Deval Patrick. Ha Jin. Piggie and Elephant. The third annual Boston Book Festival was an eclectic gathering of the minds. Taking over Copley Square, literature fans were treated to free panels, workshops, and book shopping throughout the day on Saturday, October 15. The event was sponsored by WBUR 90.9 FM and several other corporations including Google books and Verizon.
At the panel “Fiction: Time Is …” Jennifer Egan described how her best-selling novel A Visit from the Goon Squad came to fruition. Egan told listeners that she has been a victim of theft so many times that it was “embarrassing.” Following a particularly terrible theft, in which the thief actually phoned Egan and passed herself off as an identity theft specialist for Citibank, Egan wrote what would become the first chapter of Goon Squad.
Ghost World scribe Daniel Clowes and fellow comic book writer Seth signed at the Drawn and Quarterly tent. They also partook in “Graphic Novels: Drawing the Story.”
For little ones, inside the Boston Public Library there was “StoryPlace,” where children could meet book characters and participate in arts and crafts.
At the “Far Out Fiction” panel, Chuck Klosterman read from his new novel The Visible Man. Local scribe Gregory Maguire shared a bit from the forthcoming Out of Oz, and apologized for getting festival attendees “all lathered up with nowhere to go.” His fourth and final book in the Wicked series won't be released until November 1.
Canadian comic book artist Kate Beaton presented panels from her recently released collection Hark! A Vagrant. Karen Russell explained how her Florida roots influenced her novel, Swamplandia, a quirky tale about a family of alligator wrestlers.
Exhibitors included Better World Books, which partnered with the Prison Book Programt o encourage folks to donate books at the Great American Book Drive on Saturday, November 5 at the Nonprofit Center on 89 South Street in Boston.
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