Literary Experiences & Immersives

I really enjoyed how being physically present in the moment gave me glimpses into the lives of different writers who once shared the same spaces. It felt like a thread connecting all of us. Walking the streets and seeing each corner through their eyes made the experience feel alive.

– Lena, Ink & Cobblestones Tour

Private Literary Boston Immersives

For readers, writers, book clubs, and literary travelers who want to go deeper, the Boston Literary History Project offers private literary immersives through Boston’s historic literary landscape.

Part walking tour, part guided conversation, part bookish pilgrimage, these experiences combine literary landmarks, readings in place, historic libraries, independent bookstores, and time for thoughtful discussion. Each immersive is designed and led by Jessica A. Kent, founder of Literary Boston and creator of the Boston Literary History Project.

Half-Day Literary Boston Immersive

A private literary experience through downtown Boston and Beacon Hill.

Approximately 4 hours

Spend a half day walking through the heart of Boston’s literary past.

This private experience begins with a guided literary history walk through downtown Boston, including sites connected to the writers, publishers, booksellers, and institutions that helped shape American literature. Along the way, we’ll read short excerpts in place and explore how Boston’s streets, buildings, libraries, and gathering places became part of the city’s literary imagination.

The experience continues with lunch and literary conversation at the historic Omni Parker House, once the meeting place of the Saturday Club and a central gathering place for nineteenth-century writers. From there, we’ll visit the Boston Athenaeum, explore Beacon Hill’s literary connections, spend time at Beacon Hill Books, and end with a final literary stop to toast Boston’s writers of the past.

This experience may include:

  • A private guided literary walk through downtown Boston and Beacon Hill

  • Readings from Boston-connected writers in the places tied to their work

  • Lunch and guided literary discussion at the Omni Parker House

  • A visit to the Boston Athenaeum, subject to guest access policies

  • Time at Beacon Hill Books

  • A curated route shaped around your group’s interests

Best for: book clubs, visiting readers, literary travelers, small groups, special occasions, and anyone who wants a deeper, more personal introduction to Literary Boston.

Pricing: Starts at $650 for up to 4 guests. Larger groups may be available by request.

Food, drink, admission fees, and third-party costs are not included unless arranged in advance. Exact itinerary may vary based on hours, reservations, access policies, weather, and group interests.

Full-Day Literary Boston Immersive

A full literary day through Boston’s bookstores, libraries, landmarks, and neighborhoods.

Approximately 6–7 hours

For those who want to spend a full day inside Boston’s literary history, this private immersive expands the half-day experience into a richer journey through downtown Boston, Beacon Hill, and Back Bay.

We’ll move through the city’s literary past by visiting the places where writers lived, wrote, published, gathered, argued, and read. The day combines guided walks, readings in place, historic interiors, bookshop visits, and time for conversation over food and drink.

Depending on your group’s interests and the day’s logistics, the full-day experience may begin at Brattle Book Shop before continuing through downtown literary sites, the Old Corner Bookstore, the Omni Parker House, the Boston Athenaeum, Beacon Hill, Beacon Hill Books, Back Bay, and the Boston Public Library. The day may also include tea, coffee, or drinks as part of a slower, more reflective literary itinerary.

This is a curated literary day: part walking tour, part reading experience, part guided discussion, part bookish pilgrimage.

This experience may include:

  • A private guided literary walk through downtown Boston, Beacon Hill, and Back Bay

  • Readings from Boston-connected writers in the places tied to their work

  • Lunch and literary discussion at the Omni Parker House

  • Visits to the Boston Athenaeum and Boston Public Library

  • Time at Brattle Book Shop, Beacon Hill Books, and/or Trident Booksellers

  • A custom itinerary shaped around your group’s favorite authors, books, or themes

  • Optional tea, coffee, or drinks stop

Best for: literary travelers, book clubs, alumni groups, private groups, conference guests, visiting families, and readers who want to spend a full day experiencing Boston through its books and writers.

Pricing: Starts at $1,200 for up to 4 guests. Larger groups may be available by request.

Food, drink, admission fees, and third-party costs are not included unless arranged in advance. Exact itinerary may vary based on hours, reservations, access policies, weather, and group interests.

Customization Note

Each immersive begins with one of the packages above, then can be tailored to your group’s interests. Possible themes include women writers, nineteenth-century Boston, publishing history, poetry, Transcendentalism, Boston bookstores and libraries, literary Beacon Hill, or a specific author or text.

To inquire about a private immersive, please share your preferred date, group size, and any particular authors, books, neighborhoods, or themes you’re interested in exploring.

Ready to get started? Reach out to start the experience today!

Your Guide

Hi! I’m Jessica, and I’m the founder and director of Literary Boston, which I started in 2012 as a place as a website where people could find everything there was to know about the Boston literary community. But you could say that Literary Boston may have truly started on a trip to Walden Pond in 1999. I fell in love with the literary history of Boston then and I’m still fascinated with it today, so much so that I’ve made it a pillar of my work on Literary Boston.

For the past 25 years, I’ve been studying Boston literary history, from structured study in academic programs to reading historical markers all over the city. Now, I want you to know about our rich literary past, too.

A little bit more about me:

I’m the founder and director of Literary Boston, a cultural initiative that promotes the Boston literary community, past and present. Other past literary roles include library assistant, bookseller, and book festival director. I hold a BFA in Creative Writing from Emerson and a Master’s in Literature from Harvard, where my thesis on Moby-Dick and Calvinism won the Director’s Prize. My short fiction has appeared the North American Review, the Emerson Review, and others, and has received the Leah Lovenheim Award for Short Fiction. I recently graduated from GrubStreet's Novel Incubator program, where I’m working on a novel about paramedics in 1970s Boston.