In lieu of any interesting knitting news to share, instead I'll tell you about my day yesterday at the Boston Book Festival. This is my second year attending this free event and once again it did not disappoint. If any of you are in the Boston area - or have a friend in the area who will let you crash on their couch - you should absolutely plan on attending next fall.
Here are the sessions I attended yesterday:
Lemony Snicket!
Daniel Handler is not just a great writer, but a fantastic performer. This (not surprisingly packed) event was staged as a secret meeting with an agenda that included items like "dance the carioca" which Handler sternly informed us we would not in fact be doing. One of the first agenda items was to apologize for the absence of Lemony Snicket himself, which was explained in a rather hilarious manner by Handler pulling in a glass-enclosed creative which he waved about wildly while running through the audience thrusting it into the faces of unsuspecting spectators while shouting things like "this terrible creature!" and "enormous teeth!" and so on.
He read from his new book Who Could That Be At This Hour? and even played the accordion and sang. At the end he again apologized for the absence of Lemony Snicket and hurriedly said "I'm sorry it's been so disappointing!" while running from the room. He really is his books personified.
That's an opening event that's hard to top!
Great Brits and Books
Considerably more sedate, this event also had a full house, forcing me to sit on an uncomfortable bench near the door so it was a bit hard to hear the speakers over the outside noise. There were four panelists who discussed Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, J.M. Barrie and Victorian literature in general. They talked about the appeal of Jane Austen, one professor remarking that those signing up for a class in Austen usually have already read her books and know more about her than the professor does. They also discussed perceptions about Dickens, the serialization of his work, and his views on America. The Barrie expert talked a bit about how Peter Pan can be read on different levels and means much more than we think as children, which rather made me want to read it. This was the only event I attended that didn't involve any actual authors, but the subject matter was appealing and I liked it despite not being able to hear quite everything from the back of the room.
Alexander McCall Smith
Author of several series including the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, McCall Smith is one of those infuriating jack-of-all-trades like Steve Martin, who seem to have been unfairly dealt far too many talents while too many of us are completely talent-impoverished. McCall Smith is an author, doctor, bioethicist, and bassoonist. Oh yes, and he also wrote an opera. (Host Robin Young of NPR responded "Of course you did" which I think summed up what we were all thinking.) McCall Smith is funny and engaging, able to go on and on at length about pretty much anything and is completely enjoyable to listen to.
His newest novel, just released in the past few days, is from the Isabel Dalhousie series. I haven't read any of these - in fact I've only read a couple from the No. 1 Ladies, which I quite enjoyed - but I'm intrigued by the character of Isabel and may try one of these. This latest novel, The Uncommon Appeal of Clouds, centers around an art theft. Young and McCall Smith had an interesting conversation about art theft (which, she reminded him, Bostonians can be a bit sensitive about) and the retrieval of stolen art, and the difference between a reward and a ransom. They also discussed nationalism, the difficulty of writing multiple series at once, characters who don't age, and various other interesting topics. I had no idea how prolific he is, publishing 5 or 6 novels per year, so let's hope he doesn't go the way of certain of authors I know who don't even write their own books anymore. (Also, when is HBO going to do another season of No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency?)
YA: The Future is Now
As I was just getting over a cold, I was pretty tired by late afternoon and considered skipping the last time slot in favor of a nap at home, but no way could I pass up this panel discussion on Young Adult dystopias.
Moderated by M.T. Anderson (author of Feed), the panel also included Gabrielle Zevin, Cory Doctorw, and Rachel Cohn. I was thinking I hadn't read much by any of these authors, but in addition to Feed I've read Zevin's Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac, and three books by Cohn: Gingerbread, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, and Dash and Lily's Book of Dares. I haven't read anything by Doctorow yet, but now I might.
They talked about the rise of dystopia, its appeal, why it has special appeal to teenagers, whether or not their books have a message and whether or not they should, and a variety of other topics. Cory Doctorow, who is a proponent of information sharing, brought up a fascinating study in Britain. In a low income housing development, one group of residents was given free internet access and then later several factors indicative of quality of life were compared to the non-internet residents. Those who had internet access had better jobs, were more likely to go to college, were in better health - it was really quite amazing. What a great reminder of how directly people's lives are affected by access to information.
What about you? Did any of you make it to the Boston Book Festival? Or do you live in another city with a similar event?
Showing posts with label boston book festival. Show all posts
Showing posts with label boston book festival. Show all posts
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Boston Book Festival!
