The Concord Festival of Authors begins Thursday October 18 with a reading by J. Courtney Sullivan, author of Commencement and Maine (I’ve read Maine) at 6 p.m.  This is the beginning of three weeks of events (most of them free) all over Concord – one of the things I look forward to all year.  The events range from Opening Night with Thomas Frank, the author of Pity the Billionaire, a sardonic look at how the worst economy since the 1930’s brought about yet another conservative revival to an Animal Stories Party for kids to America Meets China with Eric Jay Dolin and Healing Digestive Illness with Russell Mariani.  I am personally especially looking forward to Mrs. Queen Takes the Train, a fictional romp into the mind of Queen Elizabeth.  And I always love the New Literary Voices session.  You can see the complete schedule at http://www.concordfestivalofauthors.com.