FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Joyce Linehan 617-282-2510 x 1, [email protected]

BOSTON FESTIVAL/ THE DRUM FUNDRAISER Lounge Lit: With a Twist April 19 at Think Tank in Cambridge

() The Boston Book Festival and The Drum literary magazine hold a very special fundraising event on Thursday, April 19, 6 – 8 p.m. at Think Tank (One Kendall Square, Cambridge, Mass.). “Lounge Lit: Readings With a Twist” will feature noted debut authors and performing 10 minute scenes from their , with help from some professional readers and actors. Tickets, which include complimentary beer, wine and appetizers are $20 in advance and if available, $25 at the door. They can be purchased at www.bostonbookfest.org .

The event is co-sponsored by 90.9 WBUR and hosted by WBUR’s Adam Ragusea . Proceeds benefit The Boston Book Festival.

Featured guests:

William Giraldi , a senior editor at AGNI, has had work published in the New York Times and Georgia Review, among others. He has received a Pushcart Prize and was listed among Most Notable Essays in Best American Essays 2010 for "Freaky Beast." Giraldi currently teaches in the Arts and Sciences Writing Program at Boston University. Giraldi's debut novel, Busy Monsters , was published in 2011.

Marianne Leone is an actress who appeared in The Sopranos , a screenwriter, and an essayist . Her book, Knowing Jesse, is a fiercely honest, surprisingly funny, and sometimes heartbreaking prose, as it chronicles her transformation by the remarkable life and untimely death of her child. The Jesse Cooper Foundation funds inclusion and adapted sports for children with special needs, and supports disabled orphans in Romania. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband, actor Chris Cooper.

Kate Racculia , raised in Syracuse, New York, attended the University of Buffalo. Racculia received her MFA from Emerson College and now resides in Boston. Her first novel, This Must Be the Place , was published in 2010 and named a "2011 Must Read Book" by the Massachusetts Center for the Book. Racculia is currently working on her second novel. Anna Solomon received her BA from Brown University and her MFA from the Iowa Writer's Workshop, and she now lives in Providence, Rhode Island. Her fiction has appeared in One Story, The Georgia Review, The Harvard Review, and elsewhere, while her essays have been published in The New York Times. Her work has twice been awarded the Pushcart Prize, as well as the Missouri Review' s 2011 Editor's Prize. Solomon's first novel, The Little Bride, was published in 2011.

The fourth annual Boston Book Festival will take place Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012 in various Copley Square locations. Festival events will include presentations and panels featuring internationally-known writers, scholars, critics and commentators; programming for children, teens and families; writing workshops and competitions; outdoor booths; and poetry and music performances. All daytime events are FREE and open to the public. The featured authors, to be announced in the coming months, will represent a wide array of programming, and include award winners, best-selling authors, renowned scholars, children’s writers, and writers of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. The Boston Book Festival is produced by the non- profit organization of the same name, and is made possible with the generous support of individual donors and sponsors, including Presenting Partner 90.9 WBUR. For more information, visit www.bostonbookfest.org .

The Drum , "a literary magazine for your ears," is the official literary magazine of the Boston Book Festival. The Drum publishes short fiction, essays, novel excerpts, and interviews exclusively in audio form. Along with 90.9WBUR's Radio Boston, The Drum sponsors "ZIP Code Stories," a recurring segment and writing contest celebrating Boston's diverse neighborhoods. The Drum is a non-profit 510(c) (3) organization. For more information, visit www.drumlitmag.com.

Boston Book Festival Partners include Mayor Thomas M. Menino; The Mayor’s Office of Arts, Tourism and Special Events; The City of Boston Parks and Recreation Department; ReadBoston; Boston Public ; the Boston Athenæum; PEN New England; Grub Street; Trinity Church; Old South Church; Boston Children’s Museum; Cambridge Public Library, New Center for Arts and Culture; 826 Boston; Brattle Theatre, Berklee College of Music; Emerson College; Harvard Book Store; Brookline Booksmith, Porter Square Books; Independent Film Festival Boston, and Newtonville Books.

Boston Book Festival Board of Directors : President Deborah Z. Porter; Treasurer Steve Oristaglio; Hannah Gilligan Commoss, Callie Crossley, Robert Duboff, Rona Kiley, Glenda Manzi, Jeff Mayersohn, Jackie McCabe, Nicholas Negroponte, Rose Styron, John Taylor “Ike” Williams. Honorary Advisory Board: Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Ann Gund, Steve Grossman, Arthur Golden, Phil Balboni, Amy Ryan, Diane Patrick, Tom Perrotta, Lou Casagrande.

###