Boston Book Festival is once again reaching out to the Greater Boston community to help us implement our annual Shelf Help project. We know that many elementary schools lack the resources to fully stock their school or classroom libraries with contemporary, high-quality books. We want to help one teacher or librarian grow their book collection, and then we will organize a children’s book author or illustrator visit to share the wonders of book creation with young readers!
Our 2017 Shelf Help initiative wants to provide new books to one K-8 classroom or school library near the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year. We will be collecting donations at the ninth annual Boston Book Festival on October 28th.
If you know a teacher or librarian at a school that needs some Shelf Help, please forward them this RFP, which has links to a short online or downloadable application. All proposals are due by May 30, 2017.
You can also lend direct “Shelf Help” to the Boston community! If you would like to donate a book, please come to the Boston Book Festival on October 28 and look out for our information booth, or you can donate through our online book wish list. Email us at info@bostonbookfestival.org to receive a link to the “Shelf Help” donation site. If you would prefer to make a cash donation, please visit our donate page. Upon checking out, select “Make this a gift” and designate “Shelf Help” as the gift recipient in the appropriate box.
With “Shelf Help,” we aim to support students’ discovery and expression of their voices through access to an increased selection of books within their school environment. Words have power to motivate and provoke all readers to discover themselves and their place in the world, and we hope that Shelf Help will encourage students to view themselves as literary explorers!
We are thrilled to announce that beloved (and mysterious) children’s author Lemony Snicket will be the kids’ keynote presenter at the ninth annual Boston Book Festival on October 28 in Copley Square. Author of the wildly popular Series of Unfortunate Events (now a Netflix original series), among many other bestselling books, Snicket will appear at the Boston Book Festival to present his latest picture book for children, The Bad Mood and the Stick, featuring art by Matthew Forsythe. This whimsical story illustrates the unexpected outcomes of one little girl’s bad mood, and Lemony Snicket’s presentation at the BBF is guaranteed to banish any bad moods from the premises!
Snicket’s presentation will headline a full day of programs for children, teens, and families at the 2017 BBF. These will include story time presentations by picture book authors and illustrators, panel presentations and discussions, hands-on workshops with working artists, and much more.
In 2015 and 2016, the BBF presented a standalone spring children’s festival called Hubbub. Hubbub will not continue as a standalone festival in 2017; instead, we will build on many Hubbub partnerships to expand and enhance interactive and interdisciplinary programming for children and families at the October BBF. Somerville-based children’s publisher Candlewick Press, celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, will be the Presenting Sponsor of these expanded children’s offerings, which we’re calling “Hubbub at the BBF.” Costume character meet & greets, STEAM activities, scavenger hunts, celebrations of global culture, and tons of festive fun—the whole family will discover a full day of storytelling and surprises at the BBF. We hope your family makes plans to attend Lemony Snicket’s kids’ keynote and then spend the day with us at the Boston Book Festival on October 28!
Boston Book Festival is thrilled to partner with Independent Film Festival Boston (IFFBoston) for another year of independent film and storytelling! The 15th Annual IFFBoston is taking place April 26-May 3 at the Somerville Theatre, Brattle Theatre, Coolidge Corner Theatre, and UMass Boston. Over one hundred films will be shown along with nightly parties and weekend panel discussions. Tickets for all events are on sale now at http://www.iffboston.org.
We are sponsoring two films this year: Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive and The Little Hours.
Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive Brattle Theatre Saturday, April 29th at 1:30pm
For those who love his poetry and horror stories, this biographical documentary delivers a dramatic tale of Poe’s life, focusing on his career, personal life, and mysterious disappearance before his death. Poe is played by Denis O’Hare (True Blood, The Good Wife, American Horror Story), who delivers a satisfyingly intense performance, including readings of Poe’s literature and criticism. For more information, check the IFF website: Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive.
The Little Hours Brattle Theatre Sunday, April 30th at 8:45pm
This movie is not for the faint of heart! It is a racy, mature take on the fourteenth-century author Giovanni Boccaccio’s The Decameron, a collection of tales about a medieval Italian nunnery. With a star-studded comedic cast (Alison Brie, Dave Franco, Fred Armisen, John C. Reilly, Aubrey Plaza, Molly Shannon), get ready for an unapologetic rendition of lust and laughter. More details here: The Little Hours.
