We at the Boston Book Festival have always been intrigued by the idea of an all-city read but wondered how we might involve the greatest number of people in such an undertaking. Finally we hit on the idea of selecting a short story and making it available to as many people as possible, free of charge. With generous assistance from the Goldhirsh Foundation our idea will become reality in the form of One City One Story.

After considering over 20 stories submitted by local authors, we chose a story by Tom Perrotta entitled The Smile on Happy Chang’s Face.  The story first appeared in the literary journal Post Road and was subsequently included in Best American Short Stories.   We thought that Tom’s story would appeal to many people as it deals with universal themes like family relationships.  And it involves a baseball game. 

Beginning on September 30 we will give away 30,000 bound copies of the story at libraries, community centers, subway stops, coffee shops and as many other places as we can.  But if you don’t get one of the adorable, pocket sized bound stories, no worries-- it will be available as a pdf on our website both in English and in several other languages as well. 

Please check our website on September 27th for a list of where you can pick up your copy of the story as well as a schedule of events and other ways you can participate. One City One Story will culminate with an opportunity to meet Tom Perrotta and participate in a large scale, moderated story group discussion at the Boston Book Festival on October 16 in Copley Square.

So look for The Smile on Happy Chang’s Face and share the experience. 

One City One Story: Read. Think. Share. 

Read the Boston Phoenix's article with quotes from Tom: Now It Can Be Told: Boston to Read Perrotta

The moment you've been waiting for is finally here: the unveiling of the complete BBF 2010 line-up of authors and presenters!

This year's Festival will feature more than 130 world-renowned authors and thought leaders including Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, and more.

Start making your plans to be in Copley Square on October 16th - directions, parking information, and hotel accommodations can be found on our website - and stay tuned, as we'll be posting the full schedule of events along with descriptions in September.

In the meantime, READ UP!

Click HERE to view the complete BBF 2010 line-up.

Join two of Boston's coolest authors, dreamy Reif Larsen and poet/geek Nick Montfort, at uber-chic Middlesex Lounge. Donate $25 to support BBF 2010, enjoy free wine, beer and apps a-plenty, and be entered to win a FLIP MinoHD Camera!

TONIGHT!
Tuesday, August 10th
7:00 p.m - 9:00 p.m.

Middlesex Lounge
315 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139

If you're planning on coming tonight, please just donate at the door - we take cash, credit cards and checks.  If you donate via the PayPal button below, please print out your receipt and bring it with you to Middlesex, otherwise, you might not be on the will call list!

FEATURING
Comedic Performance by bestselling author REIF LARSEN, "The Page is an Old Horse: The Future of Books in a Digital Age"
Generating poetry with MIT professor NICK MONTFORT, a computer, and you!

Time to charge up your eReader, bound to the bookstore, or locate your library card. The Boston Book Festival on October 16 will be a Literary Lollapalooza. A Woodstock of Writers. A Bookish Bonnaroo. Over 100 world-class novelists, thought leaders, children's authors and illustrators, poets, scientists, technologists, memoirists, and more will be presenting at the BBF. Literary super stars and up-and-coming authors alike will share the stage all in one incredible, breathless -- and might we say -- festive day. Here's just a sample of our literary rockstars:

