Festival of Books recap

This is not a book review. I just wanted to share about the amazing weekend I had last weekend (4/20-4/21). It was the LA Time Festival of Books held at USC and this year I was lucky enough to get to go both days. I went with friends from my book club and Lily, Brittany, and me were the only ones to go both days. Even though there seemed to be fewer authors that I knew, there was still a great amount to do and see and listen to.

Saturday I was able to listen to these panels:

Poetry Matters: Public Sorrow and Private Grief featuring Mary Jon Bang, Henri Cole, and Dana Gioia

Young Adult Fiction: With Great Power... featuring Cornelia Funke, Mark Frost, and Gennifer Albin

Lemony Snicket & Jon Klassen, The Dark

And Sunday these panels:

Middle Grade Fiction: The Beauty in the Everyday featuring Katherine Applegate, Kathryn Fitmaurice, Gary Schmidt, and Linda Urban

Middle Grade Fiction: Ordinary Kids, Extraordinary Adventures featuring Blue Balliett, Pseudonymous Bosh, and Stuart Gibbs

Not Just Writing Good: Writing Well featuring Constance Hale, Carolyn See, and Ben Yogoda

I was super excited to listen to some of the authors I have read for this blog assignment. I was able to listen to the panels of: Cornelia Funke (The Thief Lord), Katherine Applegate (The One and Only Ivan), Gary Schmidt (The Wednesday Wars), and Lemony Snicket ("Who Could That Be at This Hour?"). I found it very interesting that most of the panel discussions turned to processes of writing. Of course, many people attending are fans and/or aspiring writers themselves. And although I am not an aspiring writer some of what they had to say did relate to the writing I do for school so I enjoyed that. This was especially true for the Not Writing Good panel. The authors were focused on nonacademic writing but some of what they had to say was stuff I have read in research writing texts. It was a fantastic experience even though I did not get to see every one I wanted to. Maybe next year it will be all about the panels and I will not worry about the signatures.