Recap: Boston Book Festival 2013

As I mentioned before, this weekend was the 5th annual Boston Book Festival, run by the Boston Public Library and hosted in various places around Copley Square.  This was my first year at the BBF, so I scheduled a whole day of events and exploring.  My review for the program?  It was absolutely fantastic, and I would encourage everyone to go next year.

Most of the events were held on Saturday (10/19), but there were some ticketed events on the Thursday and Friday before.  I didn't end up going to those because 1) they costed money (not a lot, but more than I had available to spend) and 2) because they were sold out a long time ago.  So, unfortunately, I don't have much to say about the Salman Rushdie or Writing Terror talks.  My only advice would be to get your tickets early if you want to go to the ticketed events next year.  Anyway, without further ado, here is a review of the three talks I attended and the exhibitor booths that I visited.


Exhibitors

The exhibit booths were a lot of fun and very informative.  It took me about an hour to make a full round among them, but you could spend hours wandering between all the booths (particularly if you have money and are looking to buy books, subscriptions, shirts, bags, etc.).  Although the booths were set up from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., I found that lunchtime was the perfect time to visit.  I planned my panels so that I would have about 2 hours for lunch/exploring, and that worked out really well for me.  However, a non-lunchtime trip may have been less crowded, particularly if you went in the morning.

The booths included representatives from local bookstores, libraries, magazines, literary agents, publishers, educational programs, museums, and more.  There was even, in true Boston style, a Dunkin' Donuts tent that served free samples of their pumpkin latte all day (I stopped by that tent a few times...).  There were also tables set for children and teen activities.  Seeing as I am not a teen and do not have a child, I skipped these for fear of looking like a kidnapper, but they were some of the most popular booths for families.  Most of the booths had some inventory available for sale (mostly books), and many were selling their wares at discounted prices.

For the less financially secure, such as myself, there were lots of free goodies ready for the taking.  I got two lovely tote bags, an actually-quite-nice wall calendar, some free magazines, and one of those drawstring backpack things.  I also made sure to sign up for the numerous raffles that were taking place.  Prizes included free subscriptions to literary magazines and newspapers, tickets to a Boston Ballet performance, a mini iPad, and a year's membership to the Boston Athenaeum (a beautiful private library near the Commons).  There were also some food trucks, which looked delicious, but had really long lines every time I passed one.

Events

Boston Public Library

I attended three of the panels/talks, all of which were free and open to the public.  I saw Shakespeare and Leadership with Richard Olivier; Historical Fiction: Imagining the Past with Amy Brill, Michele Forbes, Dennis McFarland, and Julie Wu; and True Crime with Kevin Cullen, Charles Graeber, Mirta Ojito, and Nancy Jo Sales.  All the talks were pretty much full (Historical Fiction was standing room only), so I'd recommend getting there at least 20 minutes early if you want a guaranteed seat.

I wasn't familiar with any of the speakers/authors before I attended, and I chose the panels basically on whether the topics seemed interesting.  I did find out later, though, that Richard Olivier is the son of the famous Laurence Olivier.  Also, I learned that Nancy Jo Sales was the woman at the other end of this now infamous phone call:

Anyway, I enjoyed all the of the talks immensely.  Richard Olivier focused on Henry V and how tracking Henry's personal growth throughout that play can help modern leaders motivate people and achieve their goals.  Obviously, a big part of Olivier's argument was how relevant Shakespeare continues to be, even half a millennium later.  He really underlined the protean nature of Shakespeare's plays, noting that, depending on the message you want to send, Henry V can be used to do anything from represent nationalistic and military pride to provide a treatise on the horror and futility of war.  In the end, even if this was not the main thrust of his presentation, Olivier provided a great talk on why we still read, see, and perform Shakespeare after all these years.

Historical Fiction was geared much more towards writers than readers.  The panelists spent a good deal of time discussing historical research (how much to do, where to do it, etc.).  Aside from the terror of learning that most of them did their research in a pre-Google world, it's interesting to note that all four panelists stated that "too much research" was a lot easier of a trap to fall into than "too little."  In a particularly harrowing story, Amy Brill talked about losing years of research and notes when her bag was lost at the airport.  However, she noted that this really turned out for the best, as she had been in danger of researching to the point of never actually writing the novel.

Finally, the True Crime panel focused on the concept of accountability.  What was particularly interesting to me was how all of the books shed light on guilty parties other than the actual criminals.  Whether it was a complicit FBI in the days of Whitey Bulger or healthcare organizations that looked the other way as a nurse killed more than 400 patients, the authors focused not only on the criminals, but on a world that allowed these criminals to exist and prosper.  I'm not a true crime buff, but this interesting take on the genre (as opposed to what one panelist described as "crime porn") prompted me to add all four of their books to my reading list.

Anyone else go to the BBF?  Or read any of these authors?  What did you think?