Posted in Books-general, Kids books-general, tagged author talks, doodles, events, fun on April 24, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
(cue Doctor Who intro)
A residual thought from World Book Night at the Cambridge Public Library: Neil Gaiman has not a few hardcore, dedicated, borderline stalk-y fans, depending on which angle you look at it. Does finding his features perfect for the 15 Minute Sketch* challenge make me one of them?
*For an explanation of what 15 Minute Sketches are all about, see here, here, and here.
Posted in Books-general, Kids books-general, tagged author talks, events, fun, joint post on April 23, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
AKA where awesome people give out books to encourage reading (fun fact: the concept for World Book Day (and Night…for adults, because they stay up later) comes from Spain, where Cervantes’ birthday is traditionally celebrated by women giving men books and men returning the favor by giving women…flowers. Which might not be as appreciated, unless you’re Vanessa Diffenbaugh, author of The Language of Flowers.)
Vanessa Diffenbaugh (left) and Lisa Genova (right)
Neil Gaiman
Diffenbaugh was one of the speakers, along with neuroscientist and author Lisa Genova and writer Neil Gaiman. They spoke about how they began writing, their writing process, books they wish they had written (Neil Gaiman, as a young boy, carried with him at all times a copy of The Lord of the Rings, in the event he ever found himself transported to a parallel universe where Tolkien did not exist, and where he could claim credit for the series) and how they are sometimes surprised by plots that run away from them. All in all, it was a funny, interesting, and inspiring night–especially hearing their advice to budding writers: be persistent, make time to actually write (Genova recommends three pages of stream-of-consciousness as a daily warm-up), and you will get better.
Posted in Kids books-general, tagged author talks, events, fun on October 30, 2012 | 2 Comments »
We were lucky enough to meet both authors last week: Lowry at a book signing for Son, Snicket (I mean Daniel Handler) at the Boston Book Festival as he promoted Who Could That Be at This Hour? It would be hard to find two other middle grade authors more different in the way they write (mostly, anyway*) and in how they interact with their audience…To illustrate my point, here’s a handy-dandy chart:
Posted in Picture books, tagged author talks, events, fun, joint post on October 7, 2012 | 2 Comments »
(joint post)
You missed it? Too bad.
Mo Willems believes author talks should be experienced, not documented. So during yesterday’s visit to the Cambridge Public Library, after posing for a brief photo shoot, he asked everyone in the audience to refrain from taking photos or video. Or “I will shame you.” His words, not ours.
Tom Warburton, left, and Mo Willems, right. (more…)
Posted in Kids books-general, tagged author talks, events, fun, library tours on October 1, 2012 | 4 Comments »
As we were in NYC for Kidlit Con 2012, the Pocket Pacys begged to come along for some sight-seeing. They had a fantastic time.
Pacy hits Times Square.
Pacy visits the Brooklyn Bridge…or rather, the Lego version (at Little, Brown Books).
Pacy admires the magnificent New York Public Library, home to KidLit Con 2012.
The Pacys hang out at the library.
The Pacys (and their chaperones) reunite with Original Pacy (during Grace Lin’s book signing).
Posted in YA books, tagged author talks, events, fun on September 22, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
“I am not a hugging person,” began Maggie Stiefvater, during Thursday’s tour for her newest novel The Raven Boys at the Cambridge Public Library’s teen room. As she elaborated why, I mulled over her statement. Going into this book talk, my knowledge of all things Stiefvater was patchy at best. I had read exactly one of her many books (The Scorpio Races) and I had the vague notion that one series featured werewolves and romance (neither of which I particularly seek out in a book). Taking into account the paranormal romance phenomenon, it was possible that she had an extremely enthusiastic fanbase (think Twilight) with embrace-y tendencies and was taking preventative action.
Or maybe not, because Stiefvater told us to hold that thought. Then, changing directions, she began the way most authors do, telling us what inspires her writing and which author had the most profound effect on her when she was young. That honor goes to Susan Cooper, which makes complete sense because The Dark is Rising books are steeped in mythology and fantasy and set within the real world. At this year’s ALA conference, Stiefvater got the chance to meet her literary hero. There’s even a Twitter picture of the two authors, which, as Stiefvater’s friend puts it, “looks like [Susan Cooper] is a cookie and you want to eat her.”
(more…)
Posted in YA books, tagged author talks, events on April 6, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
This Tuesday, Porter Square Books hosted author Ruta Sepetys at the most informative, moving, and memorable book talk I’ve been to yet. She shared with us her research and writing process–as well her personal journey–in bringing to light her award-winning debut novel, Between Shades of Gray.
Before she began writing Gray, Sepetys worked in the music industry helping artists tell their stories of where they came from and who they are. A self-proclaimed “Lithuanian imposter,” she went to her grandparents’ homeland hoping to shed light on her family history so she could answer that very same question. She ended up discovering a common chapter of the country’s history that had been buried for nearly half a century by Soviet control and fear. The survivors she met begged her to tell their story, a charge she took very seriously. Her research brought her across Lithuania to the northernmost shores of the Arctic sea, as well as to a former Soviet prison.
(more…)
Posted in MG books (ages 8-12), tagged author talks, events, food, fun, joint post on January 22, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Book launch of Dumpling Days by Grace Lin, held at Porter Square Books on Jan. 21st.
(Note: this is a joint post from Jen and Lisa)
Grace Lin’s book launch felt like one big happy gathering, just in time for Chinese New Year. Lin gave us a taste of her new book by reading to us from Dumpling Days. This time around, we travel with Pacy to Taiwan, her parents’ homeland, for a month long food adventure. In the sushi restaurant chapter, Pacy encounters for the first time raw fish and wasabi and a high-tech Japanese toilet with a control panel. “You never press the red button!” we learn as Lin sent us into fits of laughter, perfectly capturing Pacy’s youthful voice in a spot-on reading.
Yes, that’s a fancy toilet on the projector screen.
Posted in Kids books-general, MG books (ages 8-12), Picture books, tagged author talks, events, fun, joint post on December 5, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
(Note: this is a joint post)
The Exquisite Conversation: An Adventure in Creating Books
We’ll try to avoid unmitigated gushing, but it’s hard not to be starstruck when you’re in the same auditorium as beloved literary heroes Katherine Paterson, M.T. Anderson, Natalie Babbitt, Susan Cooper, Timothy Basil Ering, Steven Kellogg, Patricia MacLachlan, and James Ransome. We saw their faces. We heard their voices. Patricia MacLachlan even sang!
L-R: Mary Brigid Barret (president of NCBLA), Steven Kellogg, Susan Cooper, Katherine Paterson, James Ransome (standing up), Natalie Babbitt, M.T. Anderson, Patricia MacLachlan, and Timothy Basil Ering.
Posted in YA books, tagged author talks, events, fun, news on May 14, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
From left to right: Francisco X. Stork, Cindy Pon, Malinda Lo, Deva Fagan, Sarah Rees Brennan, Holly Black and moderator Roger Sutton
A panel of six authors spoke at the Cambridge Public Library on Thursday about diversity in YA fiction. The event was moderated by Roger Sutton, Editor-in-Chief of the Horn Book, who noted the strange irony that this diversity panel had five fantasy writers (Holly Black, Sarah Rees Brennan, Deva Fagan, Malinda Lo, Cindy Pon) and only one who wrote realistic fiction (Francisco X. Stork).
Fantasy is certainly the “it” genre right now, and Sutton had a stunning statistic to back it up: one-third of all current hardcover book published for youth are fantasy/speculative fiction—and many of them series fantasy. (more…)
