Concord, Massachusetts
Two weeks of talks, readings, and discussions celebrating the written and the spoken word.
Nathaniel Philbrick
Gish Jen
Andrew Bacevich
Pauline Maier
How You Can Participate
- Attend: Most events are free. All events are open to the public. Events that require a ticket are so indicated and include information about how and where to obtain tickets.
- Donate: The festival is produced by a non-profit foundation and depends greatly on individual support. Tax deductible donations in any amount are encouraged and can be made online.
- Sponsor: Corporate sponsorship is welcomed and is available. For information please .
Events - 2009
Opening Day - Governor Howard Dean 
Former Vermont Governor, physician, and DNC Chairman Howard Dean brings his unique, no-nonsense perspective to the health care debate in a new book that explains both the obstacles to reform and what it will take to achieve real healthcare reform. In a riveting call to action Dean takes on those who are once again mobilizing against real reform with many of the same hollow arguments and rhetorical charges about a socialist agenda. As Dean points out in his book, they should check the facts. "America has had 'socialized' medicine since 1964. It's called Medicare."
WHO: Howard Dean
WHEN: Wednesday, October 21 at 2:30pm
WHERE: Emerson Umbrella
Concord Free Press Presents Gregory Maguire
The Concord Free Press is dedicated to a new and different kind of publishing. They don't sell books—they GIVE them away. All they ask is that readers of their free books make a donation to a charity or someone in need, and pass the book along. Gregory Maguire will read from and talk about the latest Concord Free Press book—his new novel The Next Queen of Heaven.
WHO: Gregory Maguire
WHEN: Thursday, October 22 at 7:00pm
WHERE: Concord Bookshop
Tracy Winn will read from and discuss Mrs. Somebody Somebody, her collection of short stories set in post-WWII Lowell.
WHO: Tracy Winn
WHEN: Friday, October 23 at 7:00pm
WHERE: Pollard Library
Chef Fest: A Food Tasting & Book Signing 
Verrill Farm presents a food tasting with Chef Peter Davis of Henriettas Table and Chef Steve Johnson of Renezvous in Central Square. Chefs Davis and Johnson will be joined by Clara Silverstein, author of The Boston Chef's Table, Catherine Walthers, author of Raising the Salad Bar, and Lisa Zwirn, author of Christmas Cookies.
WHO: Lisa Zwirn, Catherine Walthers, Clara Silverstein, Steve Johnson, Peter Davis
WHEN: Saturday, October 24 at 12-2:00pm
WHERE: Verrill Farm
The 2009 Ruth Ratner Miller Award (Tickets: Adults $15, Students FREE)
The annual Ruth Ratner Miller Award for Excellence in American History will be presented by the Friends of the Concord Free Public Library, posthumously, to David Herbert Donald, Harvard professor of American history and twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize for biography. Some of Professor Donald's former colleagues, including Bernard Bailyn, Nina Silber, and John Stauffer will speak. Tickets are available at the Concord Library, 129 Main Street, and the Concord Bookshop, 65 Main Street.
WHO: David Herbert Donald
WHEN: Saturday, October 24 at 7:30pm
WHERE: Concord Free Public Library
The Thoreau Farm Trust presents Wisdom Tales for a Small Planet
How can we learn to live sustainably, or within the means of nature? How can we talk with our children about these ideas? In a session designed for parent-child pairs (ages 5 and up), Linda Booth Sweeney will explore a variety of timeless folktales intended to enchant readers, young and old, while sharing ancient wisdom for living in harmony with our planet.
WHO: Linda Booth Sweeney
WHEN: Sunday, October 25 at 2:00pm
WHERE: Thoreau Farm
A Celebration of the International Year of Astronomy 2009
Marcia Bartusiak, author of The Day We Found the Universe, will talk about a watershed moment in our cosmic history, January 1, 1925, the day Edwin Hubble announced findings that ultimately established that our universe was a thousand trillion times larger than previously believed, filled with myriad galaxies like our own.
WHO: Marcia Bartusiak
WHEN: Sunday, October 25 at 7:30pm
WHERE: Concord Museum
Larry Tye, author of Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend, and Dick Lehr, author of The Fence: A Police Cover-up Along Boston's Racial Divide, will discuss their books. The program will be followed by a reception hosted by First Literacy, a Greater Boston non-profit with a mission to open access to life-changing educational opportunities for adults and their children.
WHEN: Monday, October 26 at 7:30pm
WHERE: Trinitarian Congregational Church
A History of Catholics in America 
The Concord MA Area Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) presents James M. O'Toole, Clough Millennium Chair in History at Boston College, who will discuss his latest book, The Faithful: A History of Catholics in America. It is an epic tale, from the first settlements of Catholics in the colonies to the turmoil of the scandal-ridden present, and through the church's many American incarnations in between.
WHO: James M. O’Toole
WHEN: Tuesday, October 27 at 7:00pm
WHERE: Holy Family Parish Hall
The Life, Career, and Films of Robert Altman
Mitchell Zuckoff, who was working with Robert Altman on his memoirs before he died, will talk about the Hollywood icon — visionary director; risk-taking producer; eccentric family man — and present a multimedia slideshow, including trailers from his movies. At the conclusion of Zuckoff's talk, there will be a screening of Altman's 1992 film "The Player."
