Deborah Porter
Encyclopedia
Deborah Z. Porter is non-profit director best known for founding the Boston Book Festival
, which she has run since 2009. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts
.
. She graduated from Brandeis University
in 1980, and founded a non-profit to match students with meaningful internships. Later she pursued her love of books, getting an MA in Children's Literature
, and writing as a critic for Kirkus Reviews
, Ruminator Review
, and WBUR
.
In 2009 she founded a non-profit, the Boston Book Festival
, to run such an event each year. The first festival was held that October in Copley Square, drawing over 10,000 attendees and a positive response from the speakers. The festival grew to 25,000 attendees and over 100 presenters each year, including a number of Nobel and Pulitzer Prize
–winning authors.
In 2010, Porter started the "One City One Story" project in Boston, to encourage everyone in the city to read the same story and discuss it together. Unlike other city-wide reading projects
, this project gave away 30,000 copies of the selected story to city residents, organizing large-group discussions involving hundreds of people.
This is now an annual event.
Boston book festival
The Boston Book Festival is an independent non-profit group based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the name of its main event. The non-profit was founded in 2009 by Deborah Z...
, which she has run since 2009. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
.
Life and work
Porter was born in Cleveland, OhioCleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
. She graduated from Brandeis University
Brandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
in 1980, and founded a non-profit to match students with meaningful internships. Later she pursued her love of books, getting an MA in Children's Literature
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
, and writing as a critic for Kirkus Reviews
Kirkus Reviews
Kirkus Reviews is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus . Kirkus serves the book and literary trade sector, including libraries, publishers, literary and film agents, film and TV producers and booksellers. Kirkus Reviews is published on the first and 15th of each month...
, Ruminator Review
Ruminator Review
The Ruminator Review, originally the Hungry Mind Review, was a quarterly book review magazine founded by David Unowsky and published in St. Paul, Minnesota from 1986 to 2005. It included reviews of of all genres, as well as literary interviews, focusing on work published by smaller presses...
, and WBUR
WBUR
WBUR refers to two radio stations in Massachusetts, WBUR AM and FM, both owned by Boston University. WBUR is the largest of three NPR member stations in Boston, Massachusetts, along with WGBH and WUMB-FM, and the only one to focus exclusively on news and talk...
.
Book festival and reading campaigns
In 2006, Porter looked into starting a Boston-area book festival, as none had been held in Boston since the Boston Globe Book Festival had been discontinued.In 2009 she founded a non-profit, the Boston Book Festival
Boston book festival
The Boston Book Festival is an independent non-profit group based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the name of its main event. The non-profit was founded in 2009 by Deborah Z...
, to run such an event each year. The first festival was held that October in Copley Square, drawing over 10,000 attendees and a positive response from the speakers. The festival grew to 25,000 attendees and over 100 presenters each year, including a number of Nobel and Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
–winning authors.
In 2010, Porter started the "One City One Story" project in Boston, to encourage everyone in the city to read the same story and discuss it together. Unlike other city-wide reading projects
One City One Book
One City One Book is a generic name for a community reading program that attempts to get everyone in a city to read and discuss the same book. The name of the program is often reversed to One Book One City, or is customized to name the city where it occurs...
, this project gave away 30,000 copies of the selected story to city residents, organizing large-group discussions involving hundreds of people.
This is now an annual event.
External links
- Interview with Kerry Skemp, Bostonist, from 2009
- Porter on Twitter