	BILL BRYSON Bill Bryson, in addition to being a Red Sox fan, is a bestselling author of humorous books on travel, American life, and nature. His titles include A Walk in the Woods and A Short History of Nearly Everything.  His new book is At Home: A Short History Of Private Life.
	A. M. HOMES A. M. Homes is the author of the novels This Book Will Save Your Life, The End of Alice and The Mistress's Daughter, among others, as well as the short story collection Things You Should Know. Formerly a writer/producer for The L Word, she is currently a contributing editor at Vanity Fair.
	GISH JEN Celebrated novelist and short story writer, Gish Jen is the author of the international bestsellers Typical American, Mona in the Promised Land, Who's Irish?, and The Love Wife.  Her much-anticipated new novel is World & Town.
	JEFF KINNEY Jeff Kinney is the author and illustrator of the popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series. In 2009, Kinney was named one of Time magazine's 100 "Most Influential People" in the world.
	DENNIS LEHANE Dennis Lehane is the author of the New York Times bestsellers, Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone, Shutter Island, and most recently The Given Day.  He has also written the introduction to a reissue of George V. Higgins' classic The Friends of Eddie Coyle.
	JOYCE CAROL OATES Joyce Carol Oates won the National Book Award for Them and her novels Black Water, What I Lived For, and Blonde were nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.  Her newest collection of short stories is Sourland.
	STACY SCHIFF Stacy Schiff is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Véra: Portrait of a Marriage, a biography of Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov. Her latest biography, Cleopatra, examines the life of the Queen of the Nile.
	AMARTYA SEN Amartya Sen is the Thomas W. Lamont Professor Emeritus at Harvard University.  In 1998 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics for his contribution to welfare economics.  His latest book, The Idea of Justice, presents an alternative approach to mainstream theories of justice.
	JOSEPH STIGLITZ Recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize in economics for his analysis of markets with asymmetric information, Joseph Stiglitz is University Professor at Columbia University and Chair of Columbia's Committee on Global Thought. His latest book is Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy.
	ISABEL WILKERSON A professor in the College of Communications at Boston University, Isabel Wilkerson is the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in journalism. Her latest work is The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration.
	E. O. WILSON Regarded as on of the world's preeminent biologists and naturalists, Edward O. Wilson is the author of more than twenty books, including two Pulitzer Prize winners, The Ants and On Human Nature.  Anthill is his first novel.
	KEVIN YOUNG Kevin Young is the author of six books of poetry, including Jelly Roll: A Blues, a finalist for the National Book Award. Young's latest work is the anthology The Art of Losing: Poems of Grief and Healing.

This is just a small sample of our star-studded line-up.  Check back later in the summer for the complete 2010 list!

The Boston Book Festival proudly announces a new initiative, One City One Story. We will distribute, free of charge, 30,000 bound copies of a short story by a well-known Boston author. With the aim of making literature accessible, One City One Story gives a new spin to all-city reading groups. The author will appear at the BBF on October 16 and will lead discussions of the story. Details to be announced, so stay tuned.

Read Our Minds

This year, the Boston Book Festival will host over 100 renowned authors and thought leaders – Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winners among them – discussing everything from Architecture to Ants to Antony & Cleopatra (and that’s just the A’s!). This fascinating and accomplished group represents the most creative and eclectic line-up we could assemble in one place at one time. You will definitely want to read these minds. 

Now that you are dying to hear who will be center stage at this year’s festival, we are going to keep you in suspense until June 23 when we go public with our program. Sign up on the homepage for BBF email up-dates to be the first to know our star-studded literary line up!

Get out your date book or open up iCal right now because you really don't want to miss this:

The second annual Boston Book Festival will take place Saturday, October 16, 2010.
 
2009 was a huge hit - 12,000+ readers of all ages from across New England, 90+ award-winning authors and presenters, 30+ free indoor events, and 40+ outdoor exhibitors.  It was so great, in fact, that the Boston Globe Magazine recently named the Boston Book Festival Best of the New 2010.

Click below to watch the just-released highlight video from BBF09.


Video Production by: Paula Aguilera, Jonathan Williams, The Boston Phoenix, WGBH
Photography by: Norman Lang, Matt Teuten, Mike Ritter

And Boston Book Festival 2010 will be bigger and even better with more beautiful venues, exciting exhibitors, fun events for children and, of course, dozens of fascinating presentations by leaders in every field.  We hope you will join us once again in Copley Square for the second edition of the Boston Book Festival.
 
At Boston Book Festival headquarters, we're working feverishly to raise money and confirm presenters, and you can expect more announcements in the coming months (including information on participating authors!)

So, save the date, tell your friends, and happy reading!

In our opinion, these cold dark nights are just perfect for curling up (Snuggie, anyone?) with a good book and a cup of your favorite steaming beverage.  And getting books are just as fun as giving them (not just because they are easy to wrap!).  So we’ve compiled a list of 2009 recommendations from some Boston Book Festival friends and colleagues to help you with gift ideas for that reader on your list (even if that reader is you.)