We hope you’ll join us for one of these literary-inspired movies! Please check out the full IFF lineup here to find additional screenings. From film to books, we love good storytelling and are happy to support IFFBoston in our shared mission of bringing Boston together through great art. We hope to see you there!
Like books? Interested in going behind the scenes at New England’s premier literary event? The Boston Book Festival is seeking interns to help us prepare and execute the ninth annual BBF, October 28, 2017.
We are looking for self-starters who have experience with the following: copywriting and editing; creating and maintaining documents and spreadsheets using Word, Excel, Google Drive, and Google Forms; and familiarity with website content management systems.
It would also be wonderful if you have familiarity with or a willingness to learn about: graphic design; social media marketing (on behalf of a brand, not just you!); communicating with media outlets and community organizations; and distributing marketing collateral.
We hope that you have excellent written and oral communication skills, are highly organized, motivated, project-oriented, willing to work on a team, and knowledgeable about and/or interested in some or all of the following: event production, logistics, project management, and (of course) literature! We really hope that you are fun, friendly, and eager to work with a small, committed group of people in a casual office environment. The good news/bad news is: everyone does everything! Some of it is boring but all of it is important.
The ideal candidate will be able to join the team in March and work through Thanksgiving 2017. Candidates can expect to work between 8 and 12 hours per week through May, and 12-15 hours per week through October. Hours and schedules are flexible; evening hours for special events will be required (with plenty of advance notice). We anticipate one evening event per month from March through August. You will also be expected to check your BBF email daily and respond as needed, even when you are not in the office. Boston Book Festival offices are located in Central Square, Cambridge.
Please send a cover letter and resume to Sarah Parker, sarah@bostonbookfest.org, and please specify any restrictions. Candidates who are invited to interview will be asked to provide a writing sample. Applications are due February 15th.
We are currently looking for the next great story for our One City One Story program. If you are a previously published* author, we welcome your submission of a short work of fiction. Please see below for selection criteria, and please submit your work (only one submission per person, please) via our Submittable page no later than February 28, 2017.
Additional information:
Submitted stories may be previously published or unpublished, but the author must hold rights to the story and permit (re)publication by the Boston Book Festival in print and digital formats, as well as translations into multiple languages.
Stories should be no more than 7500 words in length.
The selected author must be willing and able to attend the Boston Book Festival on October 28, 2017, and to participate in a town hall–style discussion of her/his story at the BBF. The Boston Book Festival is unable to provide travel or accommodations for authors attending the BBF. The selected author must also be available for media appearances and interviews in the weeks leading up to the festival. These should not require additional travel.
Preference is given to authors from Boston or New England, or those who have a strong connection to the region. Stories set in the region are also of particular interest.
Stories are evaluated for literary merit as well as their potential for fruitful discussion by readers high school age and older. The ideal story should offer many different entry points for discussion by readers, some of whom may not have previously (or at least recently) read and discussed short fiction.
Stories are initially evaluated by BBF staff and a selection committee composed of editors from Boston-based literary magazines and media outlets. A short list of stories is then circulated to community members who provide feedback on whether and how they would use the story with the populations they serve. The final decision is made by BBF staff based on this feedback and other factors (such as rights availability and regional interest).
The selected author will be notified in early May 2017.
*For the purposes of this program, “published” means having had a work of short fiction appear in an online or print edition of a magazine or journal with an ISSN or in an anthology with an ISBN.
In the wake of the 2016 presidential election, we asked BBF fans on social media what books they were turning to for comfort, answers, or just to escape. We were impressed (although not surprised–you’re a smart bunch!) by the thoughtfulness and breadth of the answers we received, and we’ve compiled the responses here–perhaps a book listed here will speak to you, too! Want to continue the conversation? Just use the hashtag #whatareyoureadingboston to let our community know about the books that are proving especially meaningful to you right now.
Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale
Ian Bremmer, Superpower: Three Choices for America’s Role in the World
Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me
Chris Dixon, Another Politics: Talking across Today’s Transformative Movements
Emma Donoghue, The Wonder
Negin Farsad, How to Make White People Laugh
Ellen Fitzpatrick, The Highest Glass Ceiling: Women’s Quest for the American Presidency
Omar Saif Ghobash, Letters to a Young Muslim
Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
Eric Hoffer, The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements
Jenny Jaeckel, Spot 12: Five Months in the Neonatal ICU
Autumn Kalquist, Defective
Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
Tyler Page, Raised on Ritalin
Parker J. Palmer, The Courage to Teach
Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death
Dawn Powell, The Wicked Pavilion
Alex Prud’homme, The French Chef in America
Claudia Rankine, Citizen: An American Lyric
J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter series
Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
Solmaz Sharif, Look: Poems
Jessica Shattuck, The Women in the Castle
Rebecca Solnit, The Faraway Nearby
Destiny Soria, Iron Cast
Art Spiegelman, Maus
Colson Whitehead, The Underground Railroad
Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States
Perhaps you’re the type who’s already planned your BBF schedule down to the minute, or maybe you’re planning on just showing up in Copley Square on October 15 and making it up as you go along. Either way, we’ve put together some key hints and tips to help you have a great day at BBF 2016!
Download our app. You might have noticed our newly redesigned website (thanks, Corey McPherson Nash!). Along with our new look comes a host of new tools for planning and sharing your BBF schedule, including mobile apps that work for both iOS and Android devices. Download the app in advance and keep the BBF in your pocket all day! Or, if you prefer a lower-tech approach to planning, you can print out a PDF of the entire schedule.
Take the T or drive—it’s up to you! The BBF is conveniently located right near the Copley and Back Bay MBTA stations, meaning that whether you’re arriving by Green Line, Orange Line, bus, commuter rail, or even Amtrak, public transit is your friend. If you need to drive, however, your best bet is checking out Best Parking before you start your drive. As of this writing, parking deals near Copley Square can be had for as little as $14 for the whole day.
Win a Vespa! Thanks to a generous donation from Piaggio Fast Forward, we’re giving away a brand-new Vespa at BBF 2016. Raffle tickets (available only at the festival) are $10 each, with discounts for higher quantities. Proceeds go to support the BBF—we’ll be announcing the winner from the outdoor stage at 5:15, but you don’t need to be present to win. Tickets can be purchased at our merchandise booths or from roving volunteers (look for their red aprons and Vespa tees). Thanks, and good luck!
We’re back in the BPL! After a couple of years of construction, we’re back in the Boston Public Library in a big way, and we couldn’t be happier. Be sure to stop in to see our programming in their beautifully renovated spaces (and maybe get a library card while you’re at it). Check out their newly opened world-class Shakespeare exhibit, grab a bite to eat at their restaurants and cafes, and don’t forget to stop by the Civic Table outside on Boylston Street for a custom poem or free Boston By Foot walking tour!
Channel your inner fangirl or fanboy If what drives you to the BBF is the opportunity to meet favorite authors up close, you’re in luck! Presenters’ books are available for sale in all venues, and signings follow all sessions on-site. Thanks to our partner booksellers for facilitating book sales at the BBF!
Tickets, schmickets With the exception of one sold-out event (the Lore live show), all sessions at the BBF are entirely free, tickets are not required, and admission is first-come, first-served. A handful of small writing workshops offered a preregistration option; although those guaranteed seats are now full, walk-up spots are available—just show up early for your best shot! A huge THANK YOU to our sponsors and donors for helping to keep the BBF free to all.
Get social Have you been participating in our #whatareyoureadingboston project on social media this summer and fall? Show your post at our merch tables and get a free button! If you’re a Snapchat user, send your long-distance BFFs special BBF snaps from Copley Square. And if your idea of social networking runs more toward the face-to-face, pick up an “Ask Me What I’m Reading” button at the merchandise booth, wear it, and strike up a conversation with a fellow booklover. Who knows where it might lead?
If a book is food foryour mind, a Vespa is an espresso machineforyourbody–and we’re bringing the two together at BBF 2016! Thanks to a generous donation from Piaggio Fast Forward, we are running our first-ever fundraising raffle at the BBF. The winner will receive a brand-new Vespa Sprint 150 (in “BBF Red,” of course)! Tickets are $10 and will be available only at the BBF on October 15 or at our kickoff event on October 14. Buona fortuna!
Update 10/20/2016: Congratulations to C. Clements of Boston, the winner of the Vespa raffle! Thanks to all who bought tickets to support the BBF!
