Authors Behind the Page: The Boston Book Festival

Felicia Gullotta // Blog Writer

It’s a crisp autumn morning on October 15; the sun is hanging lazily in the sky, as reluctant to move as the many Bostonians still nestled in their beds. But as the sun continues its way up it signals the start of the 2016 Boston Book Festival. BFF for short, the Boston Book Festival is a free one-day event that briefly fills the streets of Boston and public venues (like the Boston Public Library) with authors, publishers, writers, and more, all of which “promotes a culture of reading and ideas and enhances the vibrancy of our city.” With activities and readings for children, as well as tons of panels for adults, the BBF has something for everyone.

This time around, I was lucky enough to volunteer at the festival—not easy for a busy college student. The experience was well worth the five-hour shift. Don’t worry, it included a delicious, free lunch.

Volunteering for the BBF starts off rather relaxed. You come to a single training session and meet some of the leading forces behind the organization. Maybe it’s because reading and volunteering attracts a certain kind of person, but the training room that day exuded a palpable energy and excitement. There’s a certain spark that’s ignited when you’re surrounded by people who are interested in the same things you are and want to do whatever they can to share that interest with others. The coordinators at the BFF do an uncannily good job at finding those people to volunteer.

After that one training session, there’s little to do before the big day besides pump yourself up. All volunteers are assigned a specific job. Mine was helping out in the Book Tent. I, along with two other BBF volunteers, Peg and Kat, would be spending our shift helping out Brookline Booksmith with their author signings. And their lineup that day included some big names, like architect critic Paul Goldberger and 2016 One City One Story author Kelly Link.

The day began with Paul Goldberger. Though I was unfamiliar with the man who sat quietly behind the table, pulling a pen out from inside his jacket, a long line quickly formed of people who were not only familiar with Goldberger’s work, but greatly admired it. There was even one gentleman who brought along an entire suitcase full of Goldberger’s work, and Goldberger signed every single copy . . . after he had signed everyone else’s single copies.

That first signing took about an hour and I spent that time with my fellow volunteers trying to keep order in the small space: making sure everyone who wanted their book inscribed had their names legibly spelt out on Post-It notes, that the hard covers were tabbed to the correct page so Goldberger could quickly and easily sign his name, and that no one cut the line. After that hour was up, I was left feeling energized and slightly out of place in an eerie calm that took over the now empty tent.

The next signing proved to be very exciting for me. It featured Mick Ebeling and John Jacobs. You read that second name correctly, John Jacobs. If you are somehow unfamiliar with that name, you certainly aren’t unfamiliar with the company that he cofounded with his brother Bert, Life is Good. I had seen countless interviews with John and Bert Jacobs in my marketing classes at school. My freshman year, a representative from the company even came to my class to give a talk. And here, right before me, was this tall guy complete with the most genuinely sweet smile introducing himself as John Jacobs, here to sign some books. Whether it was due to professionalism or fright, I didn’t completely break down in front of Jacobs in a fangirling episode. Instead, I was able to keep an outward appearance of calm and help Peg and Kat with managing the lines. The same routine as with Goldberger, but with the addition of making sure people went from one line to the other and didn’t cut anyone off at the front. But people are genuinely really good about following the rules. It helps that the BBF is very relaxed and intimate. There’s no panicked rush or fear of missing out. They’ve done a really effective job of building a community where everyone feels included.

Again, one hour later the signing was over. Time to set up and wait for the last signing of the day. It was going to prove to be the most challenging one yet. Not because of any drama or deva-authors or even a rambunctious crowd. The last one proved challenging because of how many authors were going to be signing books at once. Five authors: Elizabeth Hinton, Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Shaka Senghor, Mychal Denzel Smith, and Kelly Link.

Link was coming from a talk as the chosen author of 2016 One City One Story. A line was well formed and out of the tent by the time she showed up. The others (Elizabeth Hinton, Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Shaka Senghor, and Mychal Denzel Smith) had just finished up speaking at a panel titled “Injustice, Incarceration, Invisibility.” Peg, Kat, and I were running around the tent making sure everyone was in the line for the correct author, a difficult feat when there were no physical boundaries to keep the lines separated from one another. Luckily, all the authors were incredibly nice and patient, even though many of the lines went out the tent. The excited fans were understanding and often really grateful to be pointed in the right direction.

Overall, volunteering at the BBF was an unforgettable experience. You get to work with people who are kind and just as excited as you are to be there. You also form a certain kind of comradery when you work through a cold, autumn day together. Not to mention the behind-the-scenes chance to speak with the authors at the festival. It doesn’t have to go beyond small talk, but it’s always interesting to realize that authors (celebrities in their own right) are still people. It seems pretty common sense, but it can be easy to forget that the name on the cover of your book belongs to a person. Events like the BBF serve as a reminder that books can offer so much more than a physical object. They offer a community.

For more information about how you can be a volunteer, visit the BBF website at https://bostonbookfest.org/