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The Boston Book Festival is an independent nonprofit group based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the name of its main event. The nonprofit was founded in 2009 by Deborah Z Porter, and aims to "celebrate the power of words to stimulate, agitate, unite, delight, and inspire by holding year-round events culminating in an annual, free Festival that promotes a culture of reading and ideas and enhances the vibrancy of our city." The annual book festival combines a street festival with an array of authors and other literary presenters from around the world. Daytime events at the BBF are free. In 2014, 32,000 people attended. Throughout the year, BBF hosts several literary events, several of which fall under their annual "Lounge Lit" series of literary outings, such as readings, cookbook author demos, and an annual literary pub trivia night. Since 2011, BBF has also hosted evening “kick-off” activities leading up to the Saturday festival.


Annual festival

The Festival is held each October in Boston's Back Bay. Speaker presentations have taken place in the
Boston Public Library The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also the Library for the Commonwealth (formerly ''library of last recourse'') of the Commonweal ...
, Church of the Covenant,
Old South Church Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts, (also known as New Old South Church or Third Church) is a historic United Church of Christ congregation first organized in 1669. Its present building was designed in the Gothic Revival style by Charles ...
, Trinity Church, and Back Bay Events Center, among other locations in and around
Copley Square Copley Square , named for painter John Singleton Copley, is a public square in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, bounded by Boylston Street, Clarendon Street, St. James Avenue, and Dartmouth Street. Prior to 1883 it was known as Art Square due to it ...
. The street festival is hosted on Copley Square, and usually includes a live music stage, dozens of exhibitors and vendors, and many free participatory activities for attendees and their families. This includes programming and activities for children, writing workshops and contests, and open mic opportunities.


2009

The inaugural festival on October 24, 2009, included more than seventy-five authors, including
Ken Burns Kenneth Lauren Burns (born July 29, 1953) is an American filmmaker known for his documentary film, documentary films and television series, many of which chronicle United States, American History of the United States, history and Culture of the ...
,
Anita Diamant Anita Diamant (born June 27, 1951) is an American author of fiction and non-fiction books."Anita Diamant." ''Contemporary Authors Online''. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2015. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, 2017-09-22. She has ...
,
Andre Dubus III Andre Dubus III (born September 11, 1959) is an American novelist and short story writer. He is a member of the faculty at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Early life and education Born in Oceanside, California, to Patricia (née Lowe) an ...
,
Tom Perrotta Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...
,
Alicia Silverstone Alicia Silverstone ( ; born October 4, 1976) is an American actress. She made her film debut in the thriller ''The Crush (1993 film), The Crush'' (1993), earning the 1994 MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance, and gained further prom ...
, and
John Hodgman John Kellogg Hodgman (born June 3, 1971) is an American author, actor, and humorist. In addition to his published written works, such as '' The Areas of My Expertise'', ''More Information Than You Require'', and '' That Is All'', he is known for ...
. Nobel laureate
Orhan Pamuk Ferit Orhan Pamuk (born 7 June 1952) is a Turkish novelist, screenwriter, academic, and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. One of Turkey's most prominent novelists, his work has sold over thirteen million books in sixty-three lan ...
delivered the keynote address in the sanctuary of Old South Church to over 1000 festival-goers. Popular sessions were “Ties That Bind” (featuring
Elinor Lipman Elinor Lipman (born October 16, 1950) is an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist. Early life and education Elinor Lipman was born and raised in Lowell, Massachusetts to a Jewish family. She is the second daughter of Julia M. and L ...
,
Richard Russo Richard Russo (July 15, 1949) is an American novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, and teacher. Early life and education Russo was born in Johnstown, New York, and raised in nearby Gloversville. He earned a bachelor's degree, a Master o ...
, and
Michael Thomas Michael or Mike Thomas may refer to: Entertainment * Michael M. Thomas (born 1936), American novelist of financial thrillers * Michael Tilson Thomas (born 1944), American conductor, pianist, and composer * Michael Thomas (actor) (1952–2019), Bri ...
), “Power of Place” (featuring
Anita Diamant Anita Diamant (born June 27, 1951) is an American author of fiction and non-fiction books."Anita Diamant." ''Contemporary Authors Online''. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2015. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, 2017-09-22. She has ...
,
Elizabeth Nunez Elizabeth Nunez is a Trinidadian American novelist and Distinguished Professor of English at Hunter College– CUNY, New York City. Her novels have won a number of awards: ''Prospero's Daughter'' received the ''New York Times'' Editors' Choice ...
, Carolina De Robertis, and
Anita Shreve Anita Hale Shreve (1946 – March 29, 2018) was an American writer, chiefly known for her novels. One of her first published stories, '' Past the Island, Drifting'' (published in 1975), was awarded an O. Henry Prize in 1976. Early years a ...
), and "The Obama Year," featuring
Jack Beatty Jack J. Beatty (born May 15, 1945) is a writer, senior editor of ''The Atlantic'', and news analyst for ''On Point'', the national NPR news program. Born and raised in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Beatty attended Boston Latin School, ...
, David Gergan,
Lani Guinier Carol Lani Guinier (; April 19, 1950 – January 7, 2022) was an American educator, legal scholar, and civil rights theorist. She was the Bennett Boskey Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, and the first woman of color appointed to a tenured p ...
, and
Michael E. Porter Michael Eugene Porter (born May 23, 1947) is an American academic known for his theories on economics, business strategy, and social causes. He is the Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at Harvard Business School, and he was one of ...
.


2010

In 2010, the festival, held on October 16, included 130 authors and over forty sessions, with presenters including
Bill Bryson William McGuire Bryson (; born 8 December 1951) is an American–British journalist and author. Bryson has written a number of nonfiction books on topics including travel, the English language, and science. Born in the United States, he has b ...
, Food Network star
Tyler Florence Tyler Florence (born March 3, 1971) is a chef and television host of several Food Network shows. He graduated from the College of Culinary Arts at the Charleston, South Carolina, campus of Johnson & Wales University in 1991. He was later given an ...
, Boston novelist
Dennis Lehane Dennis Lehane (born August 4, 1965) is an American author. He has published more than a dozen novels; the first several were a series of mysteries featuring recurring characters, including ''A Drink Before the War''. Of these, four were adapted a ...
, Nobel Prize winners
Joseph Stiglitz Joseph Eugene Stiglitz (; born February 9, 1943) is an American New Keynesian economist, a public policy analyst, and a full professor at Columbia University. He is a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2001) and the Joh ...
and
Amartya Sen Amartya Kumar Sen (; born 3 November 1933) is an Indian economist and philosopher, who since 1972 has taught and worked in the United Kingdom and the United States. Sen has made contributions to welfare economics, social choice theory, econom ...
, and surgeon and journalist
Atul Gawande Atul Atmaram Gawande (born November 5, 1965) is an American surgeon, writer, and public health researcher. He practices general and endocrine surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. He is a professor in the Departmen ...
. Featured sessions included: “Bugs in the System” (featuring
Dan Ariely Dan Ariely ( he, דן אריאלי; born April 29, 1967) is an Israeli-American professor and author. He serves as a James B. Duke Professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University. Ariely is the founder of the research inst ...
and Mark Moffett), “Pop Culture” (featuring
Lisa Birnbach Lisa R. Birnbach is an author best known for co-authoring ''The Official Preppy Handbook'', which spent 38 weeks at number one on the ''New York Times'' bestseller list in 1980. Early life and education Birnbach was born to a Jewish family on t ...
,
Chip Kidd Charles Kidd (born 1964) is an American graphic designer known for book covers. Early childhood Born in Shillington in Berks County, Pennsylvania, Kidd grew up being fascinated and heavily inspired by American popular culture. Comic books w ...
, and
David Rakoff David Benjamin Rakoff (November 27, 1964 – August 9, 2012) was a Canadian-born American writer of prose and poetry based in New York City, who wrote humorous and sometimes autobiographical non-fiction essays. Rakoff was an essayist, journ ...
), “Talking About Justice” (featuring
Dambisa Moyo Dambisa Felicia Moyo, Baroness Moyo (born 2 February 1969)Moyo showed a copy of an official document with her date and place of birth as part of a lecture she gave at TEDGlobal 2013, Edinburgh, Scotland. is a Zambian-born economist and author, ...
,
Michael Sandel Michael Joseph Sandel (; born March 5, 1953) is an American political philosophy, political philosopher and the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government Theory at Harvard University Law School, where his course Justice was the unive ...
, and
Amartya Sen Amartya Kumar Sen (; born 3 November 1933) is an Indian economist and philosopher, who since 1972 has taught and worked in the United Kingdom and the United States. Sen has made contributions to welfare economics, social choice theory, econom ...
), and “From Page to Screen” featuring A. M. Homes,
Dennis Lehane Dennis Lehane (born August 4, 1965) is an American author. He has published more than a dozen novels; the first several were a series of mysteries featuring recurring characters, including ''A Drink Before the War''. Of these, four were adapted a ...
, and
Tom Perrotta Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...
. The kids' keynote speaker was Diary of a Wimpy Kid creator
Jeff Kinney Jeffrey Patrick Kinney (born February 19, 1971) is an American author and cartoonist, best known for the children's book series ''Diary of a Wimpy Kid''. He also created the child-oriented website ''Poptropica''. Early life Jeff Kinney was born ...
.
Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and non-fiction. Her novels '' Bla ...
closed the festival with a standing-room-only keynote address in the Trinity Church sanctuary. Attendance at BBF 2010 was 24,000, doubling the size of the crowd from the first year. This year's festival also celebrated the start of a new literary outreach program: One City One Story. This initiative encouraged the greater Boston community to read and discuss a piece of literary fiction by making it readily available.


