Technology will be the subtext in Boston book festival this fall
Commemorating Boston's innovative spirit in literature and technology, a local nonprofit organization announced yesterday that it will hold a Boston Book Festival this fall in Copley Square.
Free and open to the public at the Boston Public Library, Old South Church, Trinity Church, and outdoors in Copley Square, the group's first annual book festival will be held Oct. 24 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
When planning the event, Deborah Z. Porter, Boston Book Festival Inc. founder and president, said the group decided it should highlight the city's history of firsts in "literary and technological creativity."
"From Wheatley, Longfellow, Emerson, and Thoreau to the hundreds of incredible authors working here today, from Paul Revere's viral marketing campaign to Facebook's social networking revolution, from the establishment of America's first printing press to the invention of electronic ink, Boston is and always has been the epicenter of innovation," she said on the event's website.
In a statement, Porter also said a citywide drought in large-scale book festivals, including the last annual Boston Globe Book Festival in 2003, was a catalyst for the event's creation.
The book festival will include presentations and issue-driven panels featuring internationally known fiction and nonfiction writers, scholars, critics, and commentators.
Some of the writers will be Anita Diamant, author of "The Red Tent"; Joseph Finder, who wrote "Vanished"; and Walter Isaacson, author of "Einstein." Presentations will include "Books Without Pages: Discussing the Future of E-books"; "Eat Your Words: Food Writers and Chefs "American Writer Idol: Literary Agents Critique Unpublished Work"; "Whither the Weather: Climate Change"; and "We are the Champions: Sports Writers and their Love of the Game."
Other features include programming for children, teenagers, and families; writing workshops and publishing seminars; and theater, spoken-word, and music performances. The theme of technology as it relates to reading will be woven through the festival activities. 