For those who hanker for Hemingway, salivate for Salinger and cry for Woolf, Saturday’s Boston Book Festival offered a novel chance to meet the likeminded.
About 24,000 people attended the festival, including such well-known authors as Joyce Carol Oates and Dennis Lehane, to celebrate the glory of unassigned reading in a city filled with English departments.
Attendance for the festival doubled from last year’s Boston Book Festival, which was its inaugural year.
To accommodate the large crowd this year, programs were held in six locations around Copley Square including the Old South Church, Trinity Church and the Boston Public Library, as well as outside booths in Copley Square.
This overwhelming interest speaks to Boston’s reputation as city of literature, attendees said.
“[The high turnout] shows it is still a literary community. [Literature] still has a large presence in Boston,” said Emerson College graduate student and festival volunteer Jean Mattes.
In a number of presentations at the festival, authors addressed Boston’s aspiring writers.
It is important for young writers to “read a lot, to read anything…talk to people and let other people talk,” said Oates, a nationally acclaimed award winning author and the festival’s keynote speaker.
Lehane, The New York Times bestselling author of books such as “Mystic River,” “Gone Baby Gone” and “Shutter Island,” said that it is important for young people to determine whether or not they are truly passionate about the craft.
“Unless you’re ready to commit 10,000 hours, there are other ways to make money,” he said.
He also argued that the desire to write isn’t something that can be taught.
“You have to be someone who really wants it badly… I was that kid,” Lehane said.
Along with listening to the authors’ advice, attendees were able to work on advancing their skills by participating in various writing workshops. The sessions covered everything from tackling writer’s block to a basic understanding of comic-strip writing.
At one booth, aspiring authors could begin drafting their own ideas using newly learned techniques.
Actors performed these attendees’ compositions for an audience and panel of judges at an event called Writer Idol.
Aside from the writing booth, many outdoor stands featured new and used books ready for purchase.
Although Saturday’s event focused heavily on adult literature, it also included readings and crafts for kids, along with a discussion of what scholars consider well-crafted young adult fiction.
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