2011

The 2011 festival took place on October 15 and was similar in size to the 2010 festival. Large crowds filed in to hear talks such as: "Far Out Fiction" (featuring
Gregory Maguire Gregory Maguire (born June 9, 1954) is an American novelist. He is the author of '' Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West'', ''Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister'', and several dozen other novels for adults and children. Many ...
,
Karen Russell Karen Russell (born July 10, 1981) is an American novelist and short story writer. Her debut novel, ''Swamplandia!'', was a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. In 2009 the National Book Foundation named Russell a 5 under 35 honore ...
,
Chuck Klosterman Charles John Klosterman (; born 1972) is an American author and essayist whose work focuses on American popular culture. He has been a columnist for '' Esquire'' and ESPN.com and wrote "The Ethicist" column for ''The New York Times Magazine''. K ...
, and
Kate Beaton Kathryn Moira Beaton (born 8 September 1983) is a Canadian comics artist best known as the creator of the comic strip ''Hark! A Vagrant'', which ran from 2007 to 2018. Her other major works include the children's books '' The Princess and the Po ...
), “A Reason to Lead” (featuring Governor
Deval Patrick Deval Laurdine Patrick (born July 31, 1956) is an American politician, civil rights lawyer, author, and businessman who served as the 71st governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015. He was first elected in 2006, succeeding Mitt Romney, who ...
), “Graphic Novels” (featuring
Daniel Clowes Daniel Gillespie Clowes (; born April 14, 1961) is an American cartoonist, graphic novelist, illustrator, and screenwriter. Most of Clowes's work first appeared in '' Eightball'', a solo anthology comic book series. An ''Eightball'' issue typical ...
,
Seth Seth,; el, Σήθ ''Sḗth''; ; "placed", "appointed") in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mandaeism, and Sethianism, was the third son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, their only other child mentioned by name in the Hebrew Bible. A ...
, and
Alison Bechdel Alison Bechdel ( ; born September 10, 1960) is an American cartoonist. Originally known for the long-running comic strip ''Dykes to Watch Out For'', she came to critical and commercial success in 2006 with her graphic memoir ''Fun Home'', which ...
), and “Frontiers of Science” featuring
Stephen Greenblatt Stephen Jay Greenblatt (born November 7, 1943) is an American Shakespearean, literary historian, and author. He has served as the John Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University since 2000. Greenblatt is the general edit ...
,
Lisa Randall Lisa Randall (born June 18, 1962) is an American theoretical physicist working in particle physics and cosmology. She is the Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of Science on the physics faculty of Harvard University. Her research includes the funda ...
,
Siddhartha Mukherjee Siddhartha Mukherjee (born 21 July 1970) is an Indian-American physician, biologist, and author. He is best known for his 2010 book, '' The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer'', that won notable literary prizes including the 2011 Pu ...
.
Mo Willems Mo Willems (born February 11, 1968) is an American writer, animator, voice actor, and children's book author. His work includes creating the animated television series ''Sheep in the Big City'' for Cartoon Network, working on ''Sesame Street'' ...
was the kids' keynote speaker, and
Michael Ondaatje Philip Michael Ondaatje (; born 12 September 1943) is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian poet, fiction writer, essayist, novelist, editor, and filmmaker. He is the recipient of multiple literary awards such as the Governor General's Award, the Giller P ...
delivered the festival-closing keynote, both presenting to several hundred attendees at the Back Bay Events Center's John Hancock Hall. The festival kicked off on Friday, October 14, with a special session called "The Art of The Wire," featuring a discussion with actors and writers of the acclaimed HBO television series.


2012

In 2012, the festival was on October 27, and it boasted an array of speakers, including
Junot Diaz Junot is a French name that may refer to the following notable people: ;Given name *Junot Díaz (born 1968), Dominican American ;Surname *Laure Junot, Duchess of Abrantes (1784–1838), French writer *Jean-Andoche Junot, 1st Duke of Abrantès (1771 ...
,
Chip Kidd Charles Kidd (born 1964) is an American graphic designer known for book covers. Early childhood Born in Shillington in Berks County, Pennsylvania, Kidd grew up being fascinated and heavily inspired by American popular culture. Comic books w ...
, and
Hanna Rosin Hanna Rosin (born 1970) is an Israeli-born American writer. She is the editorial director for audio for ''New York Magazine'' Formerly, she was the co-host of the NPR podcast Invisibilia with Alix Spiegel. She was co-founder of DoubleX, the now ...
.
Lemony Snicket Lemony Snicket is the pen name of American author Daniel Handler (born February 28, 1970). Handler has published several children's books under the name, most notably ''A Series of Unfortunate Events'', which has sold over 60 million copies and s ...
was the kids' keynote speaker, and the ticketed evening keynote featured
Richard Ford Richard Ford (born February 16, 1944) is an American novelist and short story writer. His best-known works are the novel '' The Sportswriter'' and its sequels, '' Independence Day'', ''The Lay of the Land'' and ''Let Me Be Frank With You'', and t ...
, interviewed by
Claire Messud Claire Messud (born 1966) is an American novelist and literature and creative writing professor. She is best known as the author of the novel '' The Emperor's Children'' (2006). Early life Born in Greenwich, Connecticut,van Gelder, Lawrence. "Foo ...
. Popular sessions were "The Brain: Thinking About Thinking" (featuring
Eric Kandel Eric Richard Kandel (; born Erich Richard Kandel, November 7, 1929) is an Austrian-born American medical doctor who specialized in psychiatry, a neuroscientist and a professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the College of Physicians and Surge ...
and
Ray Kurzweil Raymond Kurzweil ( ; born February 12, 1948) is an American computer scientist, author, inventor, and futurist. He is involved in fields such as optical character recognition (OCR), text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology, and e ...
), “Serious Satire” (featuring
Lizz Winstead Lizz Winstead (born August 5, 1961) is an American comedian, radio and television personality, and blogger. A native of Minnesota, Winstead is the co-creator of ''The Daily Show'' along with Madeleine Smithberg, and served as head writer. Ear ...
,
Kevin Bleyer Kevin Bleyer is an American television writer and producer. He has won multiple Emmy, Peabody, and Writers Guild Awards He was a former writer for ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'', a contributor to President Barack Obama's speeches, the author ...
, and
Baratunde Thurston Baratunde Rafiq Thurston (; born September 11, 1977) is an American writer, comedian, and commentator. Thurston co-founded the black political bloJack and Jill Politics whose coverage of the 2008 Democratic National Convention was archived in the ...
), "Fiction: Time and Place" (featuring
Dennis Lehane Dennis Lehane (born August 4, 1965) is an American author. He has published more than a dozen novels; the first several were a series of mysteries featuring recurring characters, including ''A Drink Before the War''. Of these, four were adapted a ...
,
Tayari Jones Tayari Jones (born November 30, 1970) is an American author and academic known for '' An American Marriage'', which was a 2018 Oprah's Book Club Selection, and won the 2019 Women's Prize for Fiction. Jones is a graduate of Spelman College, the ...
, and
Alex Gilvarry Alex Gilvarry (b. 1981 on Staten Island, NY) is an American writer. He is the author of the novels ''From the Memoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant'' (2012) and ''Eastman Was Here'' (2017). In 2009, Gilvarry graduated from CUNY - Hunter College's MFA P ...
), and “YA: The Future Is Now" featuring
M. T. Anderson Matthew Tobin Anderson (born November 4, 1968), is an American writer of children's books that range from picture books to young adult novels. He won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature in 2006 for '' The Pox Party'', the first o ...
,
Rachel Cohn Rachel Cohn (born December 14, 1968) is an American young adult fiction writer. Her first book, '' Gingerbread'', was published in 2002. Since then she has gone on to write many other successful YA and younger children's books, and has collabora ...
,
Cory Doctorow Cory Efram Doctorow (; born July 17, 1971) is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who served as co-editor of the blog ''Boing Boing''. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of ...
, and
Gabrielle Zevin Gabrielle Zevin (born October 24, 1977) is an American author and screenwriter. Personal life Zevin was born in New York City. Zevin's father, who is American-born, has Ashkenazi Jewish, Russian, Lithuanian, and Polish ancestry. Her mother ...
. The 2012 kickoff event was called "Page to Screen," which featured authors whose works had been adapted for film and television, including
Buzz Bissinger Harry Gerard Bissinger III, also known as Buzz Bissinger and H. G. Bissinger (born November 1, 1954) is an American journalist and author, best known for his 1990 non-fiction book '' Friday Night Lights''. He is a longtime contributing editor at ...
,
Rachel Cohn Rachel Cohn (born December 14, 1968) is an American young adult fiction writer. Her first book, '' Gingerbread'', was published in 2002. Since then she has gone on to write many other successful YA and younger children's books, and has collabora ...
,
Andre Dubus III Andre Dubus III (born September 11, 1959) is an American novelist and short story writer. He is a member of the faculty at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Early life and education Born in Oceanside, California, to Patricia (née Lowe) an ...
,
Nick Flynn Nick Flynn (born January 26, 1960) is an American writer, playwright, and poet. His writing is characterized by lyric, distilled moments, which blur the boundaries of various genres. Many of his books are structured using a collage technique, wh ...
, and
Daniel Handler Daniel Handler (born February 28, 1970) is an American author, musician, screenwriter, television writer, and television producer. He is best known for his children's book series ''A Series of Unfortunate Events'' and ''All the Wrong Questions ...
. In 2012 the festival launched a new program called BBF Unbound, in which community members were invited to submit proposals for sessions. In 2012, two proposals were accepted and subsequently developed and presented at the BBF: "Writing the War" and "Books Behind Bars."


