Cort, together with Co-EP Chris Schmidt, oversees the long-running PBS science series NOVA, produced by GBH. Since joining NOVA, Julia has contributed to more than two hundred films and digital videos, covering everything from quantum mechanics to genetic engineering to climate... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Renée Bergland

Renée Bergland

Renée Bergland is professor of literature and creative writing at Simmons University. She is the author of Maria Mitchell and the Sexing of Science: An Astronomer among the American Romantics and The National Uncanny: Indian Ghosts and American Subjects.
avatar for Alan Lightman

Alan Lightman

Alan Lightman earned his PhD in physics from the California Institute of Technology and is the author of seven novels, including the international best seller Einstein’s Dreams and The Diagnosis, a finalist for the National Book Award. His nonfiction includes The Transcendental... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 2:00pm - 3:00pm EDT
02 - Old South Church - Mary Norton Hall
  Nonfiction

2:00pm EDT

Poetry Headliners
Saturday October 26, 2024 2:00pm - 3:00pm EDT
16 - Goethe-Institut - 1st Floor
Award-winning poet Cynthia Manick and renowned author and three-time United States Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky read from their books No Sweet Without Brine, and Proverbs of Limbo: Poems. Manick’s No Sweet Without Brine, voted one of the Best Books of 2023 by the New York Public Library, personifies love of self and culture through fresh observations and bitter truths voiced with breathtaking lyricism. In Proverbs of Limbo, Pinsky’s first new book of poetry in eight years, one of our most ambitious, inventive, and finely tuned poets, takes an original approach to the fraught, central matter of borders. Come listen to these engaging poets read their work and discuss their upcoming poems in this unmissable headline reading. Sponsored by Mass Poetry.
Presenters
avatar for Cynthia Manick

Cynthia Manick

Cynthia Manick is the author of No Sweet Without Brine (Amistad-HarperCollins, 2023), which received 5 stars from Roxane Gay, was named among the “Best Poetry of the Last Year” by Ms. Magazine, and was selected as a New York Public Library Best Book of 2023. She is the author... Read More →
avatar for Robert Pinsky

Robert Pinsky

Robert Pinsky is the author of several books of poetry, including Gulf Music, Jersey Rain, The Want Bone, The Figured Wheel, and At the Foundling Hospital. His bestselling translation The Inferno of Dante sets a modern standard. He was the Poet Laureate of the United States from 1997... Read More →
Sponsors and Partners
avatar for Mass Poetry
Saturday October 26, 2024 2:00pm - 3:00pm EDT
16 - Goethe-Institut - 1st Floor
  Poetry

2:00pm EDT

Writing Joy: Poetry Workshop
Saturday October 26, 2024 2:00pm - 3:00pm EDT
17 - Goethe-Institut - Workshop Space
Led by award-winning poet and spoken word artist Jarvis Subia, author of Hello Joy (Black Lawrence Press), this workshop will explore the range of joy inside our writing. We will utilize exercises such as a writing prompt, board pallets, and group discussion to execute this session. We will read poets Jose Olivarez and Ariana Brown to take a closer look at their perspectives on joy, All culminating in writing an ode to the things which bring us joy. This will mostly consist of generative writing and group discussion of poetry.
Presenters
avatar for Jarvis Subia

Jarvis Subia

Currently based in the Boston area but born and raised in San Jose’s Seven Trees Neighborhood, Bay Area Spoken Word Poet Jarvis Subia is a Queer Latinx flower-loving Millennial devoted to performing poems from his heart to yours.Jarvis is the 2019 Poetry Foundation and Crescendo... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 2:00pm - 3:00pm EDT
17 - Goethe-Institut - Workshop Space
  Poetry

2:00pm EDT

Vampires, Witches, and Revolutions: Writing Fantasy in the age of polarized politics
Saturday October 26, 2024 2:00pm - 3:00pm EDT
14 - French Library - 1st Floor
Bestselling authors Victor Dixen and Kass Morgan will discuss young adult fantasy novels in the light of their political context and significance. With this in mind, Dixen will present the second volume of  his Vampyria America saga, The Court of Miracles, telling the story of the vampire King Louis XIV, determined to protect his empire at any cost in spite of a mysterious renegade vampire. Kass Morgan, author of The 100, will be joining him for a lively dialogue, bringing an in-depth perspective on the political dimension of vampire figures. Jenai Engelhard, Boston University lecturer who specializes in French literature, thought and culture, will moderate.
Presenters
avatar for Victor Dixen

Victor Dixen

Two-time winner of the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire, the most prestigious French literary award for speculative fiction, Victor Dixen stands at the forefront of French fantasy and science fiction. He is the author of 19 novels, 6 graphic novels and numerous short stories. His acclaimed... Read More →
avatar for Kass Morgan

Kass Morgan

Kass Morgan is the author of numerous books for young adults including The New York Times bestseller The 100 (the inspiration for the hit TV show of the same name) and The Ravens (with Danielle Paige). She's also an Executive Editor at a large publisher where she edits middle grade... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 2:00pm - 3:00pm EDT
14 - French Library - 1st Floor
  YA

2:00pm EDT

Playful Engineers: Creative Crazy Contraptions
Saturday October 26, 2024 2:00pm - 4:00pm EDT
19 - Copley Square Outdoors - Brainstorm Tent
Playful Engineers returns to our Brainstorm Tent, with their chain reaction-themed program - all materials included and ready for you to build! In this hands-on session, kids and their families design, build, test, and play with complicated chain reactions made from simple parts (Rube Goldberg machines), using the provided tracks, balls, dominoes, blocks, wheels, rods, and connectors, cars, gears, and pulleys. This is a fantastic chance to see what kinds of creative, crazy contraptions you can build together as a family! Ages 5-12. Please note: children must be accompanied by an adult at all times.
Saturday October 26, 2024 2:00pm - 4:00pm EDT
19 - Copley Square Outdoors - Brainstorm Tent
  Kids

2:30pm EDT

Storytime! Idris Goodwin
Saturday October 26, 2024 2:30pm - 3:00pm EDT
10 - Boston Public Library - Children's Library
Maybe a rainy summer day is the perfect time for an adventure in an imaginary world all of your own! Award-winning storyteller Idris Goodwin encourages children to think outside of the walls, windows, and furniture that make up their homes in Your House Is Not Just a House. | Ages 4-8 | BPL Children’s Library
Presenters
avatar for Idris Goodwin

