On behalf of the Bristol BookFest 2020 Steering Committee, I would like to thank the many people and organizations that made our inaugural event such a success Oct. 16 to 18. It was not the BookFest we envisioned — a social as well as cultural experience, with participants exchanging ideas in person with our scholars — but we proved we could master the Zoom webinar platform and present an intellectually challenging three days of talks and questions from our audience.

We estimate that about 125 people watched each evening. All five presentations and the lively closing panel are available for viewing on the YouTube site of the Friends of the Rogers Free Library, accessible for a wide audience.

With Election Day approaching, Robert Penn Warren’s “All the King’s Men” proved even more timely a choice than it had seemed back in March. Next year’s book is much shorter but just as likely to stimulate joy and terror! Mary Shelley’s iconic “Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus” (1818) is not only one of the most famous narratives ever, but a jumping off point to debate artificial intelligence, bio-engineering, and the end of human autonomy.

We’ll bring literary experts, scientists, computer programmers, and medical researchers to the same table. Please mark your calendars: BookFest 2021, Oct. 22-23.

BookFest is in its infancy, yet it has enormous possibilities, with the support of the community. Five years from now, we hope it will have become an annual event of national reputation, drawing visitors from all over for “BookFest package weekends” involving Bristol hostelries, restaurants and merchants, while answering a deep-seated need not just to read but to talk with each other about great books.

Charles C. Calhoun
Bristol

Mr. Calhoun is co-chairman of Bristol BookFest 2020 (bristolbookfest.com).