book fest 2009 - almost as wet as 2008
Back from the National Book Fest in DC. Am still kind of damp :\ Am no longer damp, as I fell asleep at my laptop typing this orz. But at least it didn't pour like last year.
There was a shit-ton worth of people, though, despite a steady drizzle. Mostly because, as I mentioned before, there were really popular authors whose names I've known but never really read - James Patterson, John Grisham, John Irving, Jodi Picoult, Nicholas Sparks; authors that I had read growing up - Lois Lowry, Judy Blume, Jon Scieszka; and authors I wanted to see, which was basically just Rick Riordan and Ken Burns XD
The downside to the massive amount of people was that the lines for any given book-signing was at least twice as long as they normally are. These lines snaked back and forth (because for some reason they never mark out paths for the lines to go) and end up looping back on themselves. The longest line I was in was Riordan's - I showed up half an hour early and was in the 15th row, and it definitely numbered about 20 by the time he got to signing. So yeah, I didn't get my book signed. Riordan apparently wanted to stick around and sign as much as he could, but the volunteers hustled him out of the way for whoever was supposed to come after him. They really need an over-flow booth or something, a place where an author who wants to sign and see his or her fans can go and stay without worrying about someone kicking them out.
But! Despite this disappointment, I did manage to see him, and Jon Scieszka (who is an hysterical man) among a bunch others.
Also, everyone needs to read The Exquisite Corpse.
Because it is goofy. The Exquisite Corpse is an online story being told in a kind of round by a group of young adult/childrens authors. The title comes from a parlor game where someone would start a story but leave off at a certain point, when another person would pick it up and continue it, only to stop for yet another person to continue the story. There's also a version where one artist would draw one part of a body, and the picture would get passed from artist to artist until it was finished, each one adding a new element.
Well, they're mimicing this in the online story of the Exquisite Corpse. Jon Scieszka, if you know anything about his stories, wrote the first chapter (it's online, read it, it's a total hoot and you can't help but feel so bad for the other authors who have to follow him) and the other authors - I can remember Steven Kellogg, Katherine Patterson and Kate DiCamillo are involved but there's a bunch more - intend to include everything Scieszka mentioned in the first chapter. Even the roller-skating baby. And the meatballs.
Scieszka was just a hoot to watch (he's the one holding up the books as the other woman - Margaret something, I think - introduced each author, only he'd do it hovering over their heads, waving off to the side, slowly raising it in front of their faces, that sort of thing), he kept goofing off but in a good way, and there was so much of the good kind of snark (you know the kind, where a group of friends keep kidding around with each other) going on with the group of authors that they were hysterical to watch. They were the first group Heather and I saw, and it was really a nice surprise.
I ended up somewhat stalking Kate DiCamillo; her book signing was at the same time as Scieszka's, and Heather and our other friend Jenny had books for both of them she wanted signed. So dumbass me, instead of checking Riordan's line first, volunteered to get DiCamillo's so Heather could get Scieszka (advice for any future goers to a book fest: bring a large group of people, preferably those not interested in reading, because you can get them to wait in the long lines and get your books signed while you can catch the author's little speech). After getting her signature, I tried to get Riordan's to no avail, and booked it over to the tent where he was supposed to be - in an hour or so.
So I ended up watching Kate DiCamillo again, because I caught her speech (she preceded Riordan in the teen and children's tent). For those who don't recognize the name, she wrote Because of Winn-Dixie and The Tale of Despereaux among others (her newest one, The Magician's Elephant, seems pretty cool, and I kept getting The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane recommended to me). Even if she always looked somewhat frustrated, she was very frank and honest in her responses, with a bit of dry humor, and she was open in talking about how books saved her life. Also, I felt a bonding when she said she wrote Because of Winn-Dixie because she was missing Florida and was dog-deprived. I may not know about missing Florida of all places, but man do I understand dog-deprived. So, overall I rather liked her.
