Literary Lights

Sunday, April 27, 6:00 pm – Literary Lights 2025

by

The Associates of the Boston Public Library are delighted to announce the lineup for the 35th annual Literary Lights dinner on April 27 at the Fairmont Copley Plaza. This black-tie-optional event is our annual opportunity to honor outstanding writers from the Northeast and to celebrate their contributions to literature while raising vital funds to support the preservation of the Boston Public Library’s Special Collections. 

Keynote speaker Elizabeth Strout (below) is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Olive Kitteridge (2008) and one of today’s most celebrated voices in fiction. Born in Portland, Maine, her childhood experiences served as inspiration for the fictional “Shirley Falls, Maine,” the setting of four of her nine acclaimed novels. 

A graduate of Bates College, Strout also earned a law degree and a Certificate in Gerontology from Syracuse University. After a brief career in Legal Services, she moved to New York City, where she became an adjunct in the English Department of Borough of Manhattan Community College. 

Balancing motherhood, teaching, and her passion for storytelling, Strout began publishing in literary magazines and mainstream outlets like Redbook and Seventeen—paving the way for her remarkable career today. 

Elizabeth will be presented by Richard Russo.

Also honored will be David Grann, journalist and author of Killers of the Flower Moon, presented by non-fiction writer Nathaniel Philbrick, Elin Hilderbrand, author of the Nantucket novels, presented by Boston Globe columnist & writer Meredith Goldstein, Curtis Sittenfeld, author of the novels Prep and Rodham, presented by writer Tom Perrotta, and Ilyon Woo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Master Slave Husband Wife, presented by journalist and writer Caleb Gayle. Jared Bowen, GBH Executive Arts Editor and Host of The Culture Show, will be the Emcee of the evening. For more information on tickets or sponsorship opportunities please click here or contact Laura Russo, Director of Development and External Affairs, at LRusso@AssociatesBPL.org or (617) 536-3886.

Sunday, April 12, 6:00 pm – Literary Lights

by

The Associates of the Boston Public Library invite you to the 27th Annual Literary Lights Dinner on Sunday, April 12 beginning at 6 pm at The Boston Park Plaza Hotel.  This year the honorees are Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Author of Infidel, presented by Ambassador R. Nicholas Burns, Katherine Boo, author of Behind the Beautiful Forevers, presented by Jill Ker Conway, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author of Plato at the Googleplex, presented by Alan Lightman, Wendell and Florence Minor, husband and wife collaborators on children’s books (pictured below,) presented by Mary Higgins Clark, Amor Towles, author of Rules of Civility, presented by Claire Messud, and Niall Ferguson, Keynote Speaker and author of The War of the World, presented by David Gergen.  Tickets ($475 and up) are available on line at www.literarylights.org. Proceeds will support the David McCullough Conservation Fund, William O. Taylor Art Preservation Fund, Associates Endowment Fund, and the Associates of the Boston Public Library’s operations.

Sunday, April 13, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm – Literary Lights Dinner

by

The Associates of the Boston Public Library invite you to the 26th annual Literary Lights Dinner on Sunday, April 13, from 6 – 9 at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel.  This year’s honorees are Charles Coe, Tina Howe, Charles C. Mann, Stewart O’Nan, and Edith Pearlman.  Presenters include Dan Chiasson, Lydia Diamond, Nathanial Philbrick, Joseph Finder, and Elinor Lipman.  Stephen Greenblatt, John Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University and author of eleven books including Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare, and The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, will give the keynote address.  Individual ticket prices begin at $475, and are available on a first come, first serve basis.  To register call 617-536-3886, or email associates@bpl.org.

Literary Lights