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:
Doug Stewart
Events: Hoaxes, Frauds, & Forgeries
Book: The Boy Who Would Be Shakespeare: A Tale of Forgery and Folly
Doug Stewart writes frequently about history and the arts for Smithsonian Magazine, which has published more than 60 of his stories. His writing has also appeared in Time, Geo, Muse, Discover, and Connoisseur. Stewart has worked as a book editor, a freelance writer, and a journalist.
The Boy Who Would Be Shakespeare is the true story William-Henry Ireland, a 19-year-old lawyer’s apprentice, who in the late 1790s produced a torrent of Shakespearean fabrications: letters, poetry, drawings—even an original full-length play. He’d hoped to impress his chilly, Shakespeare-worshipping father. Instead he caused a public sensation. Scholars, dukes, the future king, the poet laureate—people who should have known better— were thrilled by the boy’s discoveries. His play was greeted as Shakespeare’s lost masterpiece and staged before a full house at the Drury Lane Theatre.