1. You must be 18 yrs old or over to buy a ticket
2. The drawing will be held on October 15 at 5:15. Winner need not be present to win. The winner will be announced on the outdoor stage, the winning ticket will be displayed on our Facebook page, and the winner’s name will be tweeted out on the 15th. The winner has until Monday, October 17 at 5:00 PM to claim the prize. You must present the winning ticket stub in person either at the BBF on the 15th or at the offices of the BBF on Monday, October 17th. If the winner cannot be identified, an alternate winner will be declared.
3. All federal, state and local income taxes are the sole responsibility of the winner. The taxable value of the prize will be treated as ordinary income to the winner.
If you’re as much of a planner as we are, you’re sure to be thrilled with the new schedule-building tools on our website. Here are a few tips to help you make the most of the new features!
Look! The default option for displaying sessions is the so-called simple view, but that’s not your only choice! Choose from the dropdown menu under “Schedule” to look at our schedule as an expanded list with session descriptions, as a grid (like the one you’re used to seeing in our printed program guide), or even via an interactive map with venues and sessions listed.
Filter! You can also filter sessions by genre or audience—use the dropdowns from the navigation menu at the top of the page or filter from right within the schedule. Sessions are color-coded by genre, so start by selecting a session you like. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and then click on the category—you’ll instantly be taken to a version of the schedule that shows you just the sessions that fit that category. Just hit “Clear Filter” to go back to the full schedule at any time.
Save! Want to keep track of your day at the BBF? It’s easy! Create a login and add sessions to “My Sched.” Any sessions that require preregistration will prompt you accordingly. You can change your schedule at any time, and you’ll even get a helpful reminder email the morning of the BBF (not that you’d forget to go!).
…and Go! You can easily keep your schedule in your pocket by accessing our site on your smartphone. Your login information and personalized schedule can be saved across devices, or for even more flexibility and speed, download our BBF app for iPhone or Android.
Need more help? This brief guide only scratches the surface of what you can do with our new scheduling software. Visit Sched’s online support center for answers to pretty much any question you can think of. Happy planning, and we’ll see you in Copley Square!
We’ve just announced the lineup of fabulous authors and presenters and in a few weeks we will reveal all the other details of BBF 2016: author pairings, times, locations . . . everything you need to know to get ready for Boston’s annual literary extravaganza. In the meantime, we thought you might be as curious as we are about the recent reading habits of our fellow Bostonians. So we’re asking: What are you reading, Boston?
To find out, we took a look at what people are buying or checking out from the library. According to the Boston Globe bestseller list, The Underground Railroad by BBF fiction keynote Colson Whitehead is the bestselling book in Boston. (Lucky for us that we invited Colson to the BBF way back in March when his book was scheduled for a September release!) Number two is The Girls by Emma Cline and number three is Anthony Doerr’sAll the Light We Cannot See, which just happens to be what BBF presenter Sherry Turkle is reading this summer. Side note: BBF 2015 nonfiction keynote Atul Gawande is STILL in the top ten of bestsellers in the city!
Harry Potter claims the number one spot at Boston’s Trident Booksellers & Cafe as well, leading us to wonder if the college students, back in town but before classes start, are snapping up copies. Next, The Girl on the Train, A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara and Milk and Honey. In nonfiction, the top two sellers were Paul Kalanithi’s When Breath Becomes Air and The Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo.
Our snapshot of Boston readers’ summer book preferences tells us a lot, even if it’s nothing we didn’t already know: our city reads—widely, broadly, deeply. The fiction picks range from playful fantasy and thrilling mystery to the highly literary and lyrical. Nonfiction top titles include one, Between the World and Me, by an African American man wrestling with the experience of being black in America and one, Hillbilly Elegy, that describes the author’s childhood living in white, rural poverty. From humor to feminism, thrillers to literary novels, poetry and art history to essays and manifestos, the diverse selections by Boston readers run the gamut.
Now it’s your turn. What are YOU reading? Let us know:
Send out an Instagram of yourself with your current read, or tweet it out using #whatareyoureadingboston (tag us at #BBF2016 and @bostonbookfest). Come to the Boston Book Festival on October 15, show us your tweet or Instagram, and we’ll reward you with an Ask Me What I’m Reading button.
Have a great end of the summer. And read on, Boston.
