The downtown Boston area will become the first literary cultural district within the United States. The coordinators behind this initiative will work on boosting tourism, taking part in literary events, and offering for families within the neighborhood.
The initiative came into fruition after a team of book-related organizations won the Adams Planning Grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. This group includes the Grub Street nonprofit, the Boston Public Library, the Boston Athenaeum, the City of Boston, the Drum and the Boston Book Festival.
Grub Street executive director Eve Bridburg had this statement in the press release: “Home to historical literary figureheads such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Louisa May Alcott, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Boston is currently undergoing a literary renaissance. Stars like James Carroll, Steven Pinker, Tom Perrotta and Anita Shreve work here, alongside top-notch publishers like Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Beacon Press. With incredible institutions like the BPL and the Boston Athenaeum, the Boston Book Festival drawing 30,000 people each fall, and Grub Street’s role as the nation’s leading literary arts nonprofit, Boston is clearly a natural fit for our nation’s first Literary Cultural District.”