literature and publishing founded 2009 founder deborah z. porter headquarters cambridge massachusetts united states of america area served greater boston area website bostonbookfest.org the boston book festival is an independent nonprofit group based in cambridge massachusetts and the name of its main event . the nonprofit was founded in 2009 by deborah z porter and aims to celebrate the power of words to stimulate 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 our city . the annual book festival combines a street festival with an array of authors and other literary presenters from around the world . daytime events at the bbf are free . in 2014 32 000 people attended . throughout the year bbf hosts several literary events several of which fall under their annual lounge lit series of literary outings such as readings cookbook author demos and an annual literary pub trivia night . since 2011 bbf has also hosted evening kick off activities leading up to the saturday festival . contents 1 annual festival 1.1 2009 1.2 2010 1.3 2011 1.4 2012 1.5 2013 1.6 2014 2 one city one story 3 authors 3.1 2014 3.2 2013 3.3 2012 3.4 2011 3.5 2010 3.6 2009 4 references 5 external links annual festival edit the festival is held each october in boston s back bay . speaker presentations have taken place in the boston public library church of the covenant old south church trinity church and back bay events center among other locations in and around copley square . 1 the street festival is hosted on copley square and usually includes a live music stage dozens of exhibitors and vendors and many free participatory activities for attendees and their families . this includes programming and activities for children 2 writing workshops and contests and open mic opportunities . 2009 edit the inaugural festival on october 24 2009 included more than seventy five authors including ken burns anita diamant andre dubus iii tom perrotta alicia silverstone and john hodgman . nobel laureate orhan pamuk delivered the keynote address in the sanctuary of old south church to over 1000 festival goers . popular sessions were ties that bind featuring elinor lipman richard russo and michael thomas power of place featuring anita diamant elizabeth nunez carolina de robertis and anita shreve and the obama year featuring jack beatty david gergan lani guinier and michael e. porter . 3 2010 edit in 2010 the festival held on october 16 included 130 authors and over forty sessions with presenters including bill bryson food network star tyler florence boston novelist dennis lehane nobel prize winners joseph stiglitz and amartya sen and surgeon and journalist atul gawande . featured sessions included bugs in the system featuring dan ariely and mark moffett pop culture featuring lisa birnbach chip kidd and david rakoff talking about justice featuring dambisa moyo michael sandel and amartya sen and from page to screen featuring a. m. homes dennis lehane and tom perrotta . 4 the kids keynote speaker was diary of a wimpy kid creator jeff kinney . joyce carol oates closed the festival with a standing room only keynote address in the trinity church sanctuary . attendance at bbf 2010 was 24 000 doubling the size of the crowd from the first year . this year s festival also celebrated the start of a new literary outreach program one city one story . this initiative encouraged the greater boston community to read and discuss a piece of literary fiction by making it readily available . 2011 edit the 2011 festival took place on october 15 and was similar in size to the 2010 festival . large crowds filed in to hear talks such as far out fiction 5 featuring gregory maguire karen russell chuck klosterman and kate beaton a reason to lead featuring governor deval patrick graphic novels featuring daniel clowes seth and alison bechdel and frontiers of science featuring stephen greenblatt lisa randall siddhartha mukherjee . mo willems was the kids keynote speaker and michael ondaatje delivered the festival closing keynote both presenting to several hundred attendees at the back bay events center s john hancock hall . the festival kicked off on friday october 14 with a special session called the art of the wire featuring a discussion with actors and writers of the acclaimed hbo television series . 2012 edit in 2012 the festival was on october 27 6 and it boasted an array of speakers including junot diaz chip kidd and hanna rosin . lemony snicket was the kids keynote speaker 7 and the ticketed evening keynote featured richard ford interviewed by claire messud . popular sessions were the brain thinking about thinking featuring eric kandel and ray kurzweil serious satire featuring lizz winstead kevin bleyer and baratunde thurston fiction time and place 8 featuring dennis lehane tayari jones and alex gilvarry and ya the future is now featuring m. t. anderson rachel cohn cory doctorow and gabrielle zevin . the 2012 kickoff event was called page to screen which featured authors whose works had been adapted for film and television including buzz bissinger rachel cohn andre dubus iii nick flynn and daniel handler . in 2012 the festival launched a new program called bbf unbound in which community members were invited to submit proposals for sessions . in 2012 two proposals were accepted and subsequently developed and presented at the bbf writing the war and books behind bars . 2013 edit the fifth annual festival was held october 17 19 . the festival kicked off on october 17 with an evening session entitled writing terror an exploration of fear which featured wes craven mary louise kelly jessica stern and valerie plame wilson in a discussion moderated by joe klein . 9 the first ever kids kickoff event on the afternoon of october 18 featured newbery medalists kate dicamillo jack gantos and rebecca stead . keynote speaker salman rushdie spoke to a sellout crowd at old south church on the evening of october 18 . other notable presenters included paul harding ty burr chuck klosterman clifford ross and kids keynote speaker tomie depaola . 