Twin Cities Book Festival 2014

Twin Cities Book Festival 2014

Saturday was the annual Book Festival here in the Twin Cities, sponsored by Rain Taxi.  Every year the event gets better and better.  This year was the best so far in the 5 years I have attended.

I arrived at the State Fairgrounds at 10:10.  I had just a little bit of time to walk around and check out the vendors before I went to see Ann Hood and Laird Hunt speak about their new books.

Laird Hunt spoke first about his novel Neverhome.  It took him 15 years to write this story about a woman who fights in the Civil War.  He was inspired by this book by Sarah Wakeman; An Uncommon Soldier: The Civil War Letters of Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, Alias Pvt. Lyons Wakeman, 153rd Regiment, New York State Volunteers, 1862-1864

Then Ann Hood spoke about her book, The Italian Wife and growing up in a
large Italian-American family with an outhouse in the backyard and the only coal stove in her neighborhood.  She grew up with hardly any books in the house but her family was rich with stories.  It took Ann 15 years to write her novel The Italian Wife.

Next I ran, literally hurried over to the author hub to meet Allen Eskens because I am super excited to read his new book The Life We Bury.  I signed him up to be an author "featured"on Booksnob next year!

Next I met up with my reading and bookish friend, Pamela, and she gave me two recently released books that look spectacular.  One is by Garth Stein, author of The Art of Racing in the Rain (my daughter's favorite book) called A Sudden Light.  It is a ghost story and I LOVE ghost stories.

The other book Pamela gave me is The Accidental Highwayman by Ben Tripp.  This is the first I have heard of this book but it looks like it will be a fun and entertaining read.

For the next hour, I walked the floor and visited with authors and publishers and picked up a few more books.  I met Matt Rasmussen, author of an award winning book of poetry called Black Aperture and got a copy of his book to review.

I also picked up a advanced copy of Bloodrealms by Aurora Whittet and a copy of Festival of Crime, Nineteen Tales of Murder and Suspense by Twin Cities Sisters in Crime by Nodin Press.

Then I went to the Teen Tent where I heard authors Stephanie Perkins and Morgan Matson speak.  It was standing room only.  The authors were personable and talked about all kinds of teen related things.  I bought a copy of Perkins book, Anna and the French Kiss and waited in line 45 minutes for her to sign it for my daughter!  By this time my foot (formerly broken foot) was in major pain from standing too long.

I really, really, really wanted to hear Andrea Cremer and Marie Lu speak but I couldn't stand anymore.  So I missed this event in the Teen Tent but I did spend a few minutes talking with Andrea Cremer.  She's awesome.

At 2:45, I literally ran back to the author hub to meet Nancy Horan, author of Loving Frank and Under the Wide and Starry Sky.  I quickly snapped this awesome picture of her and then I was off to sit down and listen to some more author presentations.

Stephan Eirik Clark, author of Sweetness #9, and Julie Schumacher, author of Dear Committee Members, spoke together.  They had us laughing out loud as they read parts of their books.  Both of their books are getting rave reviews.

Next up, were two graphic novelists and comic artists, Anders Nilsen and Zak Sally.  They had a great presentation on their latest project called Conversation Gardening.  Really interesting talk.  I love graphic novels and can't wait to read some of their work.

I ended my day with my friend Barbara, at 4:30 at the author hub, talking to Benjamin Percy, author of Red Moon.

Phew!  Busy, Wonderful, Fun, Amazing day talking to awesome authors!
Thanks Rain Taxi!