Staging the Boston Book Festival: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Boston’s Biggest Literary Event

By Jessica A. Kent
October 11, 2019

 If you’re anything like me, you mark your calendar for the Boston Book Festival as soon as the date is released, or even just keep your Octobers clear in anticipation. The biggest literary event in the area, the Boston Book Festival takes over Copley Square and a number of surrounding venues each year to provide a full day of literary programming: Readings, panels, discussions, talks, literary games, and workshops. There’s a street fair with organizations, MFA programs, lit magazines, and more. There are costumed characters and a number of events for kids. There are local bookstores selling presenter books. There are musicians and performances at a special stage outside. There are food trucks. There are walking tours of literary Boston. And there are thousands of people who descend upon Copley Square, the Boston Public Library, Trinity Church, Old South Church, and many more historic and contemporary venues in the heart of Boston to celebrate books, reading, and writing.

2019 marks the eleventh iteration of the Festival, and for the first time, it’s expanding from one day to two, with Sunday events in Roxbury. Attendance is anticipated to be 30,000, and the two days will feature 32 venues, 144 different events, and 350+ presenters.

And if you’re anything like me, you wonder how an event of such magnitude could possibly get planned, organized, and staged. Who’s behind it? What goes into it? I decided to find out, and reached out to Executive Director Norah Piehl. We met on a rainy Wednesday afternoon in Central Square, just around the corner from the Boston Book Festival offices, and talked logistics over coffee.

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