First U.S. Literary Cultural District in Works in Boston

Shelf Awareness

A Boston group led by Grub Street, the creative writing center, is using a $42,500 grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council to develop a proposal for a literary cultural district in the city, which the Boston Globe said may be the country's first such district. The Boston Public Library, the Boston Athenaeum, the City of Boston, the Drum magazine and the Boston Book Festival are also involved.

"The challenge is to make the literary visible," Eve Bridburg, Grub Street's executive director, told the paper
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The district would likely include the Boston Public Library; the Athenaeum; Washington Street, former home of literary magazines and newspapers; Beacon Hill, once home to poets including Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes; and the Public Garden, with its Make Way for Ducklings sculpture. District activities could include walking tours, literary-related street art, interactive installations and promotions of literary exhibits.