Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Armchair BEA - Author Interactions


Welcome back to day 2 of Armchair BEA! Today I'm sharing pictures from my three favorite author interactions. I'm really lucky to live in an area that my favorite authors visit pretty frequently.

First up, Neil Gaiman!



Yep, I've actually met him twice. Both times were at Agnes Scott College in Atlanta. The first time he came, the audience was asked to write questions for him on index cards. He answered one of mine, which was pretty exciting! (I asked him about maintaining privacy while blogging, tweeting, and otherwise putting his life on display.) The second time my Sandman comic book club had been discussing Morpheus's changing appearance and I made a bit of an ass of myself asking him about the way Dream appears to blind people. Oops.

Next, Lauren Myracle!



My BFF and I drove up to Kennesaw State to see her do a reading and signing. She was so friendly and awesome! My students love her books - all of my copies of the TTYL series went missing within a month of me putting them on my class bookshelf. :)

And last (but by no means least), Rainbow Rowell!



If you read yesterday's post about my favorite books, you will probably not be surprised AT ALL to see Rainbow on this list. I loved hearing her talk about her characters and her process. We even discussed fanfic, which led to the GREATEST inscription ever:



What are your favorite author interactions? Have you ever experienced the abject humiliation that comes with saying something profoundly stupid in front of a person you admire? If you could meet an author, who would it be? What would you ask him/her?

5 comments:

Stacy at The Novel Life said...

you are so lucky!!! I'm in awe of your Neil Gaiman meets! How did you find out about him at Agnes Scott?!? I'm in Dunwoody - what part of GA are you in? *waving hi!*

jessi said...

Hi, Stacy! I'm near Milledgeville right now, but I'm moving back to Atlanta next week. :) I still can't believe I got to meet Neil Gaiman TWICE