Riordan was next. I didn't get any decent pictures of the guy, because he likes to talk with his hands XD
If you ever get the chance to meet this guy, do so. He's incredibly energetic and exuberant about almost everything. His voice, tone and bearing scream "teacher!" but in a good way - he's very much the goofball teacher everyone liked to have as their homeroom teacher. Loud but personable and very friendly, his story about how he started the Percy Jackson series was cute: his son was dyslexic and ADHD (like Percy) and was only really interested in Greek mythology. So he started telling his son all the myths he knew, until he went through them all. When he finished, his son wanted another story, so Riordan decided to spin a story about modern-day demi-gods.
And the rest, as they say, is history. Or a Youtube video. This video also discusses his two newest projects: I don't know if he's said this elsewhere, but he is doing a second Camp Halfblood series and Percy will be in it, but as a secondary character, and he's also doing a book that sounds like a stand-alone on the Egyptian gods that should be coming out May 4, 2010.
His Q&A was fun, although he does sometimes come across as someone trying to sell his stories - but I suspect this might also be the teacher in him, drawing on theatrics to keep kids entertained. Someone asked him who his favorite god, favorite character and favorite minor god were. His answers? Poseidon or Athena - no surprises; aside from Percy and Annabeth, Grover or Tyson; and Nike, goddess of victory. Also, I love when authors dork out. Kids also asked him what purpose Juniper had in the series, which I thought was an odd question to ask (unless there's some kind of theory about her going around?), and where did Grover come from and why did he like enchiladas. I didn't tape those questions although now I wish I had, because Riordan claimed Grover was most like him, and that apparently the enchiladas served on enchilada day at school are so amazing they deserve a reference in a book series as a character's favorite food XD
Also, if you want, here's the first public reading of the first chapter of the Egyptian gods book. His mike cuts out towards the end, because they were having technical difficulties like crazy, but you should still be able to hear him.
After Riordan, I caught a bit of another author's speech before Ken Burns (and fellow co-author Dayton Duncan) came up to talk about their new documentary on America's state parks. Managing to get a seat (I was shocked, first time that had happened since the first presentation at 10 in the morning), I videotaped a good portion of their talk for my mom, who hadn't been able to come with us, but during their Q&A I started nodding off. In my defense, it wasn't that they were boring at all, but it was more that I've had this blasted cold for a few days now and I hadn't gotten any sleep the night before. So yeah. Still feel rather guilty though.
There was a shit-ton worth of people, though, despite a steady drizzle. Mostly because, as I mentioned before, there were really popular authors whose names I've known but never really read - James Patterson, John Grisham, John Irving, Jodi Picoult, Nicholas Sparks; authors that I had read growing up - Lois Lowry, Judy Blume, Jon Scieszka; and authors I wanted to see, which was basically just Rick Riordan and Ken Burns XD
The downside to the massive amount of people was that the lines for any given book-signing was at least twice as long as they normally are. These lines snaked back and forth (because for some reason they never mark out paths for the lines to go) and end up looping back on themselves. The longest line I was in was Riordan's - I showed up half an hour early and was in the 15th row, and it definitely numbered about 20 by the time he got to signing. So yeah, I didn't get my book signed. Riordan apparently wanted to stick around and sign as much as he could, but the volunteers hustled him out of the way for whoever was supposed to come after him. They really need an over-flow booth or something, a place where an author who wants to sign and see his or her fans can go and stay without worrying about someone kicking them out.
But! Despite this disappointment, I did manage to see him, and Jon Scieszka (who is an hysterical man) among a bunch others.
Also, everyone needs to read The Exquisite Corpse.
Because it is goofy. The Exquisite Corpse is an online story being told in a kind of round by a group of young adult/childrens authors. The title comes from a parlor game where someone would start a story but leave off at a certain point, when another person would pick it up and continue it, only to stop for yet another person to continue the story. There's also a version where one artist would draw one part of a body, and the picture would get passed from artist to artist until it was finished, each one adding a new element.
Well, they're mimicing this in the online story of the Exquisite Corpse. Jon Scieszka, if you know anything about his stories, wrote the first chapter (it's online, read it, it's a total hoot and you can't help but feel so bad for the other authors who have to follow him) and the other authors - I can remember Steven Kellogg, Katherine Patterson and Kate DiCamillo are involved but there's a bunch more - intend to include everything Scieszka mentioned in the first chapter. Even the roller-skating baby. And the meatballs.
