Boston Book Festival

Emma Shacochis // Blog Assistant

Last year, the annual Boston Book Festival took place over the course of a single October weekend. Attendants could wander through the activity tents and vendor stalls that bordered Copley Square, then head inside the Boston Public Library to watch panels or buy the books of the authors and illustrators being showcased. So long as you were a book lover, there was guaranteed to be something to catch your interest, considering the jam-packed schedule and variety of programs available. I visited on only one of the three days that the festival ran but quickly found the festival to be impressively holistic. Of course, there were esteemed authors and illustrators present, but this was a celebration that had food trucks lining up Dartmouth Street and tents brimming with giveaway from local universities, after-school programs, and theater companies. It was one of those rare events that managed to capture the joyful wow-do-I-love-books spirit so often found only at elementary schools’ Scholastic Book Festivals.

For all of the Boston Book Festival’s incredible features, however, there was one obvious element that, while it spelled success in the past, meant trouble this year: it was well-attended. The huge crowds that gathered to hear authors speak and visit numerous businesses whose tents were side-by-side all along Boylston would have been both irresponsible and hard to manage in this year (which has been hard to manage in itself). In June, the festival made official its decision to bring the festival online for the majority of the month of October. Now, at the end of its third week and preparing for the fourth and final, the Boston Book Festival can count itself among the activities that, while undoubtedly more fun when you can attend in person, are still easy and engaging when attended on your laptop.

There are still a few events that, until the festival’s conclusion on October 25th, can be attended in person (all of which are hosted solely outside). Aimed at all ages, they include the At Home Boston Community Writing Project (where stories from real Bostonians have been collected as an outdoor exhibit) and the Story Walk, both of which are being held at Downtown Crossing. 

For the most part, though, the festival’s two best-known features—its marketplace and author/illustrator panels—have been relocated to the BBF’s website and Crowdcast. While the virtual marketplace isn’t as engaging of a browse as its in-person counterpart, it remains an effective way of discovering new and unique businesses, many in the literary realm, in the Boston area and beyond. Plus, there’s no need for picking up business cards to remember to research the exhibitioners that interest you: the links to their websites are all in one place.

Even the author discussions remain effective, even if they’re no longer held in the various sections of the BPL. For instance, the “Speak Your Truth” panel, featuring three authors discussing how they put their own experiences into diverse young adult fiction, likely would have been hosted in the Young Adult section of the library; now, just like panels of contemporary adult fiction, biographies, and children’s literature, it’s attended on Crowdcast. Here, viewers can still ask questions in a live chat, and authors can still answer—all without having to use a microphone that’s passed from person to person. The authors get to share insights on their writing and display home bookshelves, while its mute feature (much like Zoom) allows for clarity in their responses. Through the event pages, attendees not only have resources for buying the books being discussed but can also easily donate to the festival. And you won’t have to worry about choosing between conflicting events or having a class during one of the panels—they’ll be uploaded, just like the talks from years past, to the festival’s On Demand page within days.

In this last week of the festival, there are plenty more events that’ll be streaming, including an Illustrator Draw-Off on Tuesday afternoon and a keynote on architecture to close Friday evening. But the festival is already looking toward the future. Right before any of their streams begin, the BBF opens with a trailer showing the bustling library and market square from previous years. They sign off by showing the date “October 16-17, 2021.” While no one can be sure that we will, in fact, be able to attend in person again next October, the festival’s optimism—combined with their creativity for this month’s festivities—is uplifting to say the least.