2013

The fifth annual festival was held October 17–19. The festival kicked off on October 17 with an evening session entitled “Writing Terror: An Exploration of Fear,” which featured
Wes Craven Wesley Earl Craven (August 2, 1939 – August 30, 2015) was an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and editor. Craven has commonly been recognized as one of the greatest masters of the horror genre due to the cultural imp ...
,
Mary Louise Kelly Mary Louise Kelly is an American broadcaster and author. She anchors the daily news show ''All Things Considered'' on National Public Radio (NPR), and previously covered national security at the network. Prior to NPR she reported for CNN and the ...
,
Jessica Stern Jessica Eve Stern (born February 11, 1958) is an American scholar and academic on terrorism. Stern serves as a research professor at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. Earlier she had been a lecturer at Harvard University. ...
, and
Valerie Plame Wilson Valerie Elise Plame (born August 13, 1963) is an American writer, spy novelist, and former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer. As the subject of the 2003 Plame affair, also known as the CIA leak scandal, Plame's identity as a CIA officer ...
in a discussion moderated by
Joe Klein Joe Klein (born September 7, 1946) is an American political commentator and author. He is best known for his work as a columnist for ''Time'' magazine and his novel ''Primary Colors'', an anonymously written roman à clef portraying Bill Clinton' ...
. The first-ever kids' kickoff event, on the afternoon of October 18, featured Newbery Medalists
Kate DiCamillo Katrina Elizabeth DiCamillo (born March 25, 1964) is an American children's fiction author. She has published over 25 novels, including ''Because of Winn-Dixie'', '' The Tiger Rising'', ''The Tale of Despereaux'', ''The Miraculous Journey ...
,
Jack Gantos Jack Gantos (born July 2, 1951) is an American author of children's books. He is best known for the fictional characters Rotten Ralph and Joey Pigza. Rotten Ralph is a cat who stars in twenty picture books written by Gantos and illustrated by ...
, and
Rebecca Stead Rebecca Stead (born January 16, 1968) is an American writer of fiction for children and teens. She won the American Newbery Medal in 2010, the oldest award in children's literature, for her second novel ''When You Reach Me''. She won the Guardia ...
. Keynote speaker
Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Wes ...
spoke to a sellout crowd at Old South Church on the evening of October 18. Other notable presenters included Paul Harding,
Ty Burr Ty Burr (born August 17, 1957) is an American film critic, columnist, and author who currently writes a film and popular culture newsletter "Ty Burr's Watchlist" on Substack. Burr previously served as film critic at ''The Boston Globe'' for two ...
,
Chuck Klosterman Charles John Klosterman (; born 1972) is an American author and essayist whose work focuses on American popular culture. He has been a columnist for '' Esquire'' and ESPN.com and wrote "The Ethicist" column for ''The New York Times Magazine''. K ...
,
Clifford Ross Clifford Ross (born October 15, 1952) is an American artist who has worked in multiple forms of media, including sculpture, painting, photography and video. His work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the ...
, and kids' keynote speaker
Tomie dePaola Thomas Anthony "Tomie" dePaola (; September 15, 1934 – March 30, 2020) was an American writer and illustrator who created more than 260 children's books, such as '' Strega Nona''. He received the Children's Literature Legacy Award for his lifeti ...
. “Synthetic Biology: Designing Life” (featuring Emily Anthes, Juan Enriquez, and
Craig Venter John Craig Venter (born October 14, 1946) is an American biotechnologist and businessman. He is known for leading one of the first draft sequences of the human genome and assembled the first team to transfect a cell with a synthetic chromosome. ...
); “Dirty, Crazy, Endless Love” (featuring
Nicholson Baker Nicholson Baker (born January 7, 1957) is an American novelist and essayist. His fiction generally de-emphasizes narrative in favor of careful description and characterization. His early novels such as ''The Mezzanine'' and ''Room Temperature'' we ...
,
Andre Dubus III Andre Dubus III (born September 11, 1959) is an American novelist and short story writer. He is a member of the faculty at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Early life and education Born in Oceanside, California, to Patricia (née Lowe) an ...
, and Jamie Quatro); “The Rise and Fall of Nations” (featuring
Noah Feldman Noah R. Feldman (born May 22, 1970) is an American academic and legal scholar. He is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and chairman of the Society of Fellows at Harvard University. He is the author of 10 books, host of ...
and James Robinson); and “Our Boston” (featuring
Mike Barnicle Michael Barnicle (born October 13, 1943) is an American print and broadcast journalist, and a social and political commentator. He is a senior contributor and the veteran columnist on MSNBC's '' Morning Joe''. He is also seen on NBC's ''Today Sh ...
,
Madeleine Blais Madeleine Blais (born 1946) is an American journalist, author and professor in the University of Massachusetts Amherst's journalism department. As a reporter for the ''Miami Herald'', Blais earned the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing in 1980 fo ...
,
Leigh Montville Leigh Montville (born July 20, 1943) is an American writer and former newspaper columnist who worked for ''The Boston Globe'' and ''Sports Illustrated''. Early life and education Montville was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He graduated from th ...
, and
Lesley Visser Lesley Candace Visser (born September 11, 1953) is an American sportscaster, television and radio personality, and sportswriter. Visser is the first female NFL analyst on TV, and the only sportscaster in history who has worked on Final Four, ...
) were some of the largest presentations.


2014

The 2014 festival took place on October 23–25.
Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he help ...
, the memoir keynote speaker, started off the festival Thursday evening as he discussed his life and musical times with Berklee College of Music president Roger Brown. The following night, fiction keynote speaker
Susan Minot Susan Minot (born December 7, 1956) is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, playwright, screenwriter and painter. Early life Minot was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts. Her father, ...
joined Nigerian-American journalist Dayo Olopade in a conversation about Minot's latest novel Thirty Girls. Saturday's festivities began with kids’ keynote speaker
Rick Riordan Richard Russell Riordan Junior (; born June 5, 1964) is an American author, best known for writing the ''Percy Jackson & the Olympians'' series. Riordan's books have been translated into forty-two languages and sold more than thirty million co ...
filling Trinity Church to capacity with fans young and old of his
Percy Jackson & the Olympians ''Percy Jackson & the Olympians'' is a series of five fantasy novels written by American author Rick Riordan, and the first book series in the '' Camp Half-Blood Chronicles''. The novels are set in a world with the Greek gods in the 21st centu ...
series. There were over 150 notable presenters at the 2014 festival with panels such as “Technology: Promise and Peril” (featuring
Andrew McAfee Andrew Paul McAfee (born ), a principal research scientist at MIT, is cofounder and codirector of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He studies how digital technologies are changing the world. Life ...
, David Rose, Nicholas Carr, and moderator Sacha Pfeiffer), “Mayor’s Rule” (featuring
Benjamin Barber Benjamin R. Barber (August 2, 1939 – April 24, 2017) was an American political theorist and author, perhaps best known for his 1995 bestseller, ''Jihad vs. McWorld'', and for 2013's ''If Mayors Ruled the World''. His 1984 book of political t ...
,
Marty Walsh Martin Joseph Walsh (born April 10, 1967) is an American politician and former union official. He has been the 29th United States Secretary of Labor since March 23, 2021. A Democrat, he previously served as the 54th mayor of Boston from 2014, ...
, Mayor Thomas Menino, Mayor Dan Rivera, and Mayor Lisa Wong, with host Bob Oakes), and “(Post) Modern Love” (featuring Daniel Jones,
Margo Howard Margo Howard (née Lederer; born March 15, 1940) is an American writer and former advice columnist. She is the only child of businessman/innovator Jules Lederer and Eppie Lederer (better known as Ann Landers after her long-time advice column ''As ...
,
Jennifer Finney Boylan Jennifer Finney Boylan (born June 22, 1958) is a bestselling author, transgender activist, professor at Barnard College, and a contributing opinion writer for the ''New York Times''. Early life and education Boylan was born in Valley Forge, Pen ...
, and moderator
Meredith Goldstein Meredith Goldstein is an advice columnist and entertainment reporter for ''The Boston Globe'' . Her love advice columnbr>"Love Letters"appears daily on Boston.com and in the ''Globe’s'' print edition every Tuesday, Friday, Saturday, and in the S ...
); all drawing large crowds. The third keynote speaker
Doris Kearns Goodwin Doris Helen Kearns Goodwin (born January 4, 1943) is an American biographer, historian, former sports journalist, and political commentator. She has written biographies of several U.S. presidents, including ''Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream ...
provided her insights on presidential leadership from Lincoln to Obama in her history keynote, while
Norman Foster Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...
rounded out the festival with his art, architecture, and design keynote.


2017

The 9th annual event took place October 26–28 in Copley Square with the theme of “Where We Find Ourselves.” Thursday night began the festival with “Lit Crawl Boston.” On Friday, an authors’ variety show, “The Book Revue,” was performed. Sarah Howard Parker, Director of Operations, called it “the most ambitious and complex festival we have had.” The schedule included author signings, music and dance workshops, science experiments, hands-on art explorations, inter-personal games, and writer workshops. Activities for children included appearances by characters Waldo, Nutbrown Hare, Olivia, Maisy, and the duo Elephant and Piggie. Lemony Snicket provided a kids’ keynote featuring the new picture book, “The Bad Mood and the Stick.” Waltham-raised author Joanna Schaffhausen presented her case for crime-solving in the “Gumshoes to Cyber Sleuths” session at the Old South Church. Adam Gopnik, Alan Light, and Rob Sheffield provided a session studying Beatles music and lyrics at the Church of the Covenant. “This is the Place: Women Writing about Home” was held at Trinity Church. Another version of home was discussed in “Voices of America: The Immigrant Experience Through a Writer’s Eyes,” featuring award-winning Grace Talusan. At Emmanuel Church, “Memoir: Strange Journeys,” was moderated by WBUR ARTery reporter Maria Garcia. Virginia Prescott provided the podcast “Welcome to Nightvale." Old South Church was the site for “Natural and Unnatural History: Earthquakes and Woolly Mammoths.” Additionally, Somerville author Daphne Kalotay provided the “One City One Story” feature. For the first time in its nine-year history, the BBF dedicated a whole venue exclusively to sessions for writers. The Boston Common Hotel and Conference Center was the main site for these sessions. Included was a game of “Literary Never Have I Ever” hosted by Stephanie Gayle. “Reading Like a Writer: Debuts, Perspective, and Setting,” was a trilogy of sessions connecting professionals of the craft. “Reading Like a Writer: Poetry,” featuring Stephanie Burt, Myron Hardy, and Erika L. Sanchez provided attendees with sample exploration. “BBF Unbound: Writing from Privilege,” featured authors Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich, Shuchi Saraswat, Laura van den Berg, Hasanthika Sirisena, and Kaitlin Solimine. Mass Poetry sponsored “Poems and Pints” at XHALE. Rebecca Morgan Frank, Krysten Hill, and Natalie Shapero were the featured poets.


