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I have proof! |
This past weekend I went to the DC National Book Festival
for the first time. Not knowing what to
expect, I found it a bit overwhelming.
Let me start at the beginning. On
Saturday I went with my friend’s two
daughters and my friend, we are all bookworms, so I felt right at home. We left the house two hours earlier (the
first authors were schedule to talk at 10:00) and I have to explain that I live
in Maryland, about 45 minutes away from DC.
Another thing that is very important to know is that every author has a
‘reading’ (I mean, some read from the latest book and some don’t) and then a
scheduled book signing time.
The author that I was more eager to see was John Green, and if you haven’t read The Fault in Our Stars I encourage you
to read it ASAP (see my review here). Unfortunately, by the time I got there I was
at the very back of the tent (as you can see by the picture below), but I did
get to see him and to listen to him talk.
He is a truly amazing person and I loved every minute of it. After his talk, I walked as fast as I could
in the hopes to get in line and get my copy of TFiOS signed. Alas, there were hundreds of people in line
already! I stayed in said line for about
40 minutes, and in that time of solitary contemplation I realized this: I could either get all my books signed by
staking the lines all day OR I could enjoy the authors’ readings. I opted for the second and quickly removed myself
from the line.
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You can't probably tell, but that's John Green |
Next, I sat for the reading of Maggie Stiefvater which I adored.
I got my copy of Raven Boys from BEA and I stood in line two hours for that copy, so I was able to enjoy our
time together. She is so funny and
comfortable on stage. After that we saw Melissa Marr, she opted for a format in
which she sat down and her editor or publisher (sorry I don’t remember!)
interviewed her. I’m sorry to say that
the sound was terrible and I found that format a bit off-putting and less
personal. Last in the day on Saturday we
saw the wonderful David Levithan. He too seemed very comfortable speaking for a
crowd and he read a bit of his new book Every Day (review here).
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Melissa Marr |
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David Levithan |
On Sunday, we
planned on a much shorter day. At noon
my friend’s daughters and my son ‘B’ sat for Charlaine Harris ‘reading’.
It was so funny and I love her southern accent, it was very interesting
how her career took off and how she came up with the idea for the Sookie
Stackhouse books (Southern Vampires series).
After that ‘B’ and I went to Ellen
Hopkins presentation, this lady is also amazing and she’s had a rough
life! We had to leave early because ‘B’
wanted a book he bought The Creature From
The Seventh Grade: Boy or Beast signed by its author Bob Balaban. While standing in line with him I noticed how
all the people that were first in line and waiting to get their books signed
were sitting on chairs, with umbrellas to shield themselves from the sun, and
refreshments. This, my friends is
serious business! I was clearly out of
my league. The last authors that we saw
were Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian.
These ladies were great and funny as well.
They talked about their past experiences in high school and how their
book Burn for Burn came to be.
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Charlaine Harris |
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Ellen Hopkins |
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Bob Balaban |
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Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian |
A word about the Barnes & Noble tent: It was hotter than
h*** in there! Obviously the tent was
all closed and well guarded to prevent theft, BUT there were only a few air
conditioners along one of the walls, and it was not nearly enough for the size
of the tent. I pity those poor people
working there all day. Oh, and they sold out of many books before they first day
was out!
Overall, this was a great experience and I certainly hope I
can attempt it again next year. Maybe I
can bring a non-reader (like my hubby or our son ‘A’) to stay in line and get
my books signed :)
Very jealous! I got to attend BEA for the first time this past summer, I'd love to go to the DC national book festival at least once in my life as well. The fact that you got to hear them do a reading is cool as there wasn't as much of that at BEA.
ReplyDeleteI know! I also attended BEA for the first time this summer.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you had a blast! Was it very crowded? I was shocked at how NOT-crowded the Baltimore Book Festival was. Of course, the authors that were there aren't quite as popular as some of the ones you saw. :)
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