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:
Philip Ackerman-Leist
Events: Up Tunket Road
Book: Up Tunket Road: The Education of a Modern Homesteader
After homesteading for fourteen years (seven of those years without power or running water) and teaching a popular college course on homesteading and the American back-to-the-land tradition, Philip Ackerman-Leist found himself challenged by his students and his own musings. His new book, Up Tunket Road: The Education of Modern Homesteader, is a reflection of the people, places, and ideas that have shaped his views on homesteading in an era when we seem to be trading a wild world for a wired world.
Philip and Erin Ackerman-Leist have homsteaded in Pawlet, Vermont, for fourteen years, following years of farming in North Carolina and the South Tirol region of the Alps. They live off-grid on a remote hillside with their three children, and they have a herd of thirty grassfed American Milking Devon cattle. Philip is Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at Green Mountain College, where he is also the Director of the GMC Farm and Food Project. Besides being the anchor of the homestead, Erin homeschools their children and pursues her artistic interests in her hard-won spare time.