2018

The 2018 festival was held on October 13. It was the tenth annual event and took place in venues throughout Copley Square, including Emmanuel Church, French Cultural Center, Church of the Covenant, Trinity Church, Old South Church, Boston Public Library, Prudential Center, Boston Architectural College, and Room & Board. For the first time, East Boston and Roxbury were included as satellites. Also for the first time, a "Hide-a-Book" event was held on Tuesday the 9th, during which Boston Book Festival volunteers hid books in and around Boston and tweeted pictures of them for people to find. The "One City One Story" program was suspended due to claims of plagiarism and litigation. A kickoff keynote was at the Old South Church was by Michael Pollan with Meghna Chakrabarti. The festival drew a record crowd. More than 275 authors were featured, and 30,000 people attended. The overall focus of the event was on societal issues such as environment, gun violence, #MeToo, social media, cultural divides, and diplomacy. Animal activist Sy Montgomery was featured in the "Animal Story" panel. "Twitter Ate My Brain" included Michael Rich, Tree Sreenivasan, and Maryanne Wolf. Multi-cultural authors Sam Graham-Felsen, Yang Huang, Blair Hurley, and Fatima Farheen Mirza shared and discussed their work in "Between Cultures." Graham Allison joined James Sebenius and Wendy Sherman in discussion of "Diplomacy: the Art of the Deal." Sessions specifically for writers were also offered, as were special programs for young adults and children.


One City One Story

One City One Story (also known as 1C1S) is Boston's annual citywide reading program started by the Boston Book Festival in 2010. The organization prints and distributes, free of charge, 30,000 copies of a short story. The program is intended to lower barriers around reading literary fiction for enjoyment. It functions as a way for the Greater Boston area to come together around a shared reading experience. The program, which usually kicks off in late summer, also starts to build momentum for the Boston Book Festival itself. The short story chosen the first year was
Tom Perrotta Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...
's "The Smile on Happy Chang's Face." In 2011 the story was "The Whore's Child" by
Richard Russo Richard Russo (July 15, 1949) is an American novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, and teacher. Early life and education Russo was born in Johnstown, New York, and raised in nearby Gloversville. He earned a bachelor's degree, a Master o ...
. The 2012 1C1S selection was "The Lobster Mafia Story" by Anna Solomon. In 2013, it was "Karma" by
Rishi Reddi Rishi Reddi is an American author. She is a L. L. Winship/PEN New England Award laureate. Biography Rishi Reddi was born in Hyderabad, India. She grew up in the United Kingdom and the United States. She is a graduate of Swarthmore College, wher ...
. The 2014 selection was “Sublimation” by
Jennifer Haigh Jennifer Haigh is an American novelist and short story writer. Life She was born in Barnesboro, Pennsylvania, Barnesboro, a Western Pennsylvania coal town 85 miles northeast of Pittsburgh in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, Cambria County. She a ...
.Yiqing Shao
"Boston Book Festival Announces 2014 ‘One City One Story’ Pick"
''Boston Magazine'', July 30, 2014.
Each year, multiple translations are made available on the Boston Book Festival website and printed copies (in English and, since 2012, in Spanish) are distributed to Boston's libraries, subway stations, coffeehouses, bookstores, farmers' markets, and elsewhere. The program culminates each year with a session at the October Boston Book Festival, at which the story's author participates in a town hall-style discussion with attendees who have read the work. One City One Story was suspended in 2018 due to claims of plagiarism and litigation.


Authors


2018

A kickoff keynote was at the Old South Church was by Michael Pollan. The Kids' Keynote speaker was Kate DiCamillo. The public affairs keynote speaker was
Anand Giridharadas Anand Giridharadas () is an American journalist and political pundit. He is a former columnist for ''The New York Times''. He is the author of four books: ''India Calling: An Intimate Portrait of a Nation's Remaking'' (2011), ''The True American: ...
. Other featured presenters included Graham Allison, Lesley Nneka Arimah, Justine Bateman, Stephanie Burt, Eve Ewing, Yang Huang, Laura Koenig, Beth Macy, Monica Munoz Martinez, Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich, Fatima Farheen Mirza, Sy Montgomery, Susan Oleksiw, James Sebenius, Wendy Sherman, Sree Sreenivasan, and Mo Walsh. For a full list of presenters, visit https://bostonbookfest.org/festival/presenters/


2017

Featured presenters included: Graham Allison, M.T. Anderson, Stephanie Burt, Meghna Chakrabarti, Sonya Chung, Vicki Croke, Sari Edelstein, Hallie Ephron, Erica Ferencik, Meredith Goldstein, Krysten Hill, Ha Jin, Margot Kahn, Laura Koenig, Dennis Lehane, Marianne Leone, Kekla Magoon, Claire Messud, Celeste Ng, Erika L. Sanchez, Joanna Schaffhausen, Lemony Snicket, Mo Walsh, and Paul Yoon. For a full list of presenters, visit https://bostonbookfest.org/archive/archive-2017/


2014

There were five Keynotes including the Memoir Keynote by
Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he help ...
, Fiction Keynote by
Susan Minot Susan Minot (born December 7, 1956) is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, playwright, screenwriter and painter. Early life Minot was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts. Her father, ...
, History Keynote by
Doris Kearns Goodwin Doris Helen Kearns Goodwin (born January 4, 1943) is an American biographer, historian, former sports journalist, and political commentator. She has written biographies of several U.S. presidents, including ''Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream ...
, Kids’ Keynote by
Rick Riordan Richard Russell Riordan Junior (; born June 5, 1964) is an American author, best known for writing the ''Percy Jackson & the Olympians'' series. Riordan's books have been translated into forty-two languages and sold more than thirty million co ...
, and art, architecture, and design keynote by
Norman Foster Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...
. Featured presenters included: Greeta Anand, Vikram Chandra,
Vikas Swarup Vikas Swarup (born 22 June 1961) is a retired Indian diplomat and writer. He retired from the Indian Foreign Service as the Secretary (West) at the Ministry of External Affairs, India on 30 June 2021 and has previously served as High Commissione ...
, Nicholas Carr,
Andrew McAfee Andrew Paul McAfee (born ), a principal research scientist at MIT, is cofounder and codirector of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He studies how digital technologies are changing the world. Life ...
, David Rose,
Benjamin Barber Benjamin R. Barber (August 2, 1939 – April 24, 2017) was an American political theorist and author, perhaps best known for his 1995 bestseller, ''Jihad vs. McWorld'', and for 2013's ''If Mayors Ruled the World''. His 1984 book of political t ...
,
Judith Donath Judith Stefania Donath (born May 7, 1962) is a fellow at Harvard's Berkman Center, and the founder of the ''Sociable Media Group'' at the MIT Media Lab. She has written papers on various aspects of the Internet and its social impact, such as Int ...
, Howard Gardiner,
Stanislas Dehaene Stanislas Dehaene (born May 12, 1965) is a French author and cognitive neuroscientist whose research centers on a number of topics, including numerical cognition, the neural basis of reading and the neural correlates of consciousness. As of 201 ...
,
Daniel Dennett Daniel Clement Dennett III (born March 28, 1942) is an American philosopher, writer, and cognitive scientist whose research centers on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, and philosophy of biology, particularly as those fields relat ...
, Stacey d’Erasmo, Kate Racculia,
Wesley Stace Wesley Stace (born 22 October 1965) is an English folk/pop singer-songwriter and author, who has used the stage name John Wesley Harding. Under his legal name, he has written four novels. He is also an occasional university teacher and the cur ...
,
Doug Most Doug Most (born 1968) was the editor of '' The Boston Globe Magazine'' from October 2003 until April 2009. He was then promoted to a deputy Assistant Managing Editor post that puts him in charge of the paper's "soft" sections, including the magazi ...
, Belinda Rathbone, Jenna Russell,
Bob Ryan Robert P. Ryan (born February 21, 1946) is an American sportswriter, formerly with ''The Boston Globe'', and author. He has been described as "the quintessential American sportswriter" and a basketball guru, and is well known for his coverage of ...
, Neil Swidey,
Holly Black Holly Black (''née'' Riggenbach; born November 10, 1971) is an American writer and editor best known for her children's and young adult fiction. Her most recent work is the ''New York Times'' bestselling young adult ''Folk of the Air'' series. ...
,
Soman Chainani Soman Chainani is an American author and filmmaker, best known for writing the children's book series ''The School for Good and Evil''. Soman's series, ''The School for Good and Evil'', debuted on the New York Times Bestseller List, has sold mor ...
,
Cassandra Clare Judith Lewis (née Rumelt; born July 27, 1973), better known by her pen name Cassandra Clare, is an American author of young adult fiction, best known for her bestselling series The Mortal Instruments (series), ''The Mortal Instruments''.'' Per ...
,
Gregory Maguire Gregory Maguire (born June 9, 1954) is an American novelist. He is the author of '' Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West'', ''Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister'', and several dozen other novels for adults and children. Many ...
, Scott Anderson, Vicki Croke, Carl Hoffman, A.S. King,
Scott Westerfeld Scott David Westerfeld (born May 5, 1963) is an American writer of young adult fiction, best known as the author of the ''Uglies'' and the ''Leviathan'' series. Early life Westerfeld was born in Dallas, Texas. As a child he moved to Connecticu ...
,
Meg Wolitzer Meg Wolitzer (born May 28, 1959) is an American novelist, known for '' The Wife'', ''The Ten-Year Nap'', ''The Uncoupling,'' ''The Interestings'', and ''The Female Persuasion.'' She works as an instructor in the MFA program at Stony Brook Southa ...
, William Giraldi,
Ben Mezrich Ben Mezrich ( ; born February 7, 1969) is an American author. Early life and education Mezrich was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Molli Newman, a lawyer, and Reuben Mezrich, a chairman of radiology at the University of Maryland Schoo ...
,
Lauren Oliver Lauren Oliver (born Laura Suzanne Schechter; November 8, 1982) is an American author of numerous young adult novels including ''Panic;'' the Delirium trilogy: ''Delirium (Lauren Oliver novel), Delirium'', ''Pandemonium (Lauren Oliver novel), Pa ...
,
Jennifer Finney Boylan Jennifer Finney Boylan (born June 22, 1958) is a bestselling author, transgender activist, professor at Barnard College, and a contributing opinion writer for the ''New York Times''. Early life and education Boylan was born in Valley Forge, Pen ...
,
Margo Howard Margo Howard (née Lederer; born March 15, 1940) is an American writer and former advice columnist. She is the only child of businessman/innovator Jules Lederer and Eppie Lederer (better known as Ann Landers after her long-time advice column ''As ...
, Daniel Jones, Rebecca Mead,
Joanna Rakoff Joanna Rakoff (born May 8, 1972) is an American novelist and memoirist. Early life Rakoff was born in Nyack, New York in 1972.Max Tegmark Max Erik Tegmark (born 5 May 1967) is a Swedish-American physicist, cosmologist and machine learning researcher. He is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the president of the Future of Life Institute. He is also a scienti ...
, Lily King, Joseph O’Neil, and
Rupert Thomson Rupert Thomson, FRSL (born November 5, 1955) is an English writer. He is the author of thirteen critically acclaimed novels and an award-winning memoir. He has lived in many cities around the world, including Athens, Berlin, New York, Sydney, L ...
. For a full list of presenters, visit http://www.bostonbookfest.org/attend/presenters/


