Boston launched its first annual Book Festival in Copley Square last Saturday, celebrating the city’s rich literary culture and history.
That literary history includes intellectual giants like Nathaniel Hawthorne, Phyllis Wheatley, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, as well as important innovations like the first American printing press, the first public library, the first newspaper and most recently, the invention of electronic paper.
Despite its impressive literary history, Boston had been the only major American city without a major book festival. For years, New York, Chicago, Washington D.C., San Francisco and Philadelphia have boasted extravagant festivals. But last weekend changed all of that.
The Festival featured prominent authors like Turkish Nobel Prize laureate Orhan Pamuk, the keynote speaker of the Festival, children’s author and illustrator Chris Van Allsburg, documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, local poet Robert Pinsky, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Richard Russo and public intellectual Cornel West. In addition to lectures, the Festival offered writing workshops, musical performances, children’s activities and opportunities for Boston residents to present their work.
Hundreds of Bostonians crowded the Boston Public Library, Trinity Church and the Old South Church to participate in these events, filling lecture halls and overflow rooms to capacity. Hannah Grove, Head of Marketing at the State Street Corporation, the sponsor of the Festival, praised the event as “fabulous” and expressed her hope that it would continue in the coming years.
But outside these elegant buildings was a street fair sprawled over Copley Square, lines of small white tents braving the rain and wind, which showcased the extraordinary efforts of Bostonians supporting literacy and literary culture.
Of particular note was the outreach to young readers. One of the groups was 826 Boston, a chapter of writer David Eggers’ non-profit organization that develops writing skills in Boston Public School students.
Inside the organization’s tent were lines of typewriters for children to use, an effort to teach them about writing before the Digital Age.
Executive Director Daniel Johnson said that 826 Boston introduced about 100 children to typewriters that afternoon. He expressed his hope that the organization will stoke an interest in books and reading for children growing up in a computer- and television-obsessed culture.
For the last two years, 826 Boston has offered writing courses and after-school tutoring at their Roxbury center. The group also works with teachers in BPS schools and hosts field trips. 826 Boston also publishes student work each year. Their most recent publication was entitled “2% of 2% of All the World’s Stories” and features short stories written by students ages 7-13.
Another local non-profit group focused on children was One Laptop Per Child. Their booth sat adjacent to 826 Boston, but they approach literacy and creative work in a completely different manner.
Founded by MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte, One Laptop Per Child is based in Boston, but serves the needs of children in developing countries by providing them with XO laptops. These laptops are small, durable, energy-efficient and have screens that are readable under direct sunlight — designed specifically for children who attend school outdoors. One Laptop Per Child has provided this technology to thousands of children worldwide, from South America to East Asia.
As their thinking goes, the technology will give underprivileged children access to creative tools that will allow them to connect and collaborate with others across the world. This technology, Director of Content Sam Klein said, will expand their horizons and raise their creativity to its full potential.
Also featured in the street fair were local literary journals like “Post Road Magazine.” This magazine targets emerging writers, and bi-annually publishes high-quality poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. Post Road began ten years ago with a few writers who independently published the magazine. Today it is an award-winning magazine published through Boston College Press.
Ricco Siasoco, Managing Editor of Post Road, emphasized the importance of continuing the printed word in this age of computers and the Internet. Although print is a “dying business” — most literary journals are moving to online publications — Siasoco said it is important to sustain this tradition. Because of the Internet, most people only read sound bites, he explained, making the printed word all the more important.
