Besides running a booth for my internship at the Boston Book Festival, I have never actually attended a book festival. That almost feels like a lie as I write because how can that be? But I also went a few years without a library card and had to restore my honor earlier this year so all realities are possible.
I found out about the Texas Teen Book Festival earlier this week and it seemed obvious I needed to check it out. After all, this is the genre I read and write. I roped in my friend and fellow writer, Madeline, to go with me and we made the trek north to Georgetown, TX where the event was being hosted at the local university.
It was a relatively small event, with author signings and panels running all day and a few sections of booths where authors or publishers displayed this season’s YA picks. I ended up with four new books because I have little chill, and a couple of handcrafted notebooks (because can you ever have too many notebooks?).
I only knew two of the authors at the festival — Bill Konigsberg and Jennifer Donnelly. The former wrote one of the best contemporary YA books I’ve read this year (The Music of What Happens) and the latter I’ve been reading since high school, starting with her adult historical fiction book The Tea Rose which I still claim as one of my favorite reads of all time. I brought my copies of The Music of What Happens and The Tea Rose to get signed by the authors and also bought Donnelly’s latest YA release Stepsister.
I felt heavy with emotion after my brief encounters with both authors, especially Donnelly since her work has been part of my life for over a decade now and here she was, a real human sitting in a little university courtyard being lovely to me as she signed both my books and told me that The Tea Rose had been optioned for a TV mini-series (which yes, please).
Overall I came away realizing how much I want to keep connecting to this world and also how many more books there are to read! The Texas Book Festival is in a couple of weeks (with Rainbow Rowell, bless) and I’m also attending an author speaking event this week. Hopefully, I can keep doing more of this!
Madeline and I wrapped the day by going wine tasting and talking books, writing, and shows while looking out over the Georgetown square.
With Love,
Natalie