10 synthetic biology designing life featuring emily anthes juan enriquez and craig venter ; dirty crazy endless love featuring nicholson baker andre dubus iii and jamie quatro ; the rise and fall of nations featuring noah feldman and james robinson ; and our boston featuring mike barnicle madeleine blais leigh montville and lesley visser were some of the largest presentations . 2014 edit the 2014 festival took place on october 23 25 . herbie hancock the memoir keynote speaker started off the festival thursday evening as he discussed his life and musical times with berklee college of music president roger brown . the following night fiction keynote speaker susan minot joined nigerian american journalist dayo olopade in a conversation about minot s latest novel thirty girls . saturday s festivities began with kids keynote speaker rick riordan filling trinity church to capacity with fans young and old of his percy jackson & the olympians series . there were over 150 notable presenters at the 2014 festival with panels such as technology promise and peril featuring andrew mcafee david rose nicholas carr and moderator sacha pfeiffer mayor s rule featuring benjamin barber mayor martin walsh mayor thomas menino mayor dan rivera and mayor lisa wong with host bob oakes and post modern love featuring daniel jones margo howard jennifer finney boylan and moderator meredith goldstein ; all drawing large crowds . the third keynote speaker doris kearns goodwin provided her insights on presidential leadership from lincoln to obama in her history keynote while norman foster rounded out the festival with his art architecture and design keynote . one city one story edit one city one story also known as 1c1s is boston s annual citywide reading program started by the boston book festival in 2010 . the organization prints and distributes free of charge 30 000 copies of a short story . 11 the program is intended to lower barriers around reading literary fiction for enjoyment . it functions as a way for the greater boston area to come together around a shared reading experience . the program which usually kicks off in late summer also starts to build momentum for the boston book festival itself . the short story chosen the first year was tom perrotta s the smile on happy chang s face . in 2011 the story was the whore s child by richard russo . 12 the 2012 1c1s selection was the lobster mafia story by anna solomon . in 2013 it was karma by rishi reddi . 13 the 2014 selection was sublimation by jennifer haigh . 14 each year multiple translations are made available on the boston book festival website and printed copies in english and since 2012 in spanish are distributed to boston s libraries subway stations coffeehouses bookstores farmers markets and elsewhere . the program culminates each year with a session at the october boston book festival at which the story s author participates in a town hall style discussion with attendees who have read the work . authors edit 2014 edit there were five keynotes including the memoir keynote by herbie hancock fiction keynote by susan minot history keynote by doris kearns goodwin kids keynote by rick riordan and art architecture and design keynote by norman foster . featured presenters included greeta anand vikram chandra vikas swarup nicholas carr andrew mcafee david rose benjamin barber judith donath howard gardiner stanislas dehaene daniel dennett stacey d erasmo kate racculia wesley stace doug most belinda rathbone jenna russell bob ryan neil swidey holly black soman chainani cassandra clare gregory maguire scott anderson vicki croke carl hoffman a.s. king scott westerfeld meg wolitzer william giraldi ben mezrich lauren oliver jennifer finney boylan margo howard daniel jones rebecca mead joanna rakoff max tegmark lily king joseph o neil and rupert thomson . for a full list of presenters visit http www.bostonbookfest.org attend presenters 2013 edit the keynote was salman rushdie with host homi bhabha . the kid s keynote was tomie depaola . featured presenters included emily anthes jason anthony nicholson baker mike barnicle madeleine blais ty burr vishaan chakrabarti kevin cullen alan dershowitz erin dionne andre dubus iii juan enriquez noah feldman thomas fleming margalit fox amity gaige leigh gallagher moses gates nancy gertner francesca gino charles graeber paul harding george harrar harold holzer miriam karmel jessica keener joshua kendall chuck klosterman barbara krauthamer ann leary wendy mass ayana mathis claire messud leigh montville abelardo morell gregory nagy michael norton mirta ojito richard olivier tom perrotta jamie quatro james robinson clifford ross nancy jo sales robert shea j. courtney sullivan anthony tjan anthony townsend craig venter lesley visser brenda wineapple . for a full list of presenters visit http www.bostonbookfest.org archives 2013 2012 edit the keynote was richard ford with host claire messud . the kid s keynote was lemony snicket . featured presenters included peter abrahams m. t. anderson gabrielle bell barbara berke buzz bissinger kevin bleyer charles burns nancy l. cohen rachel cohn robert darnton jacqueline davies junot diaz cory doctorow esther duflo jeffry frieden alex gilvarry edward glaeser paul grogan jennifer haigh anita hill philip howard tayari jones eric kandel randall kennedy chip kidd madeleine kunin ray kurzweil dennis lehane lawrence lessig alan lightman leslie maitland ben marcus andrew mcafee vahram muratyan nicholas negroponte edith pearlman tom perrotta michael e. porter ayanna pressley carmen m. reinhart hanna rosin michael sandel alexander mccall smith alexandra styron baratunde thurston lizz winstead alex witchel maryanne wolf and gabrielle zevin . for a full list of presenters visit http www.bostonbookfest.org archives 2012 2011 edit the keynote was michael ondaatje with host homi bhabha . the kids keynote was mo willems . featured presenters included jabari asim julia alvarez sarah bakewell sandra beasley kate beaton alison bechdel