The Boston Book Festival celebrated literature with a vibrant array of authors, bookstores and literary organizations Oct. 25 in Copley Square. Authors promoted their incredible novels and organizations presented opportunities to get involved.
The festival highlighted the literary community that is present and thriving in the Boston area. Jessica Kent, founder of Literary Boston, encouraged readers and writers alike to engage in events.
“If you stick around and just haunt things, you meet people. You start building relationships,” said Kent. “For October we had over 300 literary events. The calendar’s a little overwhelming but that’s the point, to show you what’s going on.”
Deborah Norkin, president of the Boston chapter of the Women’s National Book Association, talked about how accessible the events are.
“If you’re looking for an event, or something to do, on pretty much any night of the week, it’s shocking how many literary events there are. And they’re pretty much all free,” said Norkin.
The festival featured an extensive array of authors from every genre. Festivalgoers were given the chance to ask authors questions, learn about their work and get books signed. The authors inspired readers to check out books they otherwise wouldn’t have. Here were some of the best recommendations given to The Suffolk Journal:
“Walking On Fire” by Kathryn Crawley
“Walking on Fire” by Kathryn Crawley is a political fiction romance about an American who travels to Greece in 1974 after the fall of the Greek dictatorship.
Crawley discussed the main character and her books message.
“She finds herself in a lot of anti-Americanism but learns about her country, about the CIA’s involvement in the dictatorship, falls in love with a handsome Greek communist, and gets into some political intrigue and has to use her own agency to get out of that intrigue and then decide whether to come back to her country that she sees with different eyes today,” said Crawley.
Crawley recommends her novel to anyone interested in political fiction and global women’s fiction.
“Again and Again Back To You” by Andrea Ezerins
Andrea Ezerins is the author of “Again and Again Back To You,” a coming-of-age magical realism romance. It is a labor of love that took her decades to write.
Ezerins discussed her novel’s meaning.
“It’s a story of lost love and found love. Marta and Kevin only find their way back to each other through a mystical chandler who shows them what their life would’ve been like if they had reconnected in their 20s,” said Ezerins.
Ezerins also talked about the inspiration behind the story.
“The ending of my story, which is the most important part of my book, came to me in a kind of a dream. I wrote it all down, I didn’t plan to be an author. It took me twenty years to do the beginning and the middle to do justice to the end,” said Ezerins.
Lost Souls of Leningrad and The Communist’s Secret by Suzanne Parry
Suzanne Parry has two novels that take place in 20th century Soviet Russia. As both a former student in Moscow and a former negotiator in the United States’ Department of Defense, she draws inspiration from her experiences.
“Lost Souls of Leningrad is set during an event called the siege of Leningrad, when Nazi Germany blockaded the city and starved a million civilians to death. [A] vVery gruesome topic however I will tell you it’s an uplifting story. It’s a wartime story where compassion is the hero of it,” said Parry.
Parry discussed “The Communist’s Secret,” a darker twist on the same time period.
“The Communist’s Secret is about a single woman who is trapped under Nazi occupation during the war. She is not a good person when the war starts. She’s very selfish, she actually betrays her family, and then the war starts and she decides to go join some volunteers and she gets sent out of the city. The interesting thing is the evolution of her character, and what she comes to understand,” said Parry.
Upcoming Literary Event
To those who missed this book festival, another way they can get involved and begin networking in the Boston literary community is through the Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair. Running Nov. 7-9 at the Hynes Convention Center, admission is free Nov. 8 and 9 and tickets are $25 for the opening night Nov. 7.
Carol Thisso, a representative of the fair, talked about what the Antiquarian Book Fair has to offer.
“There’s 104 dealers from all over the world. There’s all different types of genres. In addition to antique books there’s also rare books, first editions, modern day books that have been signed by authors,” said Thisso.
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