Idris Goodwin

Idris Goodwin is an award-winning storyteller for multiple generations. An accomplished playwright, breakbeat poet, content creator, and arts champion, Goodwin is recognized as a culture bearer who celebrates community values and cultivates histories with care. Idris is the author... Read More →
Sponsors and Partners
avatar for Globe Santa Fndn
Saturday October 26, 2024 2:30pm - 3:00pm EDT
10 - Boston Public Library - Children's Library
  Kids

2:45pm EDT

Human Connections and Choice
Saturday October 26, 2024 2:45pm - 3:45pm EDT
03 - Old South Church - Guild Room
How ought one to live?  How do the choices we make determine the arc of our lives?  How free are we really to make our own choices? These three novels tackle these philosophical questions with poignancy, heartache, and humor. Booker Prize nominated author Neel Mukherjee "one of the most original and talented authors working today" (NPR)  explores the theme of free will in his fourth novel Choice. Told in three parts, Choice reveals “how we graze one another’s lives with our decisions, some of which may be catastrophic for our conscience but beneficial for our art.” (NY Times). Adelle Waldman’s Help Wanted, one of the most anticipated novels of the year (and one of Barack Obama’s recommended books for 2024), draws attention to the toll capitalism exacts on low-wage workers and does so with wit, compassion, and a swift-moving plot. Help Wanted is “a rare entry to the workplace canon with this wise, funny story of an upstate New York big-box store and an opportunity that sends its employees scurrying for advancement” (LA Times).  In Samuel Kọ́láwọlé’s debut novel, The Road to Salt Sea, a young Nigerian man’s desperate attempt to leave his country after he is implicated in a violent crime leads to a series of moral compromises, and his story becomes a bracing tale of migrant desperation. “Out of this tableau of hope and disillusion, of buoyant dreams chastened by grim reality, Kọ́láwọlé has woven a trenchant, rich-veined, and gripping tale that strikes all the right keys while enthralling the reader” (The Hopkins Review). This session will be moderated by Alex George, founder of the Unbound Book Festival and author of the acclaimed national bestseller, The Paris Hours.

Moderators
avatar for Alex George

Alex George

Alex George is a writer, bookseller, lawyer, and director of a literary festival. His previous novels include A Good American (Amy Einhorn Books, 2012), Setting Free The Kites (Putnam, 2017), and The Paris Hours (Flatiron, 2020). In addition to his novels, Alex’s writing has appeared... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Samuel Kolawole

Samuel Kolawole

Samuel Kọ́láwọlé is the author of the novel, The Road to the Salt Sea. He was born and raised in Ibadan, Nigeria, and his work has appeared in prominent literary publications in the US. He has received numerous scholarships, residencies, and fellowships for his writing. He... Read More →
avatar for Neel Mukherjee

Neel Mukherjee

Neel Mukherjee is the author of four novels, including The Lives of Others, shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and A State of Freedom, a New York Times Notable Book. He divides his time between London, England, and Cambridge, Massachusetts.
avatar for Adelle Waldman

Adelle Waldman

Adelle Waldman is the author of the novels Help Wanted (W.W. Norton, 2024) and The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. (Henry Holt, 2013). Help Wanted has been named a best book of 2024 so far by The Economist, Vogue and New York magazine, and The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. was named one... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 2:45pm - 3:45pm EDT
03 - Old South Church - Guild Room
  Fiction

2:45pm EDT

Black Resistance and Leadership
Saturday October 26, 2024 2:45pm - 3:45pm EDT
06 - Boston Public Library - Rabb Hall
Black resistance, black politics, and the work of democracy will be the focus of this conversation between four distinguished scholars.  Wellesley professor and co-host of the podcast This Day in Esoteric History, Kellie Carter Jackson highlights the breadth of Black responses to white oppression, particularly those pioneered by Black women, in We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance.  Art and cultural historian Sarah Lewis, author of The Unseen Truth: When Race Changed Sight in America, explores the myth of whiteness and the many ways that American culture has taught people not to see, in order to preserve the lies that support racism and to maintain the country’s racial hierarchies. The multi-talented Thulani Davis, in The Emancipation Circuit, offers a deep look at how the four million newly freed slaves created community networks and political organizations to defend freedom and show how these circuits of freedom were the bedrock of the first mass political movement for equal citizenship in the United States. Princeton University professor and frequent MSNBC contributor Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. in his book We are The Leaders We Have Been Looking For argues that Black Americans must step out from under the shadows of past giants to be the heroes that our democracy urgently requires. Noelle Trent, President and CEO of the Museum of African American History, will moderate. This session is sponsored by the Museum of African American History and the Stone Foundation.
Moderators
avatar for Noelle Trent

Noelle Trent

Dr. Noelle N. Trent, President & CEO of the Museum of African American History, combines her passion for history with professional expertise to craft empowering experiences about Black history. As an accomplished public historian, she has served on committees in national museum organizations... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Thulani Davis

Thulani Davis

Thulani Davis is an interdisciplinary scholar, a veteran journalist, and a writer working in theater, fiction and non-fiction. The author of The Emancipation Circuit and My Confederate Kinfolk, she is Associate Professor of African American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison... Read More →
avatar for Eddie Glaude

Eddie Glaude

Eddie S. Glaude Jr. is the author of several books, including We are The Leaders We Have Been Looking For, Democracy in Black and the New York Times bestseller Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own, winner of the Harriet Beecher Stowe Book Prize... Read More →
avatar for Kellie Jackson

Kellie Jackson

Kellie Carter Jackson is the Michael and Denise Kellen ’68 Associate Professor and Chair of Africana Studies at Wellesley College. Her book Force and Freedom was a finalist for the Frederick Douglass Book Prize and the Museum of African American History Stone Book Award. She is... Read More →
avatar for Sarah Lewis

Sarah Lewis

Sarah Lewis is the award-winning author of The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery and editor of Vision & Justice, recipient of the Infinity Award and the Freedom Scholar Award from the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, and... Read More →
Sponsors and Partners
avatar for Stone Foundation
Saturday October 26, 2024 2:45pm - 3:45pm EDT
06 - Boston Public Library - Rabb Hall
  Nonfiction

