Concord Festival of Authors

BY LARA WILSON

Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations. - Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Concord’s literary legacy and natural beauty have inspired countless writers and readers to explore the art of storytelling. The 31st annual Concord Festival of Authors (CFA) celebrates the written and spoken word this fall with dozens of literary events throughout town on October 20 – 30. Managed by the Friends of the Concord Free Public Library, this year’s CFA also honors the library’s 150th anniversary as a community home for readers of all ages.

The CFA was created and run for 25 years by former bookseller and Concordian Rob Mitchell, who brought literary luminaries to town such as Noam Chomsky, Alice Hoffman, Gish Jen, Jamaica Kincaid, Dennis Lehane, and Barack Obama, among hundreds of others. Upon retiring, Rob ushered in new collaborative festival leadership for the CFA’s Bridge Year: Dawn Rennert, owner of the Concord Bookshop; Kerry Cronin, former library director; and Lara Wilson, founder of Concord’s mindful wellness non-profit, Be Well Be Here. The Bridge Year featured 40 literary events hosted by multiple Concord organizations, a challenging program to orchestrate with a team of volunteers. The following year, Rob officially handed the CFA management to the Friends of the CFPL, and Lara Wilson was appointed curator. Ultimately, the Friends and the CFA planning team decided that the end of October was ideal for a robust, inclusive literary festival in Concord.

During the pandemic, the CFA shifted from in-person events to an online model. Although this involved a steep learning curve for the organizers, the festival attracted global interest, featuring Keynote Speaker Jennifer Haigh and Miller Award recipient, Jill Lepore, to name a few. Larger virtual and in-person audiences gathered in 2021 for CFA Keynote Speaker Dr. Clint Smith, Miller Award winner Heather Cox Richardson, Thoreau Prize winner Robin Wall Kimmerer, and actor Chris Cooper in conversation with Orchard House Director Jan Turnquist. Over the next two years, hybrid livestreaming models accompanied experiential programs and outdoor events, such as writing workshops, Concord literary tours, and living history presentations.

The 2023 CFA kicks off with Keynote Speaker Jennifer De Leon, who will discuss The Power of Storytelling on Friday, October 20 at the Concord Free Public Library. In celebration of the library’s 150th anniversary, the CFPL Corporation presents award-winning author and Boston College professor Elizabeth Graver, on October 27 in the Goodwin Forum. The popular CFA Breakfast with the Authors returns to the Colonial Inn this year on Saturday, Oct 28, featuring longtime moderator and Concord resident Dr. Suzanne Koven with esteemed authors Julie Carrick Dalton (The Last Beekeeper), Marie Myung-Ok Lee (Hurt You) and Sandeep Jauhar (My Father’s Brain: Understanding Life in the Shadow of Alzheimer’s). Tickets will be available at the Barrow Bookstore and Concord Bookshop.

The CFPL will also feature the Friends of the CFPL’s Ruth Ratner Miller Memorial Award for Excellence in American History, the Leslie Riedel Memorial Lecture for Young People, The Stories of Us LIVE Storytelling, a Poetry Panel, and the CFA closing event, Mystery Night. Other organizations offering programs at the CFA 2023 include Barefoot Books, Barrow Bookstore, Concord Museum, Orchard House, The Robbins House, Thoreau Society, Transcendentalism Council of First Parish, and The Umbrella Arts Center.

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Lara Wilson, curator of the Concord Festival of Authors and founder of Be Well Be Here, devotes her life to exploring the intersection of personal narrative and mindful wellBEing. Her short stories have been published in The Kenyon Review, StoryQuarterly, American Fiction, and Confrontation, among others. She received a 2010 Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship in Fiction, and scholarships from the Sewanee and BreadLoaf Writers’ Conferences.