Concord, Massachusetts
Two weeks of talks, readings, and discussions celebrating the written and the spoken word.
Thomas Frank
Eric Foner
Lois Lowry
Junot Diaz
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:
Madeline Miller
Events: New Literary Voices 2012
Book: The Song of Achilles
Madeline Miller earned her BA and MA in classics at Brown University. She has also studied at the University of Chicago’s Committee on Social Thought and in the Dramaturgy department at Yale School of Drama, where she focused on the adaptation of classical texts to modern forms. For the last ten years she has taught and tutored Latin, Greek and Shakespeare to high school students.
Miller’s first novel, The Song of Achilles, was recently awarded the prestigious 2012 Orange Prize for Fiction. A unique retelling of the Iliad and the legend of Achilles, it is a dazzling feat of imagination. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the kingdom of Phthia. Here he is nobody, just another unwanted boy living in the shadow of King Peleus and his golden son, Achilles. Strong and beautiful, the child of a goddess and a man, Achilles is everything the shamed Patroclus is not. Despite their differences, the boys become steadfast companions, their bond deepening into love as they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine.
When word comes that Helen, the wife of Menelaus, has been kidnapped, the men of Greece are called upon to lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, and Patroclus follows, little knowing that the cruel Fates will test them as never before, and demand a terrible sacrifice.