2:45pm EDT

Seeking Joy in our LIfe Journeys
Saturday October 26, 2024 2:45pm - 3:45pm EDT
08 - Boston Public Library - Commonwealth Salon
In this eclectic grouping of authors whose books have each earned starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, the theme is seeking understanding and comfort in a world where change is the only constant. In The Secret History of Bigfoot: Field Notes on a North American Monster, John O’Connor goes in search of Bigfoot's myth and meaning. Publishers Weekly calls his effort “a winning portrait of America at its weirdest.” Curator and cultural observer Simon Wu’s memoir in essays, Dancing On My Own: Essays on Art,Collectivity, and Joy, interrogates art, capitalism, and identity and seeks to center joy in a socially engaged art-making life. Finally, The Atlantic writer James Parker’s Get Me Through the Next Five Minutes: Odes to Being Alive, pays homage to the poetry and beauty in everyday life. His quirky, funny odes to everything from Proust to dog waste are celebratory and life-affirming. Join us for a fun and provocative appreciation of everyone’s search for meaning and joy, led by Edgar B. Herwick III, host of GBH’s Curiosity Desk.
Moderators
avatar for Edgar Herwick

Edgar Herwick

Edgar B. Herwick III is the guy behind GBH’s Curiosity Desk, where he answers your questions and examines some of the everyday mysteries hiding in plain sight. He’s an award-winning reporter, host and producer who has been with GBH since 2006. His work can be heard regularly on... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for John O’Connor

John O’Connor

John O’Connor is a journalist journalist and regular contributor to the New York Times travel section and other publications. He teaches travel writing and lives with his family in Cambridge, MA.
avatar for James Parker

James Parker

James Parker is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the co-editor of The Pilgrim, a literary magazine from the homeless community of downtown Boston.
avatar for Simon Wu

Simon Wu

Simon Wu is a curator and writer involved in collaborative art production and research. He has organized exhibitions and programs at the Brooklyn Museum, the Whitney Museum, The Kitchen, MoMA, and David Zwirner, among other venues. In 2021, he was awarded an Andy Warhol Foundation... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 2:45pm - 3:45pm EDT
08 - Boston Public Library - Commonwealth Salon
  Nonfiction

3:00pm EDT

Walking Tour 4
Saturday October 26, 2024 3:00pm - 3:45pm EDT
22 - Outside BPL Boylston Street Entrance
Join Boston By Foot to explore the Back Bay neighborhood and see historic sites connected to literature and writers of all flavors. From literary clubs to literary greats, this mini 45-minute tour aims to whet your appetite for more!

Start: Meet in front of the Boylston Street entrance to the Boston Public Library
End: In Copley Square
Terrain: Mostly flat
Distance: .45 miles

Saturday October 26, 2024 3:00pm - 3:45pm EDT
22 - Outside BPL Boylston Street Entrance
  Tour

3:00pm EDT

Musical Performance: Makena Tate
Saturday October 26, 2024 3:00pm - 3:50pm EDT
18 - Copley Square Outdoors - Berklee Stage
Makena Tate tastefully blends indie, pop, and rock into an enchanting indie dreamscape, drawing influence from Fleetwood Mac and Del Water Gap. Her dynamic vocals weave a spell over audiences, while her lyrics and melodies paint vivid stories, all beautifully unfolding in her spell-binding live performances. On June 14th, she released her sophomore EP Freedom, available everywhere. @makenatate
Presenters
avatar for Makena Tate
Saturday October 26, 2024 3:00pm - 3:50pm EDT
18 - Copley Square Outdoors - Berklee Stage
  Music

3:00pm EDT

Fiction Keynote: Louise Erdrich
Saturday October 26, 2024 3:00pm - 4:00pm EDT
04 - Church of the Covenant - Sanctuary
The Boston Book Festival is delighted and honored to present, for the first time at the festival, Louise Erdrich, acclaimed literary master and foremost writer of the Native American Renaissance. With works spanning poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and children's literature, Erdrich has built one of the most impressive bodies of work of any living American writer. Her career, marked by early honors like the Pushcart Prize and O. Henry Award, has continued to flourish with more recent accolades such as the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize, solidifying her trailblazing legacy. The Washington Post’s praise for The Night Watchman described Erdrich as writing “so beautifully that it’s tempting to forget how remarkable it is.” In its review of The Sentence, The Boston Globe declared that Erdrich “captivates with [a] striking and irresistible voice.” Now, with her latest novel, The Mighty Red, Erdrich tells a story of people living in Argus, North Dakota, making choices about love and family while dealing with the impact of environmental upheaval and the economic meltdown of 2008-2009. Exquisitely rendered with poignancy and wit, Erdrich “delivers a deliciously seductive masterwork.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review.) Come hear Louise Erdrich in conversation with Kate Tuttle, The Boston Globe’s books editor as they explore the themes of The Mighty Red and the richness of Erdrich’s oeuvre. Sponsored by The Boston Globe.
Moderators
avatar for Kate Tuttle

Kate Tuttle

Kate Tuttle is a book critic, essayist, and editor. A past president of the National Book Critics Circle and judge for the National Book Award, she edits the books pages of the Boston Globe. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and elsewhere... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Louise Erdrich

Louise Erdrich

Louise Erdrich, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, is the award-winning author of many novels as well as volumes of poetry, children’s books, and a memoir of early motherhood. Erdrich lives in Minnesota with her daughters and is the owner of Birchbark Books, a small... Read More →
Sponsors and Partners
avatar for The Boston Globe
Saturday October 26, 2024 3:00pm - 4:00pm EDT
04 - Church of the Covenant - Sanctuary
  Fiction

3:00pm EDT

Art History Keynote: Paris in Ruins
Saturday October 26, 2024 3:00pm - 4:00pm EDT
01 - Old South Church - Sanctuary
We are delighted to welcome Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic, Sebastian Smee, for a presentation and interview about Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism, which Kirkus Reviews called a “deft, vibrant cultural history.” Smee describes in vivid language how the Impressionist movement was born against a backdrop of violence, civil war, and political intrigue that followed the French defeat by the Germans and the rise of a radical, breakaway Commune in 1870-71. Central to the story is the love affair between Édouard Manet and the woman who was at the heart of the movement, Berthe Morisot. The upheaval around these artists gave them a keen sense of the impermanence and transience of all things, which was reflected in their groundbreaking art. Sebastian Smee will be joined by Jared Bowen, host of Open Studio on GBH. This session is sponsored through the generosity of Ann and Graham Gund.
Moderators
avatar for Jared Bowen

Jared Bowen

Jared Bowen is the Emmy award-winning Executive Arts Editor and host of The Culture Show, a daily radio program and podcast at GBH exploring the creative process through a lively mix of local and national artist profiles, performances and exhibitions.Jared is a special correspondent... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Sebastian Smee

