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:
Cynthia Morrison Phoel
Events: New Literary Voices 2010
Book: Cold Snap: Bulgaria Stories
Cynthia Morrison Phoel served as a Peace Corps volunteer in a Bulgarian town not unlike the one in Cold Snap, her debut collection of stories. She holds degrees from Cornell University and the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers. Her work has appeared in The Missouri Review, The Gettysburg Review, Harvard Review, and Cerise Press.
As in Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio, place is at the center of Phoel’s linked stories. Quirky, remote, and agonizingly intimate, the ragged village of Old Mountain is home to a cast of Bulgarian townsfolk who do daily battle with the heat or the bitter cold, with soul-crushing poverty, with petty disagreements among themselves—all the while attempting to adapt to changing times and keep up with their neighbors. Money is tight in this valley of run-down Communist blocks and crumbling plaster houses, but community is tighter.