by From the transcendentalist works of Thoreau and Emerson to more recent luminaries like Dennis Lehane and Jhumpa Lahiri, Boston has always been a city of words. However, where do today’s top-selling local writers go for inspiration?
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The literary scene in Boston is more than just author readings and book launches; it’s a place where writers come together in unexpected ways, driven by friendship, coffee, and a deeper sense of community.
Boston has been a natural home for Jennifer Haigh, who has resided in Roslindale for more than ten years, both for her writing and her contacts. She impulsively relocated to the city in 2002, not thinking how much she would value the separation from the competitive, business-focused environment of publishing hotspots like New York.
Living in New York as a working writer would be far more challenging since you’re so close to the publishing industry that you can hear the gears turning all the time.
This past spring, Haigh and her husband, fellow author Josh Barkan, had a reception at the Boston Figurative Arts Center in Somerville to mark the release of their book Rabbit Moon. Local writers Tom Perrotta (The Leftovers, Little Children), Allegra Goodman (Kaaterskill Falls, Paradise Park), and Marianne Leone (Jesse, Ma Speaks Up) were among the distinguished guests, demonstrating Boston’s thriving and encouraging literary scene.
When authors get together, they discuss what they’re reading instead than industry rumors, according to Haigh. She claimed that the laid-back, bookish vibe is what attracts authors to Boston.
Celeste Ng, Henriette Lazaridis, and the sensory side of the literary scene
Haigh’s observations of Boston’s literary community are echoed by Celeste Ng, a Cambridge author of three books, including Little Fires Everywhere.
According to Ng, the city is home to several beloved reading events, such as the Arlington Writers Salon, a quirky get-together where authors read aloud in a café setting, frequently connected by a central theme and a sensory object, and The Earfull Series, which pairs author readings with music by local artists.
Ng recalled with pleasure a 2016 Salon reading in which author Henriette Lazaridis accompanied her reading with seaweed-scented cards for the audience to sniff, she added.
Lazaridis told Boston.com that the seaweed was real and that the smells matched scenes from her book, The Clover House.
In an email to Boston.com, she said, “I had jasmine, Seville orange, and a scent I made myself with a homemade alembic to produce the scent of the sea.” Some seaweed flakes might have played a role in the procedure. I believe I’m still the only person to utilize perfume in the Salon’s history!
Bookstores are like the writers bar
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Even outside of official activities, there is a sense of community.
Each author identified bookstores as a significant location for authors to congregate. They serve as venues for readings, book launches, and other literary events, or they are just places where writers may connect with one another.
Ng compared them to the writers’ bar. In a relaxed, non-industry environment, authors stop by to talk with booksellers, discover new books, and network with other authors.
According to Ng, this is one of the main distinctions between Boston and places like New York, where the emphasis is frequently on the commercial aspects of writing.
The industry isn’t as important here. She went on to say that being a reading nerd is as dorky as it sounds.
Bonding over game nights, writing sprints, and dinner meetups
Known for his literary horror books, Paul Tremblay has embraced more quirky, lighthearted events with other authors such as Bracken MacLeod and Dana Cameron. These events include role-playing game nights, which started out as virtual get-togethers that were pandemic-friendly.
He described these gatherings as “nerdy writer stuff,” saying, “I just show up and roll dice and try to insult folks in a friendly way.”
Bestselling young adult thriller author Karen M. McManus observes that the children’s literature community in Boston is especially tight-knit.
She has developed strong relationships at professional gatherings including readings and literary festivals since the publication of her debut novel, One of Us Is Lying, in 2017. According to her, it’s typical for local writers to get together for dinner after a fellow author debuts a book or gives a reading.
Additionally, they will get together in coffee shops for unofficial writing sprints.
To get something out there, we all bring our laptops and write for brief periods of 20 minutes, she said. After interacting with one another, if the writing is going particularly well, we continue with another sprint.
These impromptu gatherings serve as a reminder that the true magic of the profession occurs off the page for many Boston authors.
Annie Jonas writes for Boston.com as a community writer. She used to work as a freelancer at the Financial Times and as a local editor at Patch.
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