Sebastian Smee

Sebastian Smee is an art critic for the Washington Post and the author of Paris in Ruins: Love, War and the Birth of Impressionism (Norton) and The Art of Rivalry: Four Friendships, Betrayals, and Breakthroughs in Modern Art (Random House). He won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 3:00pm - 4:00pm EDT
01 - Old South Church - Sanctuary
  Nonfiction

3:00pm EDT

Magic to Save, Magic to Shatter
Saturday October 26, 2024 3:00pm - 4:00pm EDT
09 - Boston Public Library - Teen Central
Good and Evil hang in the balance in these three new books–and only one can win. Join us as we explore the worlds and trials of these fantasy protagonists, all possessing powerful magic that can save or ruin their worlds as they know it. Now, Conjurers by Freddie Kölsch centers on Nesbit, who finds the dead body of his secret boyfriend (and secret witch) in the woods outside their Massachusetts town. The rest of the North Coven, including Nesbit, will have to discover what dark evil caused the killing and defeat it before it attacks anyone else in the town. In LaDarrion Williams’s debut novel Blood at the Root, Malik has been hiding his powers from the day he discovered them—the same day his mother disappeared. While raising his younger brother and going to college, Malik begins to learn more about love, his powers, his heritage, and the dark evil growing since the Haitian Revolution. Kendare Blake completes her Heromaker Duology with Warriors of Legend. Reed earned her place amongst the immortal Aristene, but the order is fracturing and all her heroes trade their lives for victories on the battlefield. When her old flame is trying to court her new hero, she has to decide exactly who she needs to be. This discussion about choices and personal power set in fantastical worlds will be moderated by literary agent and YA author Rebecca Podos.
Moderators
avatar for Rebecca Podos

Rebecca Podos

Rebecca Podos is the Lambda Literary Award-winning author of YA and Adult novels. Furious, a YA romance co-written with Jamie Pacton, is her latest release. Their adult fantasy debut, Homegrown Magic, will be published by Del Rey in 2025. By day, she’s an agent at the Rees Literary... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Kendare Blake

Kendare Blake

Kendare Blake is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Three Dark Crowns series. She holds an MA in creative writing from Middlesex University in northern London. She is also the author of Anna Dressed in Blood, a Cybils Awards finalist; Girl of Nightmares; Antigoddess... Read More →
avatar for Freddie Kolsch

Freddie Kolsch

Freddie Kölsch is a connoisseur and crafter of frightful fiction (with a dash of hope) for teens and former teens. She lives in Salem, Massachusetts with her high school sweetheart-turned-wife, a handful of cats, a houseful of art, and a mind’s eye full of ghosts. Now... Read More →
avatar for Ladarrion Williams

Ladarrion Williams

LaDarrion Williams is a Los Angeles based-playwright, filmmaker, screenwriter, and New York Times bestselling author whose goal is to cultivate a new era of Black fantasy, providing space and agency for Black characters and stories in a new, fresh and fantastical way. He is currently... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 3:00pm - 4:00pm EDT
09 - Boston Public Library - Teen Central
  YA

3:15pm EDT

MIDDLE GRADE: Mystery: Sleuthing and Solving
Saturday October 26, 2024 3:15pm - 4:00pm EDT
11 - Boston Public Library - Children's Rey Room
Bring your curiosity and sense of adventure to explore these mysteries, layered with secrets and mind-boggling twists! NAACP Image Award and Margaret Edwards Award winner Kekla Magoon takes us into Secret Library, where 11 year old Dally finds that each book is a portal to a precise moment in time and, when she looks closely, reveals truths about her family. New York Times best-selling author Jasmine Warga weaves a tale of missing paintings and ghostly girls, along with a reptilian friend that helps crack the case in A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall. In Lola, Karla Arenas Valenti introduces Florestra, a land of mythos and monsters that the title character Lola must navigate and outwit in order to save her brother. This discussion of sleuthing and solving stories will be led by literacy educator Nicholl Montgomery. This session is sponsored by Simmons University.
Moderators
avatar for Nicholl Montgomery

Nicholl Montgomery

Nicholl Montgomery is a literacy coach for the Boston Teacher Residency (BTR). Nicholl taught middle and high school English in Boston for ten years. She also co-facilitated a family book club at the only Black owned bookstore in Boston. In both settings, she used classic and contemporary... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Kekla Magoon

Kekla Magoon

Kekla Magoon is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Secret Library and many other fiction and nonfiction titles for young readers, including X: A Novel, cowritten with Ilyasah Shabazz; the Blue Stars series, cowritten with Cynthia Leitich Smith and illustrated by Molly... Read More →
avatar for Karla Arenas Valenti

Karla Arenas Valenti

Karla Arenas Valenti grew up in Mexico City in a house built around a tree. Her life was always filled with elements of the fantastical which she readily incorporates into her storytelling, taking readers on journeys steeped in magical realism.Karla writes middle grade novels (including... Read More →
avatar for Jasmine Warga

Jasmine Warga

Jasmine Warga is the New York Times bestselling author of Other Words for Home, a Newbery Honor Book and a Walter Honor Book for Younger Readers, The Shape of Thunder, and A Rover’s Story. Her teen books, Here We Are Now and My Heart and Other Black Holes, have been translated into... Read More →
Sponsors and Partners
avatar for Simmons University
Saturday October 26, 2024 3:15pm - 4:00pm EDT
11 - Boston Public Library - Children's Rey Room
  Kids

3:15pm EDT

Fashion, Power, and Fighting Back
Saturday October 26, 2024 3:15pm - 4:15pm EDT
05 - Trinity Church - Undercroft
As a teenage supermodel, Cameron Russell learned how to please the fashion industry gatekeepers and power brokers to gain lucrative modeling gigs by compartmentalizing her own feelings about the exploitation she experienced and observed. In How to Make Herself Agreeable to Everyone, Russell describes the journey from acquiescence to opposition as she became an advocate for collective action and worker protections. With a clear-eyed view of her own complicity in an industry where the highest praise is “she’ll do anything,” Russell pulls no punches in this captivating look at fashion, power, and fighting back. Comedian, The Moth host, and former model Bethany Van Delft will host.
Moderators
avatar for Bethany Van Delft