WHO: Mitchell Zuckoff
WHEN: Wednesday, October 28 at 7:00pm
WHERE: Comley-Lane Theater, Mahoney Hall, UMass Lowell
Andrew B. Lewis presents a group portrait of a generation of civil rights activists — Diane Nash, Stokely Carmichael, Bob Moses, Bob Zellner, Julian Bond, Marion Barry, John Lewis, and their contemporaries — who challenged the way Americans think about civil rights, politics, and moral obligation in an unjust democracy.
WHO: Andrew B. Lewis
WHEN: Thursday, October 29 at 7:30pm
WHERE: Concord Museum
Mystery writers discuss and read from their latest novels.
WHO: Thomas H. Cook, Katherine Hall Page, Mary-Ann Tirone Smith, Jere Smith - Hallie Ephron, Moderator
WHEN: Friday, October 30 at 7:30pm
WHERE: Concord Free Public Library
Celebrate Halloween at a free family party. Crafts, games, refreshments, and a Halloween scavenger hunt through downtown Concord.
WHO:
WHEN: Saturday, October 31 at 2-4:00pm
WHERE: Concord Scout House
Three emerging fiction writers discuss and read from their work.
WHO: Xujun Eberlein, Katherine Howe, J. Courtney Sullivan - Jim Leahy, Moderator
WHEN: Sunday, November 01 at 3:00pm
WHERE: Fowler Library
Harriet Reisen will discuss Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women, a revelatory portrait of the prolific and popular author, who secretly harbored radical abolitionist views, and completed heroic service as a Civil War nurse.
WHO: Harriet Reisen
WHEN: Sunday, November 01 at 3:00pm
WHERE: Concord Bookshop
The Concord Poetry Center presents poets Fred Marchant and Joan Houlihan reading from their recently published collections. Dr. Marchant will read from The Looking House, published this spring by Graywolf Press. Joan Houlihan will read from The Us, published this September by Tupelo Press. The poets will discuss their work with the audience and refreshments and book signing follow. For information: http://www.concordpoetry.org
WHO: Fred Marchant, Joan Houlihan
WHEN: Sunday, November 01 at 3:30pm
WHERE: Emerson Umbrella
Aging and the Mind-Body Connection
If we could turn back the clock psychologically, could we also turn it back physically? Ellen J. Langer, author of Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility, will discuss how with subtle shifts in our thinking, in our language, and in our expectations, we can begin to change the ingrained behaviors that sap health, optimism, and vitality from our lives.
WHO: Ellen J. Langer
WHEN: Monday, November 02 at 7:30pm
WHERE: Emerson Hospital, North Assembly
Two days after Jill Hunting turned fifteen, she lost her only brother, a volunteer with International Voluntary Services and one of the first civilian casualties of the Vietnam War. Finding Pete: Rediscovering the Brother I Lost in Vietnam is a personalized account of a critical moment in U.S history. It is also a portrait of a family's struggle with loss, a mother's damaging grief, and, most of all, a sister's quest to solve a mystery and recover the connection with her brother.
WHO: Jill Hunting
WHEN: Tuesday, November 03 at 7:30pm
WHERE: Kerem Shalom
Have you ever wondered what writers do all day? How a book takes shape, from idea to finished manuscript? With a slide show and through lively stories, children's author Jacqueline Davies answers commonly asked questions about her writing life: how she began writing, where she finds her ideas, and — yes! — what do writers do all day?
WHO: Jacqueline Davies
WHEN: Wednesday, November 04 at 7:00pm
WHERE: Pollard Library
The Walden Woods Project and RESTORE: The North Woods present Thoreau’s The Maine Woods 
The Walden Woods Project and RESTORE: The North Woods present Jeffrey S. Cramer in a discussion of The Maine Woods, Thoreau's best-selling book after Walden. In three essays that follow separate excursions to Maine, Thoreau outlined a progression — from Massachusetts to Maine and from the man who left Concord to the man who returned — as he explored Mt. Katahdin, Lake Chesuncook, The Allagash River, and the East Branch of the Penobscot. Writing as both natural historian and social critic, and invoking the landscape of Maine, Thoreau returned to the questions of balance between nature and society that underscore all of his writings.
WHO: Jeffrey S. Cramer
WHEN: Thursday, November 05 at 7:30pm
WHERE: The Thoreau Institute at Walden Woods
Chemical Dangers and Human Health
John Wargo, professor of environmental policy at Yale, will discuss his new book Green Intelligence: Creating Environments That Protect Human Health. This event is co-hosted by the Lowell Parks and Conservation Trust (http://www.lowelllandtrust.org) and the Toxics Use Reduction Institute at UMass Lowell (http://www.turi.org).
WHO: John Wargo
WHEN: Friday, November 06 at 7:00pm
WHERE: Wannalancit Mills, UMass Lowell
Breakfast with the Authors 2009 (Tickets $20)
Three authors discuss and read from their latest work. Tickets $20, available at Concord Bookshop and Barrow Bookstore.
WHO: Jessica Shattuck, Chris Bohjalian, Barbara Delinsky - Suzanne Koven, Moderator
WHEN: Saturday, November 07 at 8:00am
WHERE: Concord’s Colonial Inn
Poetry — Featured Poets Plus Open Mic
Come one, come all — and bring a poem to read! Readings by two popular area poets, Bill Coyle and Frannie Lindsay, will precede the open mic. Refreshments and conversation follow. For information: http://www.concordpoetry.org
WHO: Bill Coyle, Frannie Lindsay
WHEN: Sunday, November 08 at 3:00pm
WHERE: Emerson Umbrella