2013

The Keynote was
Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Wes ...
, with host Homi Bhabha. The Kid's Keynote was
Tomie dePaola Thomas Anthony "Tomie" dePaola (; September 15, 1934 – March 30, 2020) was an American writer and illustrator who created more than 260 children's books, such as '' Strega Nona''. He received the Children's Literature Legacy Award for his lifeti ...
. Featured presenters included: Emily Anthes, Jason Anthony,
Nicholson Baker Nicholson Baker (born January 7, 1957) is an American novelist and essayist. His fiction generally de-emphasizes narrative in favor of careful description and characterization. His early novels such as ''The Mezzanine'' and ''Room Temperature'' we ...
,
Mike Barnicle Michael Barnicle (born October 13, 1943) is an American print and broadcast journalist, and a social and political commentator. He is a senior contributor and the veteran columnist on MSNBC's '' Morning Joe''. He is also seen on NBC's ''Today Sh ...
,
Madeleine Blais Madeleine Blais (born 1946) is an American journalist, author and professor in the University of Massachusetts Amherst's journalism department. As a reporter for the ''Miami Herald'', Blais earned the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing in 1980 fo ...
,
Ty Burr Ty Burr (born August 17, 1957) is an American film critic, columnist, and author who currently writes a film and popular culture newsletter "Ty Burr's Watchlist" on Substack. Burr previously served as film critic at ''The Boston Globe'' for two ...
, Vishaan Chakrabarti, Kevin Cullen,
Alan Dershowitz Alan Morton Dershowitz ( ; born September 1, 1938) is an American lawyer and former law professor known for his work in U.S. constitutional law and American criminal law. From 1964 to 2013, he taught at Harvard Law School, where he was appoin ...
, Erin Dionne,
Andre Dubus III Andre Dubus III (born September 11, 1959) is an American novelist and short story writer. He is a member of the faculty at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Early life and education Born in Oceanside, California, to Patricia (née Lowe) an ...
, Juan Enriquez,
Noah Feldman Noah R. Feldman (born May 22, 1970) is an American academic and legal scholar. He is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and chairman of the Society of Fellows at Harvard University. He is the author of 10 books, host of ...
, Thomas Fleming,
Margalit Fox Margalit Fox (born 1961) is an American writer. She began her career in publishing in the 1980s, before switching to journalism in the 1990s. She joined the obituary department of ''The New York Times'' in 2004, and authored over 1,400 obituarie ...
,
Amity Gaige Amity Gaige (born 1972) is an American novelist, known for her books ''O My Darling'', ''The Folded World'', ''Schroder'', and ''Sea Wife''. She is a 2016 Guggenheim Fellow in Fiction. Early life Amity Gaige was born in Charlotte, North Carolina ...
, Leigh Gallagher, Moses Gates,
Nancy Gertner Nancy Gertner (born May 22, 1946) is a former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. She assumed senior status on May 22, 2011, and retired outright from the federal bench on September ...
, Francesca Gino, Charles Graeber, Paul Harding, George Harrar,
Harold Holzer Harold Holzer (born February 5, 1949) is a scholar of Abraham Lincoln and the political culture of the American Civil War Era. He serves as director of Hunter College's Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute. Holzer previously spent twenty-thr ...
,
Miriam Karmel Miriam Karmel is an American writer. Her first novel, '' Being Esther'' (2013), is one of only a few involving characters in their eighties. Karmel's writing has appeared in numerous publications including Bellevue Literary Review, ''The Talking ...
, Jessica Keener, Joshua Kendall,
Chuck Klosterman Charles John Klosterman (; born 1972) is an American author and essayist whose work focuses on American popular culture. He has been a columnist for '' Esquire'' and ESPN.com and wrote "The Ethicist" column for ''The New York Times Magazine''. K ...
, Barbara Krauthamer, Ann Leary,
Wendy Mass Wendy Mass (born April 22, 1967) is an author of young adult novels and children's books. Her 2003 novel, '' A Mango-Shaped Space'' won the American Library Association (ALA) Schneider Family Book Award for Middle School in 2004. Her other no ...
, Ayana Mathis,
Claire Messud Claire Messud (born 1966) is an American novelist and literature and creative writing professor. She is best known as the author of the novel '' The Emperor's Children'' (2006). Early life Born in Greenwich, Connecticut,van Gelder, Lawrence. "Foo ...
,
Leigh Montville Leigh Montville (born July 20, 1943) is an American writer and former newspaper columnist who worked for ''The Boston Globe'' and ''Sports Illustrated''. Early life and education Montville was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He graduated from th ...
,
Abelardo Morell Abelardo Morell (born 1948, Havana, Cuba) is a contemporary artist widely known for turning rooms into camera obscuras and then capturing the marriage of interior and exterior in large format photographs. He is also known for his 'tent-camera,' a ...
,
Gregory Nagy Gregory Nagy ( hu, Nagy Gergely, ; born October 22, 1942 in Budapest)"CV: Gregory Nagy"
''gr ...
, Michael Norton,
Mirta Ojito Mirta Ojito is a Cuban-born author and journalist. She has written two nonfiction books, ''Finding Mañana: A Memoir of a Cuban Exodus'' a book about her journey to the U.S. as a teenager in the Mariel boatlift, and ''Hunting Season: Immigration a ...
, Richard Olivier,
Tom Perrotta Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...
, Jamie Quatro, James Robinson,
Clifford Ross Clifford Ross (born October 15, 1952) is an American artist who has worked in multiple forms of media, including sculpture, painting, photography and video. His work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the ...
,
Nancy Jo Sales Nancy Jo Sales (born October 15, 1964) is a ''New York Times'' bestselling author and journalist at ''Vanity Fair (magazine), Vanity Fair'', ''New York (magazine), New York'' magazine, and ''Harper's Bazaar'', among others. In 2011 she wrote an a ...
,
Robert Shea Robert Joseph Shea (February 14, 1933 – March 10, 1994) was an American novelist and former journalist best known as co-author with Robert Anton Wilson of the science fantasy trilogy ''Illuminatus!'' It became a cult success and was later turned ...
,
J. Courtney Sullivan Julie Courtney Sullivan (born 1982), better known as J. Courtney Sullivan, is an American novelist and former writer for ''The New York Times''. Biography Sullivan grew up outside Boston, Massachusetts. She attended Smith College in Northampt ...
, Anthony Tjan, Anthony Townsend,
Craig Venter John Craig Venter (born October 14, 1946) is an American biotechnologist and businessman. He is known for leading one of the first draft sequences of the human genome and assembled the first team to transfect a cell with a synthetic chromosome. ...
,
Lesley Visser Lesley Candace Visser (born September 11, 1953) is an American sportscaster, television and radio personality, and sportswriter. Visser is the first female NFL analyst on TV, and the only sportscaster in history who has worked on Final Four, ...
,
Brenda Wineapple Brenda Wineapple is an American nonfiction writer, literary critic, and essayist who has written several books on nineteenth-century American writers. Biography Born in Boston, Massachusetts, she graduated from Brandeis University. In 2014, Win ...
. For a full list of presenters, visit https://web.archive.org/web/20140422232951/http://www.bostonbookfest.org/archives/#2013