Bethany Van Delft

Bethany Van Delft is a stand up comedian, actress, and writer. Born in the Bronx and raised up in Boston, Bethany’s unique point of view is a product of her upbringing and quirky observations, combining a grounded storytelling delivery with her quietly hysterical alternate universe... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Cameron Russell

Cameron Russell

Cameron Russell is a model, writer, artist and organizer. She spent the last twenty years working for clients like Prada, Calvin Klein, Victoria’s Secret, H&M, Vogue and Elle. With over 40 million views and counting, she gave one of the most popular TED talks of all time on the... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 3:15pm - 4:15pm EDT
05 - Trinity Church - Undercroft
  Nonfiction

3:30pm EDT

Poetry Off The Page
Saturday October 26, 2024 3:30pm - 4:15pm EDT
07 - Boston Public Library - Newsfeed Cafe
A stellar line-up of spoken word poets—Parker-Vincent Alva, Princess Moon, D. Ruff, Amanda Shea, Essmaa Litim, and Maria Zaki— take the stage and steal some hearts in a fast-paced, time-stopping poetry extravaganza. Whether you’re a longtime fan of spoken word or this is your first experience, this performance is sure to immerse you in poetry and leave you wanting more. Our moderator is Amanda Shea, a two-time Boston Music Award-winning Spoken Word Artist. Sponsored by Mass Poetry.
Moderators
avatar for Amanda Shea

Amanda Shea

Amanda Shea is a two-time Boston Music Award-winning Spoken Word Artist. Shea is an artist, performer, educator, artivist, publicist, host, and curator. She co-founded and curated six iterations of Activating ARTivism, a community festival to amplify POC through art, activism, and... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Parker-Vincent Alva

Parker-Vincent Alva

Parker-Vincent Alva is a student and writer from Boston, MA. He writes poetry and prose centering on the intersection of desire and identity. A 2023 YAWP Teen Fellow and the 3rd Youth Poet Laureate of Boston, he aims to increase public appreciation of literature and push the boundaries... Read More →
avatar for Essmaa Litim

Essmaa Litim

Essmaa Litim is a multi-disciplinary artist and activist from Boston, Massachusetts who uses her voice as her medium to distribute a wealth of information from both a social and political lens. She is the author of the memoir/biography Speechless, which centers her family’s journey... Read More →
avatar for Princess Moon

Princess Moon

Princess Moon is a Cambodian-American poet and multidisciplinary artist based in Boston, MA. Her work is a juxtaposition between life, death, joy, tragedy, and the complexities of healing. As the daughter of refugees, her artistic process is influenced by the Cambodian Civil War and... Read More →
avatar for D Ruff

D Ruff

D.Ruff is a 2022 Boston Music Award Spoken Word Artist Of The Year nominee. D is a Roxbury-bred artist, performer, educator, artivist, and host. He co-hosted "if you can Feel It, you can Speak It" Open Mic movement for fourteen years. “Feel it, Speak it” is the only monthly Nonelitist... Read More →
avatar for Maria Zaki

Maria Zaki

A poet and 2024 graduate in the greater Boston area, Maria Zaki works with MassPoetry to speak volumes through her writing and bring the craft to a larger youth audience. Her focus is on spoken word and its outreach beyond the page, stage, building, and city. She recently went to... Read More →
Sponsors and Partners
avatar for Mass Poetry
Saturday October 26, 2024 3:30pm - 4:15pm EDT
07 - Boston Public Library - Newsfeed Cafe
  Poetry

3:30pm EDT

Goethe-Institut Presents A Web of Stories
Saturday October 26, 2024 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT
16 - Goethe-Institut - 1st Floor
As we know, every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. In her award-winning second novel Djinns, Fatma Aydemir
tells the story of a family full of longings and disappointments who try to come together despite all their inner contradictions. Hüseyin has spent the past thirty years working in Germany, and his dream has at last come true: he has bought his very own flat in Istanbul, but dies of a heart attack the day he moves in. His family in Germany travel to Turkey for the funeral. In chapters narrated from the perspectives of the individual family members, we learn about each character’s personal djinns. Join Fatma Aydemir and Djinns' translator Jon Cho-Polizzi in a far-reaching conversation about this fast-paced and character-driven family saga set in Germany and Turkey at the end of the 20th century, focusing on the complexity of migration, family, relationships, and life choices.
Presenters
avatar for Fatma Aydemir

Fatma Aydemir

Fatma Aydemir, born in Karlsruhe, lives in Berlin and works as a journalist, publicist, and editor. Her debut novel, Ellbogen (Elbow), was published by Hanser in 2017 and won the Klaus Michael Kühne Prize and the Franz Hessel Prize for best authorial debut. In 2019 she published... Read More →
avatar for Jon Cho-Polizzi

Jon Cho-Polizzi

Jon Cho-Polizzi is a literary translator and assistant professor of German at the University of Michigan. He is the coeditor of Fatma Aydemir and Hengameh Yaghoobifarah’s translated essay collection Your Homeland Is Our Nightmare as well as the translator of Sharon Dodua Otoo’s... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT
16 - Goethe-Institut - 1st Floor
  Fiction

3:30pm EDT

Life Hacks: Rituals and Vows
Saturday October 26, 2024 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT
02 - Old South Church - Mary Norton Hall
Rituals, including the taking of vows, can have a powerful and positive effect on us. Harvard Business School professor Michael Norton, in The Ritual Effect: The Transformative Power of Our Everyday Actions, argues that rituals can enrich our lives in numerous ways, from cementing relationships, encouraging staying in the moment, engendering social cohesiveness, and transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. In Vows, Cheryl Mendelson looks at the meaning of wedding vows. The practice of taking marriage vows did not arise until Medieval times– before that marriage was a contract between the groom and the father of the bride. When the idea of free will emerged, vows became important and, Mendelson believes, are still important where they relate to the interconnectedness of love, desire, and commitment. This session will be moderated by Callie Crossley, host of GBH’s Under the Radar. 
Moderators
avatar for Callie Crossley

Callie Crossley

Callie Crossley hosts Under the Radar with Callie Crossley and shares radio essays each Monday on GBH’s Morning Edition. She also formerly hosted Basic Black, which focused on current events impacting communities of color. Crossley has won numerous awards, including the prestigious... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Cheryl Mendelson

Cheryl Mendelson

Cheryl Mendelson is a Harvard Law School graduate, a sometime philosophy professor, and a novelist (Morningside Heights and Love, Work, Children). In 1999, she authored the classic bestselling resource for every American household, Home Comforts. Born into a rural family in Greene... Read More →
avatar for Michael Norton

