Opening Night featuring Michael Lewis

Date: Friday, October 16th

Time: 7:30pm

Location: Old South Church

Tickets: Available on Eventbrite

The Boston Book Festival is pleased to present #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Lewis, in-conversation with Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks, author of Memorial Days, discussing Lewis’s highly anticipated Blockers: Rebels in the Deep State.

A masterful storyteller with the remarkable ability to make any subject – from subprime mortgages (The Big Short) to baseball statistics (Moneyball) to bond sales (Liar’s Poker) – riveting, Michael Lewis’s Blockers offers an inside look at the early days of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and asks the pressing question: “What happens to a country when its public servants are targeted?”

“Michael Lewis has this incredible ability to zoom in on one person’s story, and from there reveals something much bigger about our culture. His books leave you seeing the world differently.” (Katie Couric)

Lewis views the “meteor strike” of the second Trump administration through the eyes of public servants attacked by DOGE – including one who kept Americans’ most sensitive tax data out of the wrong hands; another who made sure that politicians played by the rules; one who figured out how to stop wildfires from destroying suburban neighborhoods; and another who helped uncover the mysteries of cystic fibrosis. Each believed they had a calling and were doing essential work for the country. They were then told they were a “blocker:” an impediment, a holdover, someone useless who needed to go.

The Boston Book Festival gathers the Greater Boston community together with authors around the transformative joys of reading, the power of stories, and the exchange of ideas through a wide range of free programming. This year’s Festival will take place on Saturday, October 17 and will feature 300+ authors, illustrators, and exhibitors.

This Festival is only possible with community support. Please consider adding a donation of any amount to your ticket purchase to help keep the festival free and open to all.

All tickets include a signed hardcover of Blockers: Rebels in the Deep State, which will be distributed at the event. Those unable to attend can pick up their book at Harvard Book Store within 30 days following the event.

The event will begin at 7:30pm on Friday, October 16th.

Check out bostonbookfest.org for updates on the full line-up for the free festival.

Accessibility information: If you are a wheelchair user or accompanying a wheelchair user, please indicate this by selecting the free add-on option. If you have other accessibility questions, please email info@bostonbookfest.org.

The Boston Book Festival is presented in partnership with GBH.

An Evening with Michael Lewis is sponsored by Morgan Stanley.