2012

The Keynote was
Richard Ford Richard Ford (born February 16, 1944) is an American novelist and short story writer. His best-known works are the novel '' The Sportswriter'' and its sequels, '' Independence Day'', ''The Lay of the Land'' and ''Let Me Be Frank With You'', and t ...
, with host
Claire Messud Claire Messud (born 1966) is an American novelist and literature and creative writing professor. She is best known as the author of the novel '' The Emperor's Children'' (2006). Early life Born in Greenwich, Connecticut,van Gelder, Lawrence. "Foo ...
. The Kid's Keynote was
Lemony Snicket Lemony Snicket is the pen name of American author Daniel Handler (born February 28, 1970). Handler has published several children's books under the name, most notably ''A Series of Unfortunate Events'', which has sold over 60 million copies and s ...
. Featured presenters included:
Peter Abrahams Peter Henry Abrahams Deras (3 March 1919 – 18 January 2017), commonly known as Peter Abrahams, was a South African-born novelist, journalist and political commentator who in 1956 settled in Jamaica, where he lived for the rest of his life. Hi ...
,
M. T. Anderson Matthew Tobin Anderson (born November 4, 1968), is an American writer of children's books that range from picture books to young adult novels. He won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature in 2006 for '' The Pox Party'', the first o ...
,
Gabrielle Bell Gabrielle Bell (born March 24, 1976 in London, England) is a British-American alternative cartoonist known for her surrealist, melancholy semi-autobiographical stories. Early life When Bell was two, her American mother divorced her British fath ...
, Barbara Berke,
Buzz Bissinger Harry Gerard Bissinger III, also known as Buzz Bissinger and H. G. Bissinger (born November 1, 1954) is an American journalist and author, best known for his 1990 non-fiction book '' Friday Night Lights''. He is a longtime contributing editor at ...
,
Kevin Bleyer Kevin Bleyer is an American television writer and producer. He has won multiple Emmy, Peabody, and Writers Guild Awards He was a former writer for ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'', a contributor to President Barack Obama's speeches, the author ...
, Charles Burns, Nancy L. Cohen,
Rachel Cohn Rachel Cohn (born December 14, 1968) is an American young adult fiction writer. Her first book, '' Gingerbread'', was published in 2002. Since then she has gone on to write many other successful YA and younger children's books, and has collabora ...
,
Robert Darnton Robert Choate Darnton (born May 10, 1939) is an American cultural historian and academic librarian who specializes in 18th-century France. He was director of the Harvard University Library from 2007 to 2016. Life Darnton was born in New York ...
,
Jacqueline Davies Jacqueline Davies (21 May 1948 – 18 April 2019) is a Circuit Judge, working in the North Eastern region of the UK. She was appointed on 29 June 1993. Notable Decisions Twitter Joke Trial On 11 November 2010 Judge Jacqueline Davies, sittin ...
,
Junot Diaz Junot is a French name that may refer to the following notable people: ;Given name *Junot Díaz (born 1968), Dominican American ;Surname *Laure Junot, Duchess of Abrantes (1784–1838), French writer *Jean-Andoche Junot, 1st Duke of Abrantès (1771 ...
,
Cory Doctorow Cory Efram Doctorow (; born July 17, 1971) is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who served as co-editor of the blog ''Boing Boing''. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of ...
,
Esther Duflo Esther Duflo, FBA (; born 25 October 1972) is a French–American economist who is a professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She is the co-founder and co-director of the Ab ...
,
Jeffry Frieden Jeffry Alan Frieden is the Stanfield Professor of International Peace at Harvard University and chair of Harvard University's Department of Government. According to the Open Syllabus Project, he is one of the most cited authors on college syllabi f ...
, Alex Gilvarry,
Edward Glaeser Edward Ludwig Glaeser (born May 1, 1967) is an American economist and Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics at Harvard University. He is also Director for the Cities Research Programme at the International Growth Centre. He was educated a ...
, Paul Grogan,
Jennifer Haigh Jennifer Haigh is an American novelist and short story writer. Life She was born in Barnesboro, Pennsylvania, Barnesboro, a Western Pennsylvania coal town 85 miles northeast of Pittsburgh in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, Cambria County. She a ...
,
Anita Hill Anita Faye Hill (born July 30, 1956) is an American lawyer, educator and author. She is a professor of social policy, law, and women's studies at Brandeis University and a faculty member of the university's Heller School for Social Policy and ...
, Philip Howard,
Tayari Jones Tayari Jones (born November 30, 1970) is an American author and academic known for '' An American Marriage'', which was a 2018 Oprah's Book Club Selection, and won the 2019 Women's Prize for Fiction. Jones is a graduate of Spelman College, the ...
,
Eric Kandel Eric Richard Kandel (; born Erich Richard Kandel, November 7, 1929) is an Austrian-born American medical doctor who specialized in psychiatry, a neuroscientist and a professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the College of Physicians and Surge ...
,
Randall Kennedy Randall LeRoy Kennedy (born September 10, 1954) is an American law professor at Harvard University and author. He is the Michael R. Klein Professor of Law and his research focuses on the intersection of racial conflict and legal institutions in ...
,
Chip Kidd Charles Kidd (born 1964) is an American graphic designer known for book covers. Early childhood Born in Shillington in Berks County, Pennsylvania, Kidd grew up being fascinated and heavily inspired by American popular culture. Comic books w ...
,
Madeleine Kunin Madeleine Kunin (née May; born September 28, 1933) is a Swiss-born American diplomat, author and politician. She served as the 77th governor of Vermont from 1985 until 1991, as a member of the Democratic Party. She also served as United States ...
,
Ray Kurzweil Raymond Kurzweil ( ; born February 12, 1948) is an American computer scientist, author, inventor, and futurist. He is involved in fields such as optical character recognition (OCR), text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology, and e ...
,
Dennis Lehane Dennis Lehane (born August 4, 1965) is an American author. He has published more than a dozen novels; the first several were a series of mysteries featuring recurring characters, including ''A Drink Before the War''. Of these, four were adapted a ...
,
Lawrence Lessig Lester Lawrence Lessig III (born June 3, 1961) is an American academic, attorney, and political activist. He is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the former director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard ...
,
Alan Lightman Alan Paige Lightman is an American physicist, writer, and social entrepreneur. He has served on the faculties of Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and is currently a Professor of the Practice of the Humanities a ...
, Leslie Maitland,
Ben Marcus Ben Marcus (born October 11, 1967) is an American author and professor at Columbia University. He has written four books of fiction. His stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in publications including ''Harper's'', ''The New Yorker'', ''The P ...
,
Andrew McAfee Andrew Paul McAfee (born ), a principal research scientist at MIT, is cofounder and codirector of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He studies how digital technologies are changing the world. Life ...
, Vahram Muratyan,
Nicholas Negroponte Nicholas Negroponte (born December 1, 1943) is a Greek American architect. He is the founder and chairman Emeritus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, and also founded the One Laptop per Child Association (OLPC). Negroponte ...
,
Edith Pearlman Edith Ann Pearlman ('' née'' Grossman; June 26, 1936 – January 1, 2023) was an American short story writer.
,
Tom Perrotta Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...
,
Michael E. Porter Michael Eugene Porter (born May 23, 1947) is an American academic known for his theories on economics, business strategy, and social causes. He is the Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at Harvard Business School, and he was one of ...
,
Ayanna Pressley Ayanna Soyini Pressley (born February 3, 1974) is an American politician who has served as the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 7th congressional district since 2019. This district includes the northern three quarters of Boston, most of Ca ...
,
Carmen M. Reinhart Carmen M. Reinhart (née Castellanos, born October 7, 1955) is a Cuban-American economist and the Minos A. Zombanakis Professor of the International Financial System at Harvard Kennedy School. Previously, she was the Dennis Weatherstone Senior Fe ...
,
Hanna Rosin Hanna Rosin (born 1970) is an Israeli-born American writer. She is the editorial director for audio for ''New York Magazine'' Formerly, she was the co-host of the NPR podcast Invisibilia with Alix Spiegel. She was co-founder of DoubleX, the now ...
,
Michael Sandel Michael Joseph Sandel (; born March 5, 1953) is an American political philosophy, political philosopher and the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government Theory at Harvard University Law School, where his course Justice was the unive ...
,
Alexander McCall Smith Alexander "Sandy" McCall Smith, CBE, FRSE (born 24 August 1948), is a British writer. He was raised in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and formerly Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. He became an expert on medical law and ...
, Alexandra Styron,
Baratunde Thurston Baratunde Rafiq Thurston (; born September 11, 1977) is an American writer, comedian, and commentator. Thurston co-founded the black political bloJack and Jill Politics whose coverage of the 2008 Democratic National Convention was archived in the ...
,
Lizz Winstead Lizz Winstead (born August 5, 1961) is an American comedian, radio and television personality, and blogger. A native of Minnesota, Winstead is the co-creator of ''The Daily Show'' along with Madeleine Smithberg, and served as head writer. Ear ...
, Alex Witchel,
Maryanne Wolf Maryanne Wolf is a scholar, teacher, and advocate for children and literacy around the world. She is the UCLA Professor-in-Residence of Education, Director of the UCLA Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice, and the Chapman Univ ...
, and
Gabrielle Zevin Gabrielle Zevin (born October 24, 1977) is an American author and screenwriter. Personal life Zevin was born in New York City. Zevin's father, who is American-born, has Ashkenazi Jewish, Russian, Lithuanian, and Polish ancestry. Her mother ...
. For a full list of presenters, visit https://web.archive.org/web/20140422232951/http://www.bostonbookfest.org/archives/#2012