Request for Proposals: Shelf Help 2017
Boston Book Festival is once again reaching out to the Greater Boston community to help us implement our annual Shelf Help project. We know that many elementary schools lack the resources to fully stock their school or classroom libraries with contemporary, high-quality books. We want to help one teacher or librarian grow their book collection, and then we will organize a children’s book author or illustrator visit to share the wonders of book creation with young readers!
Our 2017 Shelf Help initiative wants to provide new books to one K-8 classroom or school library near the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year. We will be collecting donations at the ninth annual Boston Book Festival on October 28th.
If you know a teacher or librarian at a school that needs some Shelf Help, please forward them this RFP, which has links to a short online or downloadable application. All proposals are due by May 30, 2017.
You can also lend direct “Shelf Help” to the Boston community! If you would like to donate a book, please come to the Boston Book Festival on October 28 and look out for our information booth, or you can donate through our online book wish list. Email us at info@bostonbookfestival.org to receive a link to the “Shelf Help” donation site. If you would prefer to make a cash donation, please visit our donate page. Upon checking out, select “Make this a gift” and designate “Shelf Help” as the gift recipient in the appropriate box.
With “Shelf Help,” we aim to support students’ discovery and expression of their voices through access to an increased selection of books within their school environment. Words have power to motivate and provoke all readers to discover themselves and their place in the world, and we hope that Shelf Help will encourage students to view themselves as literary explorers!
Shake Off That Bad Mood! We’ve Got Big News for Kids and Families
We are thrilled to announce that beloved (and mysterious) children’s author Lemony Snicket will be the kids’ keynote presenter at the ninth annual Boston Book Festival on October 28 in Copley Square. Author of the wildly popular Series of Unfortunate Events (now a Netflix original series), among many other bestselling books, Snicket will appear at the Boston Book Festival to present his latest picture book for children, The Bad Mood and the Stick, featuring art by Matthew Forsythe. This whimsical story illustrates the unexpected outcomes of one little girl’s bad mood, and Lemony Snicket’s presentation at the BBF is guaranteed to banish any bad moods from the premises!
Snicket’s presentation will headline a full day of programs for children, teens, and families at the 2017 BBF. These will include story time presentations by picture book authors and illustrators, panel presentations and discussions, hands-on workshops with working artists, and much more.
In 2015 and 2016, the BBF presented a standalone spring children’s festival called Hubbub. Hubbub will not continue as a standalone festival in 2017; instead, we will build on many Hubbub partnerships to expand and enhance interactive and interdisciplinary programming for children and families at the October BBF. Somerville-based children’s publisher Candlewick Press, celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, will be the Presenting Sponsor of these expanded children’s offerings, which we’re calling “Hubbub at the BBF.” Costume character meet & greets, STEAM activities, scavenger hunts, celebrations of global culture, and tons of festive fun—the whole family will discover a full day of storytelling and surprises at the BBF. We hope your family makes plans to attend Lemony Snicket’s kids’ keynote and then spend the day with us at the Boston Book Festival on October 28!
IFFBoston 2017
Boston Book Festival is thrilled to partner with Independent Film Festival Boston (IFFBoston) for another year of independent film and storytelling! The 15th Annual IFFBoston is taking place April 26-May 3 at the Somerville Theatre, Brattle Theatre, Coolidge Corner Theatre, and UMass Boston. Over one hundred films will be shown along with nightly parties and weekend panel discussions. Tickets for all events are on sale now at http://www.iffboston.org.
We are sponsoring two films this year: Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive and The Little Hours.
Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive
Brattle Theatre
Saturday, April 29th at 1:30pm
For those who love his poetry and horror stories, this biographical documentary delivers a dramatic tale of Poe’s life, focusing on his career, personal life, and mysterious disappearance before his death. Poe is played by Denis O’Hare (True Blood, The Good Wife, American Horror Story), who delivers a satisfyingly intense performance, including readings of Poe’s literature and criticism. For more information, check the IFF website: Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive.
The Little Hours
Brattle Theatre
Sunday, April 30th at 8:45pm
This movie is not for the faint of heart! It is a racy, mature take on the fourteenth-century author Giovanni Boccaccio’s The Decameron, a collection of tales about a medieval Italian nunnery. With a star-studded comedic cast (Alison Brie, Dave Franco, Fred Armisen, John C. Reilly, Aubrey Plaza, Molly Shannon), get ready for an unapologetic rendition of lust and laughter. More details here: The Little Hours.
