The Boston Book Festival, held yesterday (10/16/2010) in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, was another mind-expanding day of ideas and high spirits. Though it was breezy and chilly, the weather was vastly better than last year's odd tropical stormy mix.
This year I volunteered. I helped usher and did book-signings in Trinity Church, with a little side-duty in the big tent of Google, a sponsor of the festival. While I worked all day and couldn't go off on my own to sessions I might have picked, it was a great experience to hear many panels in one location. It's a good thing to learn about topics you normally wouldn't seek out. All but one event in the downstairs "Trinity Forum" room was full to capacity of 200 people. By the end of the day I was completely jazzed by the new ideas, the amazing authors and their books, as well as the enthusiasm of readers, presenters, organizers, and volunteers.
The last event I attended was the keynote speech by author Joyce Carol Oates. She read one of her latest short stories to a full audience in the massive Trinity Church Sanctuary. By the time they got to the Q&A, I started to fade, and headed home on the subway with a hot tea in my hand, an exhausted smile on my face.
How lucky we are in Boston to have the people who think up and make this incredible event a reality. And it's FREE.
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