2011

The Keynote was
Michael Ondaatje Philip Michael Ondaatje (; born 12 September 1943) is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian poet, fiction writer, essayist, novelist, editor, and filmmaker. He is the recipient of multiple literary awards such as the Governor General's Award, the Giller P ...
, with host Homi Bhabha. The Kids' Keynote was
Mo Willems Mo Willems (born February 11, 1968) is an American writer, animator, voice actor, and children's book author. His work includes creating the animated television series ''Sheep in the Big City'' for Cartoon Network, working on ''Sesame Street'' ...
. Featured presenters included:
Jabari Asim Jabari Asim (born August 11, 1962) is an author, poet, playwright, and professor of writing, literature and publishing at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. He is the former editor-in-chief of ''The Crisis'' magazine, a journal of politi ...
,
Julia Alvarez Julia Alvarez (born March 27, 1950) is an American New Formalist poet, novelist, and essayist. She rose to prominence with the novels ''How the García Girls Lost Their Accents'' (1991), '' In the Time of the Butterflies'' (1994), and ''Yo!'' ...
,
Sarah Bakewell Sarah Bakewell (born 1963) is a British author and professor. She currently lives in London. She received the Windham–Campbell Literature Prize in Non-Fiction. Early life Bakewell was born in the seaside town of Bournemouth, England, where h ...
,
Sandra Beasley Sandra Beasley (born May 5, 1980, in Vienna, Virginia) is an American poet and non-fiction writer. Background Beasley graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, earned a B.A. in English ''magna cum laude'' from the U ...
,
Kate Beaton Kathryn Moira Beaton (born 8 September 1983) is a Canadian comics artist best known as the creator of the comic strip ''Hark! A Vagrant'', which ran from 2007 to 2018. Her other major works include the children's books '' The Princess and the Po ...
,
Alison Bechdel Alison Bechdel ( ; born September 10, 1960) is an American cartoonist. Originally known for the long-running comic strip ''Dykes to Watch Out For'', she came to critical and commercial success in 2006 with her graphic memoir ''Fun Home'', which ...
,
Idit Harel Caperton Idit R. Harel (born Idit Ron; September 18, 1958) is an Israeli-American entrepreneur and CEO of Globaloria. She is a learning sciences researcher and pioneer of Constructionist learning-based EdTech interventions. Overview Harel researches and ...
,
Daniel Clowes Daniel Gillespie Clowes (; born April 14, 1961) is an American cartoonist, graphic novelist, illustrator, and screenwriter. Most of Clowes's work first appeared in '' Eightball'', a solo anthology comic book series. An ''Eightball'' issue typical ...
, Kenneth C. Davis,
Lawrence Douglas Lawrence R. Douglas (born 1959) is the James J. Grosfeld Professor of Law, Jurisprudence, and Social Thought at Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts. He is also an author of both fiction and nonfiction. Education Douglas received his A.B. f ...
,
Andre Dubus III Andre Dubus III (born September 11, 1959) is an American novelist and short story writer. He is a member of the faculty at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Early life and education Born in Oceanside, California, to Patricia (née Lowe) an ...
,
Jennifer Egan Jennifer Egan is an American novelist and short-story writer. Egan's novel ''A Visit from the Goon Squad'' won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. As of February 28, 2018, she is the Presiden ...
, Carlos Eire,
Drew Gilpin Faust Catharine Drew Gilpin Faust (born September 18, 1947) is an American historian and was the 28th president of Harvard University, the first woman to serve in that role. She was Harvard's first president since 1672 without an undergraduate or gradu ...
,
Joseph Finder Joseph Finder (born October 6, 1958) is an American thriller writer. His books include ''Paranoia'', ''Company Man'', '' The Fixer'', ''Killer Instinct'', ''Power Play'', and the Nick Heller series of thrillers. His novel ''High Crimes'' was mad ...
, Charles Bracelen Flood,
Howard Gardner Howard Earl Gardner (born July 11, 1943) is an American developmental psychologist and the John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Research Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education at Harvard University. He is cur ...
,
Ethan Gilsdorf Ethan Gilsdorf (born September 29, 1966) is an American writer, poet, performer, editor, critic, teacher and journalist. Gilsdorf is the author of ''Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, a ...
, Adam Goodheart,
Stephen Greenblatt Stephen Jay Greenblatt (born November 7, 1943) is an American Shakespearean, literary historian, and author. He has served as the John Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University since 2000. Greenblatt is the general edit ...
, Sue Hallowell,
Chuck Hogan Charles Patrick Hogan is an American novelist, screenwriter, and television producer. He is best known as the author of ''Prince of Thieves'', and as the co-author of ''The Strain'' trilogy with Guillermo del Toro. Alongside del Toro, Hogan creat ...
,
Tony Horwitz Anthony Lander Horwitz (June 9, 1958 – May 27, 2019) was an American journalist and author who won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. His books include ''One for the Road: a Hitchhiker's Outback'', ''Baghdad Without a Map'', '' ...
, Maisie Houghton, Ben Ryder Howe, Michael D. Jackson,
Chuck Klosterman Charles John Klosterman (; born 1972) is an American author and essayist whose work focuses on American popular culture. He has been a columnist for '' Esquire'' and ESPN.com and wrote "The Ethicist" column for ''The New York Times Magazine''. K ...
, Jane Leavy,
Gregory Maguire Gregory Maguire (born June 9, 1954) is an American novelist. He is the author of '' Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West'', ''Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister'', and several dozen other novels for adults and children. Many ...
,
Tom Matlack Tom Matlack is an American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and author. Background Matlack graduated from Wesleyan University in 1986 with a B.A. and an M.B.A. from Yale School of Management in 1991. He served as the chief financial officer of Th ...
, Stephen McCauley,
Sugata Mitra Sugata Mitra (born 12 February 1952) is an Indian computer scientist and educational theorist. He is best known for his "Hole in the Wall" experiment, and widely cited in works on literacy and education. He is Professor Emeritus at NIIT Univers ...
, Peter Mountford,
Siddhartha Mukherjee Siddhartha Mukherjee (born 21 July 1970) is an Indian-American physician, biologist, and author. He is best known for his 2010 book, '' The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer'', that won notable literary prizes including the 2011 Pu ...
,
Nicholas Negroponte Nicholas Negroponte (born December 1, 1943) is a Greek American architect. He is the founder and chairman Emeritus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, and also founded the One Laptop per Child Association (OLPC). Negroponte ...
, Governor
Deval Patrick Deval Laurdine Patrick (born July 31, 1956) is an American politician, civil rights lawyer, author, and businessman who served as the 71st governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015. He was first elected in 2006, succeeding Mitt Romney, who ...
,
George Pelecanos George P. Pelecanos (born February 18, 1957) is an American author. Many of his 20 books are in the genre of detective fiction and set primarily in his hometown of Washington, D.C. He is also a film and television producer and a television writ ...
,
Lisa Randall Lisa Randall (born June 18, 1962) is an American theoretical physicist working in particle physics and cosmology. She is the Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of Science on the physics faculty of Harvard University. Her research includes the funda ...
, Emma Rothschild,
Karen Russell Karen Russell (born July 10, 1981) is an American novelist and short story writer. Her debut novel, ''Swamplandia!'', was a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. In 2009 the National Book Foundation named Russell a 5 under 35 honore ...
,
Seth Seth,; el, Σήθ ''Sḗth''; ; "placed", "appointed") in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mandaeism, and Sethianism, was the third son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, their only other child mentioned by name in the Hebrew Bible. A ...
, Glenn Stout,
Sherry Turkle Sherry Turkle (born June 18, 1948) is the Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She obtained an BA in social studies and later a PhD in sociology and person ...
, Linda Urban,
Thomas Whalen Thomas Michael Whalen III, also known as Tom Whalen, (January 6, 1934 – March 4, 2002) was an American attorney and politician, and a three-term mayor of Albany, New York, serving from 1983 to 1993.Eric Pace, "Thomas M. Whalen III, 68, Three ...
, Michael Willrich,
Meg Wolitzer Meg Wolitzer (born May 28, 1959) is an American novelist, known for '' The Wife'', ''The Ten-Year Nap'', ''The Uncoupling,'' ''The Interestings'', and ''The Female Persuasion.'' She works as an instructor in the MFA program at Stony Brook Southa ...
, and
Mitchell Zuckoff Mitchell S. Zuckoff (born April 18, 1962) is an American professor of journalism at Boston University. His books include '' Lost in Shangri-La'' and '' 13 Hours'' (2014). Mitchell is a graduate of John F Kennedy High School in Bellmore, New Yo ...
. For a full list of presenters, visit https://web.archive.org/web/20140422232951/http://www.bostonbookfest.org/archives/#2011