Scieszka was just a hoot to watch (he's the one holding up the books as the other woman - Margaret something, I think - introduced each author, only he'd do it hovering over their heads, waving off to the side, slowly raising it in front of their faces, that sort of thing), he kept goofing off but in a good way, and there was so much of the good kind of snark (you know the kind, where a group of friends keep kidding around with each other) going on with the group of authors that they were hysterical to watch. They were the first group Heather and I saw, and it was really a nice surprise.
I ended up somewhat stalking Kate DiCamillo; her book signing was at the same time as Scieszka's, and Heather and our other friend Jenny had books for both of them she wanted signed. So dumbass me, instead of checking Riordan's line first, volunteered to get DiCamillo's so Heather could get Scieszka (advice for any future goers to a book fest: bring a large group of people, preferably those not interested in reading, because you can get them to wait in the long lines and get your books signed while you can catch the author's little speech). After getting her signature, I tried to get Riordan's to no avail, and booked it over to the tent where he was supposed to be - in an hour or so.
So I ended up watching Kate DiCamillo again, because I caught her speech (she preceded Riordan in the teen and children's tent). For those who don't recognize the name, she wrote Because of Winn-Dixie and The Tale of Despereaux among others (her newest one, The Magician's Elephant, seems pretty cool, and I kept getting The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane recommended to me). Even if she always looked somewhat frustrated, she was very frank and honest in her responses, with a bit of dry humor, and she was open in talking about how books saved her life. Also, I felt a bonding when she said she wrote Because of Winn-Dixie because she was missing Florida and was dog-deprived. I may not know about missing Florida of all places, but man do I understand dog-deprived. So, overall I rather liked her.
Riordan was next. I didn't get any decent pictures of the guy, because he likes to talk with his hands XD
If you ever get the chance to meet this guy, do so. He's incredibly energetic and exuberant about almost everything. His voice, tone and bearing scream "teacher!" but in a good way - he's very much the goofball teacher everyone liked to have as their homeroom teacher. Loud but personable and very friendly, his story about how he started the Percy Jackson series was cute: his son was dyslexic and ADHD (like Percy) and was only really interested in Greek mythology. So he started telling his son all the myths he knew, until he went through them all. When he finished, his son wanted another story, so Riordan decided to spin a story about modern-day demi-gods.
And the rest, as they say, is history. Or a Youtube video. This video also discusses his two newest projects: I don't know if he's said this elsewhere, but he is doing a second Camp Halfblood series and Percy will be in it, but as a secondary character, and he's also doing a book that sounds like a stand-alone on the Egyptian gods that should be coming out May 4, 2010.
His Q&A was fun, although he does sometimes come across as someone trying to sell his stories - but I suspect this might also be the teacher in him, drawing on theatrics to keep kids entertained. Someone asked him who his favorite god, favorite character and favorite minor god were. His answers? Poseidon or Athena - no surprises; aside from Percy and Annabeth, Grover or Tyson; and Nike, goddess of victory. Also, I love when authors dork out. Kids also asked him what purpose Juniper had in the series, which I thought was an odd question to ask (unless there's some kind of theory about her going around?), and where did Grover come from and why did he like enchiladas. I didn't tape those questions although now I wish I had, because Riordan claimed Grover was most like him, and that apparently the enchiladas served on enchilada day at school are so amazing they deserve a reference in a book series as a character's favorite food XD
Also, if you want, here's the first public reading of the first chapter of the Egyptian gods book. His mike cuts out towards the end, because they were having technical difficulties like crazy, but you should still be able to hear him.
After Riordan, I caught a bit of another author's speech before Ken Burns (and fellow co-author Dayton Duncan) came up to talk about their new documentary on America's state parks. Managing to get a seat (I was shocked, first time that had happened since the first presentation at 10 in the morning), I videotaped a good portion of their talk for my mom, who hadn't been able to come with us, but during their Q&A I started nodding off. In my defense, it wasn't that they were boring at all, but it was more that I've had this blasted cold for a few days now and I hadn't gotten any sleep the night before. So yeah. Still feel rather guilty though.