Michael Norton

Michael Norton is the Harold M. Brierley Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He has studied human behavior as it relates to love and inequality, time and money, and happiness and grief. He is the author of The Ritual Effect and the coauthor—with... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT
02 - Old South Church - Mary Norton Hall
  Nonfiction

3:30pm EDT

Revise, Revise!: Poetry Workshop
Saturday October 26, 2024 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT
17 - Goethe-Institut - Workshop Space
Poets Anthony Walton and Heather Treseler will guide participants in a revision workshop, drawing from Ellen Bryant Voigt’s observation that a poem is “not the transcription but the transformation of experience.” They will lead participants in implementing concrete revision strategies from poets such as Frank Bidart, Elizabeth Bishop, Michael S. Harper, Robert Hass, Molly Peacock, and Mark Strand. The workshop leaders believe that revision is the key to poetic practice, a set of tools that can be learned and honed, and will provide specific rubrics, so that participants can crack open their poem drafts and locate what is not yet on the page.
Presenters
avatar for Heather Treseler

Heather Treseler

Heather Treseler is the author of Auguries & Divinations, which received the 2023 May Sarton New Hampshire Prize and is a finalist for the 2024 New England Book Award in poetry. She is also the author of Parturition, which won the Munster Literature Centre’s chapbook prize in Ireland... Read More →
avatar for Anthony Walton

Anthony Walton

Anthony Walton is the author of Mississippi: An American Journey, The End of Respectability, and the co-editor of The Vintage Anthology of African American Poetry.
Saturday October 26, 2024 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT
17 - Goethe-Institut - Workshop Space
  Poetry

4:00pm EDT

Musical Performance: Aaron Newman
Saturday October 26, 2024 4:00pm - 4:50pm EDT
18 - Copley Square Outdoors - Berklee Stage
Aaron Newman is an upcoming gospel and soul vocalist from Chicago, IL. Raised in the church, he built his musical foundation through performing across the Chicagoland area in various churches, festivals, schools, etc. Since he began his time at Berklee, he has gained respect from peers and professors alike for his vocal craftsmanship, harmonic ear, as well as his leadership skills. Recently he’s had the opportunity to be one of the vocal arrangers for Soul Jam — a sold-out showcase of black excellence at Berklee. He is also well-known for his involvement in the acclaimed Reverence Gospel Choir, being one of the primary choir directors, leaders and coordinators, under the direction of legendary professor Dennis Montgomery III. @am.newman
Presenters
avatar for Aaron Newman
Saturday October 26, 2024 4:00pm - 4:50pm EDT
18 - Copley Square Outdoors - Berklee Stage
  Music

4:15pm EDT

Generational Stories
Saturday October 26, 2024 4:15pm - 5:15pm EDT
03 - Old South Church - Guild Room
Multi-generational family stories set against the backdrop of pivotal moments in history are told in these three narratives, exploring themes of memory, reconciling the present and past, and the far reaching after-effects of our ancestors’ choices. In Wendy Chen’s debut, Their Divine Fires, the consequences from an act of violence on a bride’s wedding night reverberates for generations amidst China’s revolution through present day. Haunting and intimate, Their Divine Fires has been praised as “deeply moving…poignant” by the Toronto Star. Ben Shattuck’s The History of Sound spans three centuries, examining how love and loss are entwined and transformed over generations. Described as “masterful” (Chicago Tribune) and “deeply resonant” (Boston Globe), Shattuck’s linked story collection is set in New England, from the woods of New Hampshire to 1700 Nantucket; each story with a companion story, resurfacing truth, artifact, and feelings that linger. In Jessica Shattuck’s Last House, an idealistic family man of the Greatest Generation rises from humble means to providing every comfort for his family, though history has other plans, sweeping them up in the counterculture and civil rights movement where new ideals will be formed. Spanning 80 years, the novel is “a richly detailed, slow-burning family saga distinguished by incisive psychological insight and masterful research” (NY Times). This session will be moderated by Stephen Kiernan, acclaimed author of seven books, most recently The Glass Chateau. Sponsored by Emerson College Graduate Programs.
Moderators
avatar for Stephen Kiernan

Stephen Kiernan

As a journalist and novelist, Stephen Kiernan has had nearly five million words in print. He has won wide recognition, notably the Gerald Loeb Award and the Brechner Center's Freedom of Information Award. His work has been translated into many languages and four alphabets, and his... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Wendy Chen

Wendy Chen

Wendy Chen is the author of the novel Their Divine Fires (Algonquin) and the poetry collection Unearthings (Tavern Books). She is the editor of Figure 1, associate editor-in-chief of Tupelo Quarterly, and prose editor of Tupelo Press. Her poetry, translations, and prose have appeared... Read More →
avatar for Ben Shattuck

Ben Shattuck

Ben Shattuck's first book, Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau, was a New Yorker Best Book of 2022, a Wall Street Journal Best Book of Spring, a New York Times Best Book of Summer, a New England Indie Bestseller, and was nominated for the Massachusetts Book Award... Read More →
avatar for Jessica Shattuck

Jessica Shattuck

Jessica Shattuck is The New York Times bestselling author of Last House; The Women in the Castle; The Hazards of Good Breeding, a New York Times Notable Book and finalist for the PEN/Winship Award; and Perfect Life. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, The New Yorker, Glamour... Read More →
Sponsors and Partners
avatar for Emerson College
Saturday October 26, 2024 4:15pm - 5:15pm EDT
03 - Old South Church - Guild Room
  Fiction

4:30pm EDT

How Technology Shapes History
Saturday October 26, 2024 4:30pm - 5:30pm EDT
06 - Boston Public Library - Rabb Hall
The two sweeping, magisterial narratives featured in this session demonstrate how human history is defined by technological innovation, and not always in a good way. Technological progress has brought enormous advances in lifespan and freedom, but the cost has been significant. Daron Acemoglu, co-author of Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity, asserts that over the past 1,000 years, technological developments tended to enrich and empower small elites. This rings true in our time when a small group of technology entrepreneurs amass astonishing wealth and power but the real income of ordinary people remains stagnant. In The Burning Earth: A History, MacArthur “genius” grantee Sunil Amrith uses an environmental lens for a paradigm-shifting examination of how industrialization, colonization, and war have degraded and reshaped the planet. This fascinating conversion about the history of technology will be led by Arun Rath, host of All Things Considered on GBH.
Moderators
avatar for Arun Rath