Here’s what we’re saying about some of our favorites:

Debbie Porter, Founding President, Boston Book Festival

The Glass Room by Simon Mawer

“A novel ostensibly about a house – a glass house built in Czechoslovakia between the wars – that represents everything its owners feel about a future that appears bright with the promise of enlightenment and modernism both for themselves and their country.  But the enormous forces of history and shattering personal truths of the inhabitants of the glass house blow apart the dream.  A 2009 Booker Prize finalist The Glass Room’s plot will keep you reading and the ideas will keep you thinking.”


Emily D’Amour Pardo, Executive Director, Boston Book Festival

Invisible by Paul Auster

“At once a riveting psychological page-turner and a philosophical exploration of the truth of memory, Invisible is a coming-of-age story that showcases Auster’s inventiveness and ability to create characters that will stay with you long after you finish the book.“



Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and author of That Old Cape Magic

Safe From The Neighbors by Steve Yarbrough

“Steve Yarbrough's Safe From the Neighbors is the best book I've read in quite a while.  I loved the way its intimate, private narrative merges with a larger public one.”



Helene Atwan, Director, Beacon Press

Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid



“I’m currently rereading Jamaica Kincaid’s pitch perfect first novel, Annie John, which is almost like reading poetry.  I recommend reading it while reclining on a sofa without any distractions.  And you won’t need the bon-bons.”


Not Quite Paradise: An American Sojourn in Sri Lanka by Adele Marie Barker

“For the adventurous (armchair) traveler, I also recommend one of our books, just out, Not Quite Paradise: An American Sojourn in Sri Lanka; appropriate reading as the fifth anniversary of the tsunami approaches on 12/26.”



Esmond Harmsworth, founding partner, Zachary Schuster Harmsworth Literary Agency

The Hypochondriacs: Nine Tormented Lives by Brian Dillon

“My favorite 2009 book has only come out in Ireland and it is very quirky, Brian Dillon's The Hypochondriacs: Nine Tormented Lives, a book on famous, mostly literary and artistic hypochondriacs, from Proust to Andy Warhol, James Boswell and Charlotte Bronte. It turns out that Proust was not a hypochondriac at all: in the late 19th century, allergies and asthma were considered psychosomatic illnesses, and one popular cure was to burn pungent powders and inhale the smoke, which Proust did every day in his cork lined room. Not surprisingly this did not help his severe asthma.”



Elinor Lipman, bestselling author of Then She Found Me and The Family Man

How I Became A Famous Novelist by Steve Hely

“When I reviewed How I Became A Famous Novelist for the Washington Post last summer I wrote,  "I may have read a funnier book in the last 20 years, but at this moment I'm hard-pressed to name it."


John Taylor "Ike" Williams, The Kneerim & Williams Agency

Union Atlantic by Adam Haslett

"Haslett paints a portrait of Capitalism's effect on American life as good as Henry James did of Class "
Union Atlantic will be released on 2/9, so you’ll have to pre-order, but remember, good things come to those who wait!


Joyce Linehan, President, Ashmont Media

Nobody Move by Denis Johnson
“I didn’t read a lot of new books in 2009 – spent much of the year revisiting criminally underappreciated British fiction writer Jonathan Coe. But I did love Denis Johnson’s Nobody Move, a noir so black it could function as parody.”



Mike Swartz, Creative Director, UpStatement

Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work by Matthew B. Crawford
“Crawford's reflection on the satisfaction of physical work doesn't just center on the fact that it's manual labor, but on the idea that diagnosing a motorcycle engine's busted tappets is just as intellectual (and perhaps more so) than most work that requires "higher" education. Highly reminiscent of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Crawford's 'Chautauqua' asserts that there is an inherent honesty and feeling of worth that comes from clear-cut thinking and fixing. My life as a web designer is pretty much the digital equivalent of small engine repair, but with less leather and much more cursing.”



Karen Wulf, Executive Director, PEN New England

36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction by Rebecca Newberger Goldstein
“36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction is further proof that Rebecca Goldstein, celebrated philosopher and novelist, can do it all.  It has everything you want in a book: great writing, captivating characters, sharp observations, and serious subject matter artfully presented, beautifully told.  It is the perfect argument for why fiction matters: it’s about everything that matters most, and I will be giving it to everyone who matters to me.”