We hope you’ll join us for one of these literary-inspired movies! Please check out the full IFF lineup here to find additional screenings. From film to books, we love good storytelling and are happy to support IFFBoston in our shared mission of bringing Boston together through great art. We hope to see you there!
Join the BBF Team!
Like books? Interested in going behind the scenes at New England’s premier literary event? The Boston Book Festival is seeking interns to help us prepare and execute the ninth annual BBF, October 28, 2017.
We are looking for self-starters who have experience with the following: copywriting and editing; creating and maintaining documents and spreadsheets using Word, Excel, Google Drive, and Google Forms; and familiarity with website content management systems.
It would also be wonderful if you have familiarity with or a willingness to learn about: graphic design; social media marketing (on behalf of a brand, not just you!); communicating with media outlets and community organizations; and distributing marketing collateral.
We hope that you have excellent written and oral communication skills, are highly organized, motivated, project-oriented, willing to work on a team, and knowledgeable about and/or interested in some or all of the following: event production, logistics, project management, and (of course) literature! We really hope that you are fun, friendly, and eager to work with a small, committed group of people in a casual office environment. The good news/bad news is: everyone does everything! Some of it is boring but all of it is important.
The ideal candidate will be able to join the team in March and work through Thanksgiving 2017. Candidates can expect to work between 8 and 12 hours per week through May, and 12-15 hours per week through October. Hours and schedules are flexible; evening hours for special events will be required (with plenty of advance notice). We anticipate one evening event per month from March through August. You will also be expected to check your BBF email daily and respond as needed, even when you are not in the office. Boston Book Festival offices are located in Central Square, Cambridge.
Please send a cover letter and resume to Sarah Parker, sarah@bostonbookfest.org, and please specify any restrictions. Candidates who are invited to interview will be asked to provide a writing sample. Applications are due February 15th.
Call for Submissions: One City One Story 2017
We are currently looking for the next great story for our One City One Story program. If you are a previously published* author, we welcome your submission of a short work of fiction. Please see below for selection criteria, and please submit your work (only one submission per person, please) via our Submittable page no later than February 28, 2017.
Additional information:
*For the purposes of this program, “published” means having had a work of short fiction appear in an online or print edition of a magazine or journal with an ISSN or in an anthology with an ISBN.
What Are You Reading Now?
In the wake of the 2016 presidential election, we asked BBF fans on social media what books they were turning to for comfort, answers, or just to escape. We were impressed (although not surprised–you’re a smart bunch!) by the thoughtfulness and breadth of the answers we received, and we’ve compiled the responses here–perhaps a book listed here will speak to you, too! Want to continue the conversation? Just use the hashtag #whatareyoureadingboston to let our community know about the books that are proving especially meaningful to you right now.
Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale
Ian Bremmer, Superpower: Three Choices for America’s Role in the World
Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me
Chris Dixon, Another Politics: Talking across Today’s Transformative Movements
Emma Donoghue, The Wonder
Negin Farsad, How to Make White People Laugh
Ellen Fitzpatrick, The Highest Glass Ceiling: Women’s Quest for the American Presidency
Omar Saif Ghobash, Letters to a Young Muslim
Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
Eric Hoffer, The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements
Jenny Jaeckel, Spot 12: Five Months in the Neonatal ICU
Autumn Kalquist, Defective
Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer
Tyler Page, Raised on Ritalin
Parker J. Palmer, The Courage to Teach
Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death
Dawn Powell, The Wicked Pavilion
Alex Prud’homme, The French Chef in America
Claudia Rankine, Citizen: An American Lyric
J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter series
Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
Solmaz Sharif, Look: Poems
Jessica Shattuck, The Women in the Castle
Rebecca Solnit, The Faraway Nearby
Destiny Soria, Iron Cast
Art Spiegelman, Maus
Colson Whitehead, The Underground Railroad
Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States
Get Ready for BBF 2016
Perhaps you’re the type who’s already planned your BBF schedule down to the minute, or maybe you’re planning on just showing up in Copley Square on October 15 and making it up as you go along. Either way, we’ve put together some key hints and tips to help you have a great day at BBF 2016!
Download our app.