Arun Rath

Arun Rath is the host of GBH News' All Things Considered.
Presenters
avatar for Daron Acemoglu

Daron Acemoglu

Daron Acemoglu is Institute Professor of Economics at MIT, the university's highest faculty honor. For the last twenty-five years, he has been researching the historical origins of prosperity, poverty, and the effects of new technologies on economic growth, employment, and inequality... Read More →
avatar for Sunil Amrith

Sunil Amrith

Sunil Amrith is the Renu and Anand Dhawan Professor of History and professor in the School of the Environment at Yale University. He is the author of four books, and a recipient of multiple awards including a MacArthur “genius” fellowship. He grew up in Singapore and lives in... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 4:30pm - 5:30pm EDT
06 - Boston Public Library - Rabb Hall
  Nonfiction

4:30pm EDT

Memoir: Follow Your Bliss
Saturday October 26, 2024 4:30pm - 5:30pm EDT
04 - Church of the Covenant - Sanctuary
Joseph Campbell said, “Follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and the universe will open doors where there were only walls.” This session features three individuals who apparently followed that dictum and turned a passionate interest into their life’s work. Mattapan native Rich Benoit’s love of cars, especially electric vehicles, led to his popular YouTube channel, Rich Rebuilds. He tells how his interest in cars and rebuilding stuff led to a burgeoning career in Going Fast and Fixing Things. Trish O’Kane, in Birding to Change the World, chronicles how her obsession with birdwatching led her to a new identity as a birder, environmentalist and social justice warrior. “Birds,” she writes, “forged a new neural pathway in my brain, a joyful pathway.” In My Roman History, Alizah Holstein describes how her love affair with Rome, which began in high school, morphed into a career. Her memoir is a meditation on the mysteries of affinity, desire, and self-realization. This session will be moderated by Robin Young, host of WBUR’s Here & Now. Come be inspired to follow your own bliss. Sponsored by WBUR.
Moderators
avatar for Robin Young

Robin Young

Robin Young brings more than 25 years of broadcast experience to her role as host of Here & Now. She is a Peabody Award-winning documentary filmmaker who has also reported for NBC, CBS and ABC television and for several years was substitute host and correspondent for "The Today Show... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Rich Benoit

Rich Benoit

Rich Benoit is the founder of Rich Rebuilds, a YouTube channel he launched in 2014. As a lifelong car aficionado, he takes great pride in teaching people about cars while squeezing as much snarky humor into each video as possible. He is a Harvard dropout and former IT help desk professional... Read More →
avatar for Alizah Holstein

Alizah Holstein

Alizah Holstein is an independent editor with a Ph.D. in History from Cornell University and an International MFA in Nonfiction Writing & Literary Translation from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She lives in Providence, RI with her husband and children.
avatar for Trish O'Kane

Trish O'Kane

Trish O'Kane, the author of Birding to Change The World: A Memoir, is a writer and a senior lecturer in environmental justice at the University of Vermont, where avians are her teaching assistants. A former human rights journalist in Central America and the Deep South, she has written... Read More →
Sponsors and Partners
avatar for WBUR
Saturday October 26, 2024 4:30pm - 5:30pm EDT
04 - Church of the Covenant - Sanctuary
  Nonfiction

4:30pm EDT

When History Gets Personal
Saturday October 26, 2024 4:30pm - 5:30pm EDT
01 - Old South Church - Sanctuary
History is made by people, and the two memoirs covered here tell the story of an era through the personalities involved. Doris Kearns Goodwin’s husband, Richard Goodwin, was a White House aide and speechwriter to JFK and RFK, deputy assistant secretary of state, and director of the International Peace Corps during the turbulent 60’s. The author herself worked with Lyndon Johnson on writing his memoirs. The hope and idealism of the period, the shattered dreams and lives, the turmoil, and the love story of the author and her beloved husband, are encapsulated in her bestselling memoir, An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960’s. Journalist Charles Trueheart relates the story of the rupture between two diplomats, one his father and the other his godfather, who were both present at a pivotal moment in the diplomatic history of the Vietnam War, in Diplomats at War: Friendship and Betrayal on the Brink of the Vietnam Conflict, which the Washington Post calls both “riveting and revelatory.” The discussion will be moderated by Linda Henry, co-owner and CEO of Boston Globe Media.
Moderators
avatar for Linda Henry

Linda Henry

Linda Henry is the co-owner of Boston Globe Media where she serves as Chief Executive Officer of the 152 year-old multimedia company that includes The Boston Globe, Boston.com, and Stat News. Prior to becoming CEO in 2020, Linda served as Managing Director at the Globe and as co-founder... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Doris Kearns Goodwin

Doris Kearns Goodwin

Doris Kearns Goodwin’s work for President Johnson inspired her career as a presidential historian. Her first book was Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream. She followed up with the Pulitzer Prize–winning No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Homefront in World... Read More →
avatar for Charles Trueheart

Charles Trueheart

Charles Trueheart is the author of Diplomats at War: Friendship and Betrayal on the Brink of the Vietnam Conflict (University of Virginia Press, 2024). He was director of the American Library in Paris from 2007 to 2017. Most of his earlier career was in journalism, including 15 years... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 4:30pm - 5:30pm EDT
01 - Old South Church - Sanctuary
  Nonfiction

4:45pm EDT

United We Stand, Divided We Fall
Saturday October 26, 2024 4:45pm - 5:45pm EDT
05 - Trinity Church - Undercroft
It is impossible to ignore the increasingly bitter polarization of our society. In If We Are Brave: Essays from Black America, Washington Post opinion columnist Theodore Johnson examines the rift that race exposes in our national identity and the ways it hinders our ability to connect with one another. Darrin McMahon, in Equality: The History of an Elusive Idea, points out that across time, the movement towards equality is seldom linear: greater equality within one group is often premised on the exclusion of those outside the group. There is no easy fix for our nation’s  deep fissures, but Nick Troiano, in The Primary Solution: Rescuing Our Democracy from the Fringes, argues for abolishing partisan political primaries, which favor extremists of both parties. The result would be more democratic elections and less polarization. This thought-provoking discussion will be led by Jeremy Siegel, co-host of Morning Edition on GBH.
Moderators
avatar for Jeremy Siegel

