Boston Book Festival Archive

434 Huntington Avenue, Boston MA

Description

It’s no exaggeration to say that the twelfth annual Boston Book Festival was unlike any other in our organization’s history. Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, BBF 2020 was anything but business as usual. Like most other presenters of live events, the BBF adapted to the new environment, developing a rich schedule of programs in a variety of virtual formats, and expanding the book festival schedule over almost a full month, from October 4–25. Thanks to the magic of the internet, BBF 2020 was able to bring together authors, illustrators, and attendees from all over the world, engaging in timely dialogues about the topics and issues most on people's minds this year. Headlining presenters included former poet laureate Natasha Trethewey, journalists Nick Kristof and Cheryl WuDunn, novelist and playwright Ayad Akhtar, former presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, Harvard professor Michael Sandel, architect Michael Murphy, and radio and podcast host Guy Raz. Although we all learned a great deal this year and enjoyed the opportunity to present an extraordinarily diverse lineup and to reach a broader geographical range of attendees than ever before, we look forward to returning to in-person programming (perhaps with some ongoing virtual components) just as soon as it’s safe to do so. We would like to thank our attendees, presenters, staff, and volunteers for their willingness to learn new ways of doing things and to work with us on a festival like no other! For archives of these presenters please head to our website.