You might have noticed our newly redesigned website (thanks, Corey McPherson Nash!). Along with our new look comes a host of new tools for planning and sharing your BBF schedule, including mobile apps that work for both iOS and Android devices. Download the app in advance and keep the BBF in your pocket all day! Or, if you prefer a lower-tech approach to planning, you can print out a PDF of the entire schedule.
Take the T or drive—it’s up to you!
The BBF is conveniently located right near the Copley and Back Bay MBTA stations, meaning that whether you’re arriving by Green Line, Orange Line, bus, commuter rail, or even Amtrak, public transit is your friend. If you need to drive, however, your best bet is checking out Best Parking before you start your drive. As of this writing, parking deals near Copley Square can be had for as little as $14 for the whole day.
Win a Vespa!
Thanks to a generous donation from Piaggio Fast Forward, we’re giving away a brand-new Vespa at BBF 2016. Raffle tickets (available only at the festival) are $10 each, with discounts for higher quantities. Proceeds go to support the BBF—we’ll be announcing the winner from the outdoor stage at 5:15, but you don’t need to be present to win. Tickets can be purchased at our merchandise booths or from roving volunteers (look for their red aprons and Vespa tees). Thanks, and good luck!
We’re back in the BPL!
After a couple of years of construction, we’re back in the Boston Public Library in a big way, and we couldn’t be happier. Be sure to stop in to see our programming in their beautifully renovated spaces (and maybe get a library card while you’re at it). Check out their newly opened world-class Shakespeare exhibit, grab a bite to eat at their restaurants and cafes, and don’t forget to stop by the Civic Table outside on Boylston Street for a custom poem or free Boston By Foot walking tour!
Channel your inner fangirl or fanboy
If what drives you to the BBF is the opportunity to meet favorite authors up close, you’re in luck! Presenters’ books are available for sale in all venues, and signings follow all sessions on-site. Thanks to our partner booksellers for facilitating book sales at the BBF!
Tickets, schmickets
With the exception of one sold-out event (the Lore live show), all sessions at the BBF are entirely free, tickets are not required, and admission is first-come, first-served. A handful of small writing workshops offered a preregistration option; although those guaranteed seats are now full, walk-up spots are available—just show up early for your best shot! A huge THANK YOU to our sponsors and donors for helping to keep the BBF free to all.
Get social
Have you been participating in our #whatareyoureadingboston project on social media this summer and fall? Show your post at our merch tables and get a free button! If you’re a Snapchat user, send your long-distance BFFs special BBF snaps from Copley Square. And if your idea of social networking runs more toward the face-to-face, pick up an “Ask Me What I’m Reading” button at the merchandise booth, wear it, and strike up a conversation with a fellow booklover. Who knows where it might lead?
Win a Vespa at BBF 2016
If a book is food for your mind, a Vespa is an espresso machine for your body–and we’re bringing the two together at BBF 2016! Thanks to a generous donation from Piaggio Fast Forward, we are running our first-ever fundraising raffle at the BBF. The winner will receive a brand-new Vespa Sprint 150 (in “BBF Red,” of course)! Tickets are $10 and will be available only at the BBF on October 15 or at our kickoff event on October 14. Buona fortuna!
Update 10/20/2016: Congratulations to C. Clements of Boston, the winner of the Vespa raffle! Thanks to all who bought tickets to support the BBF!
1. You must be 18 yrs old or over to buy a ticket
2. The drawing will be held on October 15 at 5:15. Winner need not be present to win. The winner will be announced on the outdoor stage, the winning ticket will be displayed on our Facebook page, and the winner’s name will be tweeted out on the 15th. The winner has until Monday, October 17 at 5:00 PM to claim the prize. You must present the winning ticket stub in person either at the BBF on the 15th or at the offices of the BBF on Monday, October 17th. If the winner cannot be identified, an alternate winner will be declared.
3. All federal, state and local income taxes are the sole responsibility of the winner. The taxable value of the prize will be treated as ordinary income to the winner.
BBF 2016: Make It Your Own
If you’re as much of a planner as we are, you’re sure to be thrilled with the new schedule-building tools on our website. Here are a few tips to help you make the most of the new features!
Look!
The default option for displaying sessions is the so-called simple view, but that’s not your only choice! Choose from the dropdown menu under “Schedule” to look at our schedule as an expanded list with session descriptions, as a grid (like the one you’re used to seeing in our printed program guide), or even via an interactive map with venues and sessions listed.