Jeremy Siegel

Jeremy Siegel is a co-host of Morning Edition at GBH. Previously he was the host and producer of POLITICO’s daily news podcast POLITICO Dispatch.
Presenters
avatar for Theodore Johnson

Theodore Johnson

Theodore R. Johnson is the author of If We are Brave; a Senior Advisor at New America, leading its flagship Us@250 initiative marking the nation’s semi quincentennial; and a contributing columnist at The Washington Post. Prior to joining New America, he was a senior fellow and Director... Read More →
avatar for Darrin Mcmahon

Darrin Mcmahon

Darrin M. McMahon is the Mary Brinsmead Wheelock Professor of History at Dartmouth College. The author of Equality: The History of an Elusive Idea, Happiness: A History, and Divine Fury: A History of Genius, he writes regularly for the national and international press. He lives in... Read More →
avatar for Nick Troiano

Nick Troiano

Nick Troiano is a civic entrepreneur based in Denver, CO and is the Executive Director of Unite America – a non-partisan organization that seeks to foster a more functional and representative government. Nick has been a leader in the political reform movement over the last decade... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 4:45pm - 5:45pm EDT
05 - Trinity Church - Undercroft
  Nonfiction

5:00pm EDT

YA Keynote
Saturday October 26, 2024 5:00pm - 6:00pm EDT
02 - Old South Church - Mary Norton Hall
Ever since The Sunbearer Trials burst on the scene, fans have been waiting with bated breath for the sequel to this queer-normative, Mexican-inspired fantasy world. And now with Celestial Monsters, the author Aiden Thomas does not disappoint!  Thomas has written a heart-stopping finale, in which Teo, Aurelio, and Niya must battle the Obsidian gods in order to return Sol to the sky. Teo never thought he could be a Hero. Now, he doesn’t have a choice. The sun is gone, the Obsidian gods have been released from their prison, and chaos and destruction are wreaking havoc on Reino del Sol. All because Teo refused to sacrifice a fellow semidiose during the Sunbearer Trials. With the world plunged into perpetual night, Teo, his crush Aurelio, and his best friend Niya must journey to the dark wilderness of Los Restos, battling vicious monsters while dealing with guilt, trauma, and a (very distracting) burgeoning romance between Teo and Aurelio. Once more racing against the clock, the trio are determined to rescue the captured semidioses and retrieve the Sol Stone. With it, Sol and their protective light can return and order can be restored. Now the future of the whole world is in their hands. An instant New York Times bestseller, Celestial Monsters is “a stunning, action-packed sequel filled with heart and a cast readers will wish to stay with long after they've put the book down." (Booklist, starred review) Don’t miss Aiden's witty and absorbing anecdotes about writing this duology. Bring your questions! Alex Schaffner, Brookline Booksmith’s Community Engagement Director, will moderate.
Moderators
avatar for Alex Schaffner

Alex Schaffner

Alex Schaffner has been working in the book industry since 2003. Raised by librarians (one of them a children’s librarian at a public library), Alex has been employed and educated by public and academic libraries, trade and educational publishers, grocery stores (where you can learn... Read More →
Presenters
avatar for Aiden Thomas

Aiden Thomas

Aiden Thomas is a trans, Latinx, New York Times bestselling author with an MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College. Originally from Oakland, California, they now make their home in Portland, OR. Aiden is notorious for not being able to guess the endings of books and movies, and... Read More →
Saturday October 26, 2024 5:00pm - 6:00pm EDT
02 - Old South Church - Mary Norton Hall
  YA

6:30pm EDT

Poems & Pints
Saturday October 26, 2024 6:30pm - 7:30pm EDT
21 - Room and Board - Showroom
Join us and raise a glass or two with other poetry lovers at what’s become a favorite BBF tradition, Poems & Pints! Comfy furniture, free pints and pretzels, and readings by four fantastic poets: Tarik Bartel, Gregory Glenn, Joshua Nguyen, and Bianca Stone.  Sponsored by Mass Poetry.
Presenters
avatar for Tarik Bartel

Tarik Bartel

Tarik Bartel (they/them) is a Thai-American community organizer and arts educator whose work is rooted in creating spaces for collective joy and imagination through photography, storytelling, and spoken word poetry. Their poetry and photography work can be found in their self-published... Read More →
avatar for Gregory Glenn

Gregory Glenn

Gregory Glenn is a writer and performer based in Massachusetts. His work can be found in Poetry Soup, Drunk Monkeys, Molecule Tiny Lit, Hard Work of Hope, Incessant Pipe, and he is one of five poets featured in the anthology 9x5 (2022, Only Human Press). He is Beloved Editor Supreme... Read More →
avatar for Joshua Nguyen

Joshua Nguyen

Joshua Nguyen is the author of Come Clean (University of Wisconsin Press, 2021), winner of the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry, the Writers' League of Texas Discovery Award, and the Mississippi Institute of Arts & Letters Poetry Award. He is also the author of the chapbooks, American... Read More →
avatar for Bianca Stone

Bianca Stone

Bianca Stone is the author of five books, including the poetry collections, What is Otherwise Infinite (Tin House, 2022) winner of the 2022 Vermont Book Award; The Möbius Strip Club of Grief (Tin House, 2018), Someone Else’s Wedding Vows (Octopus Books and Tin House, 2014), and... Read More →
Sponsors and Partners
avatar for Mass Poetry
Saturday October 26, 2024 6:30pm - 7:30pm EDT
21 - Room and Board - Showroom
  Poetry
 
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Saturday, October 26
01 - Old South Church - Sanctuary
02 - Old South Church - Mary Norton Hall
03 - Old South Church - Guild Room
04 - Church of the Covenant - Sanctuary
05 - Trinity Church - Undercroft
06 - Boston Public Library - Rabb Hall
07 - Boston Public Library - Newsfeed Cafe
08 - Boston Public Library - Commonwealth Salon
09 - Boston Public Library - Teen Central
10 - Boston Public Library - Children's Library
11 - Boston Public Library - Children's Rey Room
12 - Boston Public Library - Orientation Room
13 - Boston Public Library - Guastavino
14 - French Library - 1st Floor
15 - French Library - Upstairs Room
16 - Goethe-Institut - 1st Floor
17 - Goethe-Institut - Workshop Space
18 - Copley Square Outdoors - Berklee Stage
19 - Copley Square Outdoors - Brainstorm Tent
20 - Copley Square Outdoors - Costume Characters
21 - Room and Board - Showroom
22 - Outside BPL Boylston Street Entrance
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