The Boston Book Festival (BBF) has revealed its lineup of presenters for its youth programming this October. Each year, the festival aims to attract literary lovers of all ages and provide a diverse offering of activities for individuals and families alike. This fall, the festival will offer multiple sessions for kids and teens that explore numerous literary genres and themes as well as provide more than 10 children’s workshops to hone writing, reading and creative art skills across the two-day festival.
“The Boston Book Festival has always incorporated activities to spark the interest and curiosity of young readers,” said executive director Norah Piehl. “We want to show how the creative and literary arts have so much to offer today’s youth as a medium for enjoyment and education. In today’s technological world, kids need to be pushed more than ever to see the value a book can offer them outside of an academic context and what we have planned will show how fun literature can be.”
BBF will provide activities for attendees of all ages.
The youngest attendees will enjoy picture book readings by award-winning authors and illustrators, appearances by beloved costume characters and a Where’s Waldo? scavenger hunt. They can also participate in a scavenger hunt called, “Passport to Immigration” in Copley Square.
Middle-grade and teen readers can take part in author panels and sessions on fantasy, historical fiction and love stories, as well as youth-focused keynote presentations with authors Erin Entrada Kelly, Marie Lu and Akwaeke Emezi.
Adults will also be able to attend two children’s literature–based sessions.
This year, youth programming provides active learning opportunities for various types of creative and visual arts. Hands-on workshops will include:
- Cartooning
- Writing
- Urban farming and urban planning
- Engineering
- Black identity
- Art
- Puppetry
- Filmmaking
- Wearable art
The 2019 edition of the BBF will feature more than 300 presenters covering a diversity of topics spanning today’s most pressing issues including politics, ethics, technology, social media, big data, climate change, sustainability, agriculture, race, gentrification, aging, relationships, sex and romance. The Festival will kick off on Friday, October 18 with a discussion with Samantha Power on her memoir, The Education of an Idealist. The BBF will continue on Saturday, October 19 in Copley Square in Boston and on Sunday, October 20 in Dudley Square in Roxbury. Saturday’s events also include a street fair with live music, food trucks and 75+ exhibitors.
BBF sponsors include Presenting Partner 90.9 WBUR, Plymouth Rock Assurance, Simmons University, National Endowment for the Arts, Cabot Family Foundation, Wagner Foundation, Other Press, Verizon Fios, BookBub, Christian Science Monitor, Emerson College, Massachusetts Center for the Book, MIT Press, Mystery Writers of America–New England, PEN America, Fuller Foundation, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Boston Cultural Council, Staypineapple Hotels, Greenough Brand Storytellers, McPherson & Company, Candlewick Press, and the Boston Public Library. Media sponsors include ArtsBoston, the Boston Globe, Creative Nonfiction, AMP 103.3 and Mix 104.1.
More information about the Boston Book Festival can be found here.
About Boston Book Festival
The Boston Book Festival celebrates the power of words to stimulate, educate, agitate, unite, delight, and inspire by holding year-round events culminating in an annual, free festival that promotes a culture of reading and ideas and enhances the vibrancy of the City of Boston. The 2019 festival takes place October 19 throughout Boston’s Copley Square and October 20 at venues in Dudley Square, Roxbury. http://www.bostonbookfest.org/
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