Best of Boston

Punk-rock promoter turned political power player Joyce Linehan has had some famous houseguests in her day. In the ’90s, Courtney Love crashed at her place; in the late 2010s, Linehan convinced an obscure Harvard Law professor named Elizabeth Warren to run for Senate in her living room. And since 2017, that same enormous Dorchester living room has hosted the city’s coziest and most eclectic literary series. There are only two rules: No true crime, and every guest of honor gets his or her face memorialized on an ink stamp. Yes, Linehan’s tastes still veer rockwise, with visits from rockers-turned-authors Warren Zanes and Bill Janovitz. But she’s hosted plenty of policy and politics, too, from Congressman Jamie Raskin and former Labor secretary Robert Reich to New Yorker staff writer Patrick Radden Keefe. Highlights from the past year include writer and playwright Nick Flynn, The Big Dig podcast host (and fellow Best of Boston winner) Ian Coss, and ex-Gawker labor reporter Hamilton Nolan.