Concord Festival of Authors 2021
The 2021 Concord Festival of Authors (CFA) will take place from October 15 - 31 online and in-person. The talks listed below are sponsored by the Concord Free Public Library, the Friends of the Concord Free Public Library and the Concord Free Public Library Corporation. [View Complete Event Schedule] [View Festival Home Page] [View Printable Festival Calendar]
CFA Kick-Off Keynote Speaker: Dr. Clint Smith, Friday, October 15, 7:00 p.m.
Join the Friends of CFPL in collaboration with the Robbins House for the CFA Keynote Address. Dr. Clint Smith discusses his new book, How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America. [Register]
2021 Ruth Ratner Miller Memorial Award for Excellence in American History, Saturday, October 16, 7:00 p.m.
Join us to honor the 2021 Miller Award Winner Heather Cox Richardson, professor of American History at Boston College and esteemed author. [Register]
Young Adult Authors, Sunday, October 17, 7:00 p.m.
The Friends present CFA Young Adult Authors, featuring Jennifer De Leon, Desmond Hall, and Margo Rabb. [Register]
Storytelling from the Heart of Medicine, Monday, October 18, 7:00 p.m.
Join Dr. Suzanne Koven, as she discusses her new book, Letter to a Young Female Physician: Notes from a Medical Life. Dr. Koven will be joined in conversation by New York Times bestselling author Dani Shapiro. [Register]
CFA Debut Authors Panel, Wednesday, October 20, 7:30 p.m.
Join us for a conversation with new novelists Lisa Braxton, Julie Carrick Dalton, and Dariel Suarez. [Register]
Leslie Riedel Memorial Award, Friday, October 22, 7:00 p.m.
Join us for the 2021 Leslie Riedel Memorial Lecture for Young People featuring Robert Sabuda. [Register]
Breakfast with the Authors, Saturday, October 23, 10:00 a.m.
Dr. Suzanne Koven will moderate the annual CFA event Breakfast with the Authors, as we discuss the literary life with Meredith Hall, Chaney Kwak, and Shawna Kay Rodenberg. [Register]
Native Nations Poetry Panel, Sunday, October 24, 3:00 p.m.
Join panelists Kimberly M. Blaeser, Jennifer Elise Foerster, and Heid E. Erdrich, award-winning poets and contributing editors of the landmark anthology When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through, the first comprehensive anthology of Native Poetry, edited by U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo. [Register]
The Transcendentalists and Their World, Monday, October 25, 7:00 p.m.
Join Author and Historian Robert A. Gross in conversation with Anke Voss, Curator of the CFPL William Munroe Special Collections. This session will feature The Transcendentalists and Their World, Robert Gross’s long-awaited study of Concord in the era of Emerson and Thoreau. [Register]
Mindful Memoirs about Grief, Loss and Love, Wednesday, October 27, 7:30 p.m.
The Friends of the Concord Free Public Library present a virtual conversation with authors Maryanne O'Hara and Faith Fuller Wilcox. [Register]
Mystery Night - Keeping The Pages Turning: How Crime Writers Create Suspense, Sunday, October 31, 7:00 p.m.
Join CFA Mystery Night emcee and celebrated author Kate Flora to discover how to create suspense in fiction with mystery writers Susan Oleksiw, Dale Phillips and Susan Smith. [Register]