And last, but certainly not least, Tom Perrotta, bestselling author of Election, Little Children, and The Abstinence Teacher, and Judith Donath of Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society both gave two thumbs up (so that’s a total of four thumbs!) to:

Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth by Apostolos Doxiadis and Christo H. Papadimitriou


Tom:
“I'm not a regular reader of graphic novels, but I've read a few great ones over the years--Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel, of course, and Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, to name two. To this select group, I'd like to add Logicomix, which is a beautifully written and illustrated account of some of the important intellectual and emotional events in the life of Bertrand Russell. It's challenging, thought-provoking, and a deeply engaging book that turns the life of the mind into a gripping adventure.”


Judith:
“There is something about the graphical form that invites self-reference, and Logicomix, with its interludes of conversations among author and artists, and its references to mathematicians as superheroes, is even more self-conscious than most.  But it also does an extraordinary job of turning the development of 20th century philosophical logic into a riveting story, and in the process makes the math clearer than many texts do.  It's a bit ironic that a book about the search for absolute truth plays fast and loose with facts - but it's intermingled examination of the relationship between logic and madness make even the breaks from reality into part of the plot.”

Just in time for the holidays, the BOSTON BOOK FESTIVAL STORE is now open for business!
  We have a limited supply of 2009 T-shirts on sale for just $12.

We think the little ones in your life will look especially adorable sporting Literally Amazing or Ask Me What I'm Reading t-shirts this holiday season! 

All shirts are American Apparel, made from 100% cotton right here in the USA.  They come in kid's, women's and men's sizes, infant through adult XXL. (CLICK HERE for a size guide)

We also have a limited supply of 2009 commemorative posters SIGNED by Chip Kidd, Boston Book Festival canvas tote bags, and the very amusing (and wildly popular) reading specs t-shirt.

It’s been one year since Barak Obama delivered his victory speech to an ecstatic crowd in Chicago’s Grant Park.  It seems only fitting, then, that the first Boston Book Festival podcast posted on bostonbookfest.org (and there will be many more to come!) is The Obama Year, an evaluation of the 44th President’s first year in office by some of the country’s leading scholars.

NPR and WBUR’s On Point host Tom Ashbrook leads an illuminating discussion with a panel of fascinating speakers with diverse areas of expertise and experience. Jack Beatty is senior editor of The Atlantic, news analyst for On Point and winner of an American Book Award. He is joined by David Gergen, advisor to presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton, editor-at-large for U.S. News & World Report and Senior Political Analyst for CNN. Lani Guinier, Bennett Boskey Professor of Law and the first woman of color appointed to a tenured professorship at Harvard Law School, weighs in as well. Also providing his perspective is Michael E. Porter, the Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at Harvard Business School and author of 18 books including Redefining Health Care and On Competition.

A riveting assessment delivered to a capacity crowd in the Boston Public Library’s Rabb Lecture Hall, The Obama Year was so popular that we at the BBF were flooded with requests following the event for recordings and transcripts, even by the lucky few who were able to experience the discussion first-hand.

Enjoy your front-row seats to The Obama Year… as Tom Ashbrook puts it in his opening remarks:

“Today, we will ask, on the evidence of that year, if this transformative figure is emerging as a transformative president. We’ll ask what we’ve learned about Barak Obama and the implications of his governing style and policy instincts, and we’ll ask what we’ve learned about ourselves as a nation, as a polity, in the first year of Obama.”

Video Production by: Paula Aguilera, Jonathan Williams, The Boston Phoenix, WGBH

As we look ahead to the 2010 Boston Book Festival (can you believe we've already started to think about 2010?), we want to know what worked -- and what didn't -- this year.

Be entered to win a Sony Reader Pocket Edition when you fill out our ONLINE SURVEY by Thursday, November 5 at 2:00 p.m. EST. 

We've already given away three Sony Readers to lucky festival-goers, and this is your last chance to win!

Congratulations to our contest winners:

Day-of Twitter Winner (#bbf09): Renato Beninatto

Pre-Festival Twitter Winner (#bbf09): Allison Trzop

Facebook Fan Winner: Erica Truncale