Concord, Massachusetts
Two weeks of talks, readings, and discussions celebrating the written and the spoken word.
Randall Kennedy
Ha Jin
Anita Hill
Stephen Greenblatt
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 .
Concord Festival of Authors is funded in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council,
a stage agency
Major Sponsors:
Jill Hunting
Events: Finding a Lost Brother
Book: Finding Pete: Rediscovering the Brother I Lost in Vietnam
Jill Hunting is a writer, editor, and radio essayist. She proposed the “Book of Remembrance,” a sculpture honoring civilians killed in war, for a new headquarters of the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C.
When she was fifteen years old, Jill Hunting lost her only brother. He was one of the first civilian casualties of the Vietnam War. News broadcasts and headlines announced to the world that Pete had been led into an ambush by friends. When Jill’s mother told her that Pete’s letters home had all been destroyed in a basement flood, the connection between Jill and her brother was lost forever — or so she thought. Decades later, 175 letters surfaced. Through them, and the sweethearts and many friends who had never forgotten Pete, Jill came to know him again.
Finding Pete is one of the great, untold true stories of an escalating war and a young man caught in its sights. It is also a portrait of a family’s struggle with loss and a sister’s quest to recover the connection with her brother.