Today was the 3rd annual Boston Book Festival. I'm not sure how I missed this the last two years, but you can bet I'll be there again next year! It's like a huge literary conference and book sale and it's FREE. Amazing! And these are not little-known authors, they are big names. The kid's keynote speaker was Mo Willems and tonight's keynote is Michael Ondaatje. Other authors in attendance include Jennifer Egan, Mitchell Zuckoff, Andre Dubus III, Julia Alvarez, Gregory Maguire, Karen Russell, Richard Russo and many many others. Not to mention several WBUR personalities including Tom Ashbrook, Robin Young, and Christopher Lydon (no longer on WBUR, but I have very fond memories of listening to The Connection every single day.)
I started my day by attending Steampunk, hosted by my former co-worker, the always funkily-dressed Maya Escobar. The panel included Kelly Link and Gavin Grant, who co-edited a steampunk anthology, artist/creator Allison DeBlasio, and young adult author Holly Black. I have heard many wonderful things about Black and she was just lovely in person (as were all the panelists). In an effort to define the genre, Holly Black said "Steampunk is what happens when goths discover brown." Clever!
The next session I attended was YA Fiction: On the Edge. Amy Pattee from Simmons, who I've enjoyed as a presenter at NELA, was moderator. Ellen Levine wrote a novel called In Trouble, set in the 1950s, which was rejected by many publishers because one of the characters has an abortion. Daniel Nayeri recently wrote a collection of novellas on his iphone, and was a great speaker with a fascinating background. Danica Novgorodoff shared excerpts from her graphic novel Refresh, Refresh, a coming-of-age story about teenage boys in Bend, Oregon whose fathers are fighting in Iraq. This was a very well-balanced panel of authors who did very different work that is edge in different ways.
After standing in line for over a half hour for what was, thankfully, a fantastic sandwich from Roxy's Grilled Cheese truck, I was late arriving at Fiction: Truth and Consequences and had to sit in the overflow room. Unfortunately the screen was set up in such a way that only the first few rows could actually see the panelists. It was again a great group. Ha Jin spoke about his new book Nanjing Requiem. Jennifer Haigh, author of The Condition (link is to my review), spoke about her newest novel, Faith. Last but not least, Vanessa Diffenbaugh,whose first novel The Language of Flowers is getting lots of buzz, spoke about being a foster parent and about the Victorian flower-based code, both of which are fascinating subjects and really made me want to read her novel.
It was so fantastic to go to an event that was all about books, and just swarming with people who love books enough to spend their Saturday listening to people talk about them. It was inspiring and now I have even more books on my list waiting to be devoured. So now you'll have to excuse me, I'm going to go read!
I started my day by attending Steampunk, hosted by my former co-worker, the always funkily-dressed Maya Escobar. The panel included Kelly Link and Gavin Grant, who co-edited a steampunk anthology, artist/creator Allison DeBlasio, and young adult author Holly Black. I have heard many wonderful things about Black and she was just lovely in person (as were all the panelists). In an effort to define the genre, Holly Black said "Steampunk is what happens when goths discover brown." Clever!
The next session I attended was YA Fiction: On the Edge. Amy Pattee from Simmons, who I've enjoyed as a presenter at NELA, was moderator. Ellen Levine wrote a novel called In Trouble, set in the 1950s, which was rejected by many publishers because one of the characters has an abortion. Daniel Nayeri recently wrote a collection of novellas on his iphone, and was a great speaker with a fascinating background. Danica Novgorodoff shared excerpts from her graphic novel Refresh, Refresh, a coming-of-age story about teenage boys in Bend, Oregon whose fathers are fighting in Iraq. This was a very well-balanced panel of authors who did very different work that is edge in different ways.
After standing in line for over a half hour for what was, thankfully, a fantastic sandwich from Roxy's Grilled Cheese truck, I was late arriving at Fiction: Truth and Consequences and had to sit in the overflow room. Unfortunately the screen was set up in such a way that only the first few rows could actually see the panelists. It was again a great group. Ha Jin spoke about his new book Nanjing Requiem. Jennifer Haigh, author of The Condition (link is to my review), spoke about her newest novel, Faith. Last but not least, Vanessa Diffenbaugh,whose first novel The Language of Flowers is getting lots of buzz, spoke about being a foster parent and about the Victorian flower-based code, both of which are fascinating subjects and really made me want to read her novel.
It was so fantastic to go to an event that was all about books, and just swarming with people who love books enough to spend their Saturday listening to people talk about them. It was inspiring and now I have even more books on my list waiting to be devoured. So now you'll have to excuse me, I'm going to go read!
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