Filter!
You can also filter sessions by genre or audience—use the dropdowns from the navigation menu at the top of the page or filter from right within the schedule. Sessions are color-coded by genre, so start by selecting a session you like. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and then click on the category—you’ll instantly be taken to a version of the schedule that shows you just the sessions that fit that category. Just hit “Clear Filter” to go back to the full schedule at any time.
Save!
Want to keep track of your day at the BBF? It’s easy! Create a login and add sessions to “My Sched.” Any sessions that require preregistration will prompt you accordingly. You can change your schedule at any time, and you’ll even get a helpful reminder email the morning of the BBF (not that you’d forget to go!).
…and Go!
You can easily keep your schedule in your pocket by accessing our site on your smartphone. Your login information and personalized schedule can be saved across devices, or for even more flexibility and speed, download our BBF app for iPhone or Android.
Need more help?
This brief guide only scratches the surface of what you can do with our new scheduling software. Visit Sched’s online support center for answers to pretty much any question you can think of. Happy planning, and we’ll see you in Copley Square!
What Are You Reading, Boston?
We’ve just announced the lineup of fabulous authors and presenters and in a few weeks we will reveal all the other details of BBF 2016: author pairings, times, locations . . . everything you need to know to get ready for Boston’s annual literary extravaganza. In the meantime, we thought you might be as curious as we are about the recent reading habits of our fellow Bostonians. So we’re asking: What are you reading, Boston?
To find out, we took a look at what people are buying or checking out from the library. According to the Boston Globe bestseller list, The Underground Railroad by BBF fiction keynote Colson Whitehead is the bestselling book in Boston. (Lucky for us that we invited Colson to the BBF way back in March when his book was scheduled for a September release!) Number two is The Girls by Emma Cline and number three is Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See, which just happens to be what BBF presenter Sherry Turkle is reading this summer. Side note: BBF 2015 nonfiction keynote Atul Gawande is STILL in the top ten of bestsellers in the city!
Cambridge and Somerville readers who shop at Porter Square Books preferred Shrill, by BBF 2016 presenter Lindy West, Tribe by Sebastian Junger, and Homegoing by Yaa Gyassi. Following right behind is the just-released Art of Rivalry by BBF art history keynote Sebastian Smee. The number one paperback bestseller last week was Eileen, by Ottessa Moshfegh. Elena Ferrante novels continue to fly out the door as well.
The intellectuals and tourists (not that they are mutually exclusive) who frequent Harvard Book Store chose Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by you-know-who, while The Underground Railroad and The Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer were two and three respectively. Buyers of paperbacks wanted The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins for their beach bags, while Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur and Known and Strange Things by Teju Cole were the next most popular paperbacks.
In Jamaica Plain, customers of Papercuts J.P. selected the Papercuts Anthology more than any other book, while Harry Potter and Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance were runners-up.
Harry Potter claims the number one spot at Boston’s Trident Booksellers & Cafe as well, leading us to wonder if the college students, back in town but before classes start, are snapping up copies. Next, The Girl on the Train, A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara and Milk and Honey. In nonfiction, the top two sellers were Paul Kalanithi’s When Breath Becomes Air and The Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo.
Turning our attention to the Boston Public Library’s circulation desk, we learned that system-wide, the most popular books of late were All the Light We Cannot See, The Girl on the Train, Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff, Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll, Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee, and Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Our snapshot of Boston readers’ summer book preferences tells us a lot, even if it’s nothing we didn’t already know: our city reads—widely, broadly, deeply. The fiction picks range from playful fantasy and thrilling mystery to the highly literary and lyrical. Nonfiction top titles include one, Between the World and Me, by an African American man wrestling with the experience of being black in America and one, Hillbilly Elegy, that describes the author’s childhood living in white, rural poverty. From humor to feminism, thrillers to literary novels, poetry and art history to essays and manifestos, the diverse selections by Boston readers run the gamut.
Now it’s your turn. What are YOU reading? Let us know:
Send out an Instagram of yourself with your current read, or tweet it out using #whatareyoureadingboston (tag us at #BBF2016 and @bostonbookfest). Come to the Boston Book Festival on October 15, show us your tweet or Instagram, and we’ll reward you with an Ask Me What I’m Reading button.
Have a great end of the summer. And read on, Boston.