2010

The Keynote was
Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and non-fiction. Her novels '' Bla ...
and the Kids' Keynote was
Jeff Kinney Jeffrey Patrick Kinney (born February 19, 1971) is an American author and cartoonist, best known for the children's book series ''Diary of a Wimpy Kid''. He also created the child-oriented website ''Poptropica''. Early life Jeff Kinney was born ...
. Featured presenters included: Susan Abulhawa,
Dan Ariely Dan Ariely ( he, דן אריאלי; born April 29, 1967) is an Israeli-American professor and author. He serves as a James B. Duke Professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University. Ariely is the founder of the research inst ...
,
Nick Bilton Nick Bilton is a British-American journalist, author, and filmmaker. He is currently a special correspondent at ''Vanity Fair''. Life and career Bilton was born in Darlington, UK, and grew up in Leeds. He attended Marjory Stoneman Douglas H ...
,
Lisa Birnbach Lisa R. Birnbach is an author best known for co-authoring ''The Official Preppy Handbook'', which spent 38 weeks at number one on the ''New York Times'' bestseller list in 1980. Early life and education Birnbach was born to a Jewish family on t ...
,
Bill Bryson William McGuire Bryson (; born 8 December 1951) is an American–British journalist and author. Bryson has written a number of nonfiction books on topics including travel, the English language, and science. Born in the United States, he has b ...
, Noni Carter,
Kristin Cashore Kristin Cashore (born 1976) is an American young adult and fantasy writer, best known for the Graceling Realm series. Early life Cashore grew up in the Pennsylvania countryside, the second of four daughters. She has a bachelor's degree from Wil ...
,
Justin Cronin Justin Cronin (born 1962) is an American author. He has written five novels: ''Mary and O'Neil'' and ''The Summer Guest'', as well as a vampire trilogy consisting of ''The Passage,'' '' The Twelve'' and '' City of Mirrors''. He has won the Heming ...
, Jef Czekaj,
Alan Dershowitz Alan Morton Dershowitz ( ; born September 1, 1938) is an American lawyer and former law professor known for his work in U.S. constitutional law and American criminal law. From 1964 to 2013, he taught at Harvard Law School, where he was appoin ...
, David Edwards,
Joshua Ferris Joshua Ferris (born 1974) is an American author best known for his debut 2007 novel ''Then We Came to the End''. The book is a comedy about the American workplace, told in the first-person plural. It takes place in a fictitious Chicago ad agency ...
,
Tyler Florence Tyler Florence (born March 3, 1971) is a chef and television host of several Food Network shows. He graduated from the College of Culinary Arts at the Charleston, South Carolina, campus of Johnson & Wales University in 1991. He was later given an ...
,
Atul Gawande Atul Atmaram Gawande (born November 5, 1965) is an American surgeon, writer, and public health researcher. He practices general and endocrine surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. He is a professor in the Departmen ...
,
Myla Goldberg Myla Goldberg (born November 19, 1971) is an American novelist and musician. Biography Goldberg was born into a Jewish family. She was raised in Laurel, Maryland, and graduated from Eleanor Roosevelt High School, where she was one of the Schola ...
, Christina Gonzalez,
Allegra Goodman Allegra Goodman (born 1967) is an American author based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Goodman wrote and illustrated her first novel at the age of seven. Biography Allegra Goodman was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Hawaii. The daughter ...
,
Jennifer Haigh Jennifer Haigh is an American novelist and short story writer. Life She was born in Barnesboro, Pennsylvania, Barnesboro, a Western Pennsylvania coal town 85 miles northeast of Pittsburgh in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, Cambria County. She a ...
, Tony Hiss,
A.M. Homes Amy M. Homes (pen name A. M. Homes; born December 18, 1961) is an American writer best known for her controversial novels and unusual short stories, which feature extreme situations and characters. Notably, her novel ''The End of Alice'' (1996) i ...
, Michelle Hoover, Marlon James,
Gish Jen Gish Jen (born Lillian Jen; () August 12, 1955) is a contemporary American writer and speaker.Matsukawa, Yuko"MELUS interview: Gish Jen" ''MELUS'', Vol. 18, 1993 Early life and education Gish Jen is a second-generation Chinese American. Her pa ...
, Steven Johnson, Kevin Kelly,
Chip Kidd Charles Kidd (born 1964) is an American graphic designer known for book covers. Early childhood Born in Shillington in Berks County, Pennsylvania, Kidd grew up being fascinated and heavily inspired by American popular culture. Comic books w ...
, David Kirkpatrick,
Dennis Lehane Dennis Lehane (born August 4, 1965) is an American author. He has published more than a dozen novels; the first several were a series of mysteries featuring recurring characters, including ''A Drink Before the War''. Of these, four were adapted a ...
,
Simon Mawer Simon Mawer ( ; born 1948, England) is a British author who lives in Italy. Life and work Born in 1948 and was educated at Millfield School in Somerset and at Brasenose College, Oxford, Mawer took a degree in Zoology and has worked as a biology ...
, Richard Michelson, Mark Moffett,
Dambisa Moyo Dambisa Felicia Moyo, Baroness Moyo (born 2 February 1969)Moyo showed a copy of an official document with her date and place of birth as part of a lecture she gave at TEDGlobal 2013, Edinburgh, Scotland. is a Zambian-born economist and author, ...
,
Nicholas Negroponte Nicholas Negroponte (born December 1, 1943) is a Greek American architect. He is the founder and chairman Emeritus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, and also founded the One Laptop per Child Association (OLPC). Negroponte ...
,
Neri Oxman Neri Oxman ( he, נרי אוקסמן; born February 6, 1976) is an American–Israeli designer and professor at the MIT Media Lab, where she led the Mediated Matter research group. She is known for art and architecture that combine design, b ...
, Mitali Perkins,
Tom Perrotta Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...
,
Michael E. Porter Michael Eugene Porter (born May 23, 1947) is an American academic known for his theories on economics, business strategy, and social causes. He is the Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at Harvard Business School, and he was one of ...
,
David Rakoff David Benjamin Rakoff (November 27, 1964 – August 9, 2012) was a Canadian-born American writer of prose and poetry based in New York City, who wrote humorous and sometimes autobiographical non-fiction essays. Rakoff was an essayist, journ ...
,
John Rich John Rich (born January 7, 1974) is an American country music singer-songwriter. From 1992 to 1998, he was a member of the country music band Lonestar, in which he played bass guitar and alternated with Richie McDonald as lead vocalist. After d ...
,
Michael Sandel Michael Joseph Sandel (; born March 5, 1953) is an American political philosophy, political philosopher and the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government Theory at Harvard University Law School, where his course Justice was the unive ...
,
Juliet Schor Juliet B. Schor (born 1955) is an economist and Sociology Professor at Boston College. She has studied trends in working time, consumerism, the relationship between work and family, women's issues and economic inequality, and concerns about climat ...
,
Amartya Sen Amartya Kumar Sen (; born 3 November 1933) is an Indian economist and philosopher, who since 1972 has taught and worked in the United Kingdom and the United States. Sen has made contributions to welfare economics, social choice theory, econom ...
, Brando Skyhorse,
Jessica Stern Jessica Eve Stern (born February 11, 1958) is an American scholar and academic on terrorism. Stern serves as a research professor at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. Earlier she had been a lecturer at Harvard University. ...
,
Joseph Stiglitz Joseph Eugene Stiglitz (; born February 9, 1943) is an American New Keynesian economist, a public policy analyst, and a full professor at Columbia University. He is a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2001) and the Joh ...
, and
Lionel Vital Lionel Vital (born July 15, 1963) is a former American football running back in the National Football League (NFL) for the Washington Redskins and Buffalo Bills. He was a member of the Calgary Stampeders and Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Canadia ...
. For a full list of presenters, visit https://web.archive.org/web/20140422232951/http://www.bostonbookfest.org/archives/#2010


2009

The Keynote was
Orhan Pamuk Ferit Orhan Pamuk (born 7 June 1952) is a Turkish novelist, screenwriter, academic, and recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. One of Turkey's most prominent novelists, his work has sold over thirteen million books in sixty-three lan ...
. The Kids' Keynote was
Chris Van Allsburg Chris Van Allsburg (born June 18, 1949) is an American illustrator and writer of children's books. He has won two Caldecott Medals for U.S. picture book illustration, for ''Jumanji'' (1981) and ''The Polar Express'' (1985), both of which he al ...
. Featured presenters included:
Jack Beatty Jack J. Beatty (born May 15, 1945) is a writer, senior editor of ''The Atlantic'', and news analyst for ''On Point'', the national NPR news program. Born and raised in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Beatty attended Boston Latin School, ...
,
Ken Burns Kenneth Lauren Burns (born July 29, 1953) is an American filmmaker known for his documentary film, documentary films and television series, many of which chronicle United States, American History of the United States, history and Culture of the ...
, Carolina de Robertis,
Anita Diamant Anita Diamant (born June 27, 1951) is an American author of fiction and non-fiction books."Anita Diamant." ''Contemporary Authors Online''. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2015. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, 2017-09-22. She has ...
, A. W. Flaherty,
David Gergen David Richmond Gergen (born May 9, 1942) is an American political commentator and former presidential adviser who served during the administrations of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. He is currently a senior political ...
,
Lani Guinier Carol Lani Guinier (; April 19, 1950 – January 7, 2022) was an American educator, legal scholar, and civil rights theorist. She was the Bennett Boskey Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, and the first woman of color appointed to a tenured p ...
, Steve Haber,
John Hodgman John Kellogg Hodgman (born June 3, 1971) is an American author, actor, and humorist. In addition to his published written works, such as '' The Areas of My Expertise'', ''More Information Than You Require'', and '' That Is All'', he is known for ...
, Jennie Israel,
Mary Lou Jepsen Mary Lou Jepsen (born 1965) is a technical executive and inventor in the fields of display, imaging, and computer hardware. Her contributions have had worldwide adoption in head-mounted display, HDTV, laptop computers, and projector products; ...
, Neil Jones,
Brewster Kahle Brewster Lurton Kahle ( ; born October 21, 1960)Alexa Internet profile
, via juggle.com. accessed Novemb ...
,
Tim Kring Richard Timothy Kring (born July 9, 1957) is an American screenwriter and television producer, best known for his creation of the drama series '' Strange World'', ''Crossing Jordan'', '' Heroes'', and ''Touch''. Early life Kring was born in El D ...
,
Reif Larsen Reif Larsen (born 1980) is an American author, known for ''The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet'', for which '' Vanity Fair'' claimed Larsen received just under a million dollars as an advance from Penguin Press following a bidding war between ten pu ...
,
Grace Lin Grace Lin (born May 17, 1974) is a Taiwanese-American children's writer and illustrator. She is a Newbery, Geisel, and Caldecott honoree, known for contributing to and advocating for Asian-American representation and diversity in children’s lite ...
,
Elinor Lipman Elinor Lipman (born October 16, 1950) is an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist. Early life and education Elinor Lipman was born and raised in Lowell, Massachusetts to a Jewish family. She is the second daughter of Julia M. and L ...
, Scott Magoon,
Nicholas Negroponte Nicholas Negroponte (born December 1, 1943) is a Greek American architect. He is the founder and chairman Emeritus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, and also founded the One Laptop per Child Association (OLPC). Negroponte ...
,
Elizabeth Nunez Elizabeth Nunez is a Trinidadian American novelist and Distinguished Professor of English at Hunter College– CUNY, New York City. Her novels have won a number of awards: ''Prospero's Daughter'' received the ''New York Times'' Editors' Choice ...
, Jon Orwant,
Tom Perrotta Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...
,
Michael E. Porter Michael Eugene Porter (born May 23, 1947) is an American academic known for his theories on economics, business strategy, and social causes. He is the Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at Harvard Business School, and he was one of ...
,
Iqbal Quadir Iqbal Z. Quadir ( bn, ইকবাল জেড. কাদীর) is an entrepreneur and promoter of the role of entrepreneurship and innovations in creating prosperity in low-income countries. He has taught at Harvard Kennedy School and at Mas ...
,
Richard Russo Richard Russo (July 15, 1949) is an American novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, and teacher. Early life and education Russo was born in Johnstown, New York, and raised in nearby Gloversville. He earned a bachelor's degree, a Master o ...
,
Anita Shreve Anita Hale Shreve (1946 – March 29, 2018) was an American writer, chiefly known for her novels. One of her first published stories, '' Past the Island, Drifting'' (published in 1975), was awarded an O. Henry Prize in 1976. Early years a ...
,
Alicia Silverstone Alicia Silverstone ( ; born October 4, 1976) is an American actress. She made her film debut in the thriller ''The Crush (1993 film), The Crush'' (1993), earning the 1994 MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance, and gained further prom ...
,
Michael Thomas Michael or Mike Thomas may refer to: Entertainment * Michael M. Thomas (born 1936), American novelist of financial thrillers * Michael Tilson Thomas (born 1944), American conductor, pianist, and composer * Michael Thomas (actor) (1952–2019), Bri ...
, and
Scout Tufankjian Scout Tufankjian is an Armenian-American photojournalist and author based in Brooklyn, New York. She is well known for her photos of American President Barack Obama during his campaign leading up to his presidency. She is also known for her photoj ...
. For a full list of presenters, visit https://web.archive.org/web/20140422232951/http://www.bostonbookfest.org/archives/#2009


See also

*
Books in the United States As of 2018, several firms in the United States rank among the world's biggest publishers of books in terms of revenue: Cengage Learning, HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw-Hill Education, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, and Wiley. H ...


References


External links

*
First Boston book festival attracts young and old

Best of the New 2010: People & Ideas
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boston Book Festival Organizations based in Cambridge, Massachusetts Festivals in Boston Book fairs in the United States Literary festivals in the United States 21st century in Boston