Here’s our guide to what to see at this weekend’s Boston Book Festival. The annual event offers more than 125 talks and presentations at three locations—the main festival in Boston’s Copley Square plus satellites in Roxbury and East Boston. Nearly all the events are free and unticketed.
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Friday, Oct. 12
7:30 P.M. Michael Pollan kicks off the festival with a talk about his latest book, “How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence.” It’s his account of a personal journey down the rabbit hole of the history of psychedelics and his own experiments with the mind-bending LSD, psilocybin, and Sonoran Desert toad venom. Tickets required. At Old South Sanctuary, 645 Boylston St., Copley Square.
Saturday, Oct. 13
11 a.m. At the Roxbury satellite festival, Tayari Jones talks about her novel “An American Marriage,” about a young black couple whose marriage is ripped apart when the husband is wrongfully accused of sexual assault and subsequently imprisoned. The book has been a New York Times bestseller, an Oprah’s Book Club selection, and longlisted for the National Book Award in fiction. At Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building, 2300 Washington St., Roxbury. Jones will also give the “Fiction Keynote” talk at the Copley Square festival at 3:30 p.m.
11 a.m. Somerville author and artist Jef Czekaj reads and raps his way through his latest picture book, “Hip & Hop in the House!,” about a rapping turtle and rabbit. At Berklee Stage, Copley Square, 560 Boylston St., Copley Square.
11:15 a.m. Vermont graphic novelist Jason Lutes talks about the landmark publication of his collected “Berlin,” a monumental fictional account of Berlin in the tumultuous 1920s and ‘30s. At Boston Architectural College Cascieri Hall 320 Newbury St., Copley Square.
12:15 p.m. “Fiction: Love and Trauma.” A discussion with Andre Dubus III, whose “Gone So Long” tells the story of a woman meeting the man who killed her mother, her father; Jenna Blum, whose “The Lost Family” tells of a guilt-wracked Auschwitz survivor trying to start over in the United States; and Aminatta Forna, whose “Happiness” tells of the adventures of a Ghanaian trauma specialist and an American wildlife biologist. At Church of the Covenant, 67 Newbury St., Copley Square.
12:15 p.m. “Mister Rogers.” Maxwell King, author of a new biography of Fred Rogers, “The Good Neighbor,” talks about the kind, complicated man behind the hugely influential children’s television show “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.” At Boston Public Library McKim Exhibition Hall, Dartmouth Street, Copley Square.
1 p.m. At the East Boston satellite festival, movie and television actress Sheetal Sheth reads to children from her first book,” Always Anjali,” a picture book about a girl who is exceptional at many things, including the monkey bars, but her name is different—and kids on the playground let her know. First 25 participants will receive a free copy of the book. At Children’s Room, East Boston Branch, Boston Public Library 365 S Bremen St., Copley Square.
1:15 p.m. “Authoritarianism.” Mull the rise of authoritarianism today with Amy Siskind, who enumerates the Trump regime’s threats to democracy from his embrace of racists to his demonization of the press in her book “The List”; Timothy Snyder, author of “The Road to Unfreedom”; and Stephen Greenblatt, whose book “Tyrant” looks at strongmen in Shakespeare’s plays. At Old South Sanctuary 645 Boylston St., Copley Square.
2 p.m. “Saving Planet Earth.” A discussion of how the earth might be rescued from global warming and other destructive human activities with Charles Mann, author of “1491” and his new book “The Wizard and the Prophet,” and astrobiologist David Grinspoon, author of “Earth in Human Hands.” At Church of the Covenant, 67 Newbury St., Copley Square.
2 and 3 pm. Wee the People from Boston leads “Everywhere and Nowhere,” a social justice workshop for kids, with stories of the immigrant experiences, live music, a kids “Round the World” open mic, and a passport craft activity to places real and imagined. At Brainstorm Tent, 560 Boylston St., Copley Square. ALSO at 11:30 a.m., Francie Latour of Wee the People and artist Ken Daley read from their picture book “Aunt Luce’s Talking Paintings,” about a young girl visiting her Auntie Luce, a painter, in Haiti, at Boston Public Library Children’s Library, 700 Boylston St., Copley Square.
2 p.m. “Renaissance Redux.” A discussion with Walter Isaacson, a biographer of Benjamin Franklin, Einstein and Steve Jobs talks about his latest book “Leonardo da Vinci,” and Ramie Targoff, author of “Renaissance Woman: The Life of Vittoria Colonna,” about the poet, political mover and shaker, and best friend of the artist Michelangelo. At Boston Public Library Rabb Hall, 700 Boylston St., Copley Square.
2:15 a.m. “Arts Activism in America: Igniting Change.” At the Roxbury satellite festival, rising theater star Liza Jessie Peterson and Black Arts movement pioneer Askia Touré talk about how arts can improve the world. At Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building, 2300 Washington St., Roxbury.
3:15 p.m. “On Leadership.” A talk about what makes a good leader with historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of “Leadership in Turbulent Times,” and former Senator and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, author of the memoir “Every Day Is Extra.” Samantha Power, President Obama’s United States Ambassador to the United Nations, moderates. Tickets required. At Old South Sanctuary, 645 Boylston St., Copley Square.
3:30 p.m. Fiction Keynote with Tayari Jones, who discusses her novel “An American Marriage,” about a young black couple whose marriage is ripped apart when the husband is wrongfully accused of sexual assault and subsequently imprisoned. The book has been a New York Times bestseller, an Oprah’s Book Club selection, and longlisted for the National Book Award in fiction. At Church of the Covenant, 67 Newbury St., Copley Square.
5 p.m. Justine Bateman—the actress who portrayed Mallory Keaton on the popular sitcom “Family Ties” (1982–1989) and then went on to appear in “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman” (1996), “Men Behaving Badly” (1996–1991), “Californication” (2008), and “Desperate Housewives”—discusses her book “Fame.” At Old South Sanctuary, 645 Boylston St., Copley Square.
5 p.m. Young Adult Keynote with authors Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera, who discuss their collaborative novel “What If It’s Us,” about a “couple of boys who meet cute at the post office and then come to terms with the complexities that ensue after the initial spark of attraction.” At Church of the Covenant, 67 Newbury St., Copley Square.
5 p.m. Humanities Keynote by Harvard University cognitive scientist Steven Pinker, whose book “Enlightenment Now” marshals statistics to argue that we are living in the best of times—but enlightenment values are being threatened by authoritarianism, tribalism, religious zealotry and magical thinking. At Emmanuel Sanctuary, 15 Newbury St., Copley Square.
Help Wonderland keep producing our great coverage of local arts, cultures and activisms (and our great festivals) by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.