Ed Rendell Coming to Chestnut Hill

Ed Rendell is coming back to Philadelphia.

The former governor and mayor is coming to Chestnut Hill on Sept. 30 as part of the 4th annual Chestnut Hill Book Festival.

Rendell will speak about his most recent book, A Nation of Wusses: How America's Leaders Lost the Guts to Make us Great. Chestnut Hill College is hosting his talk.

He is the highlight on a list of speakers who will talk about literature and writing during the one-day festival, according to Marie Lachat, a member of the committee in charge of planning the festival.

"He's a big draw," she said. "I said at our last meeting, 'We're going to have to get a big shot next year if we're going to top ourselves.'"

Lachat says that, while the fare tries to keep its speakers as local as possible, it isn't opposed to attracting bigger names like Rendell.

"Surprisingly with many of these authors, you just have to ask them," she said. "The fair has almost all local authors, our focus is on local authors, but sometimes someone knowns someone and if there's a chance to get a well-known author, we won't say no."

Rendell is scheduled to speak at 3:45 p.m. at Chestnut Hill College's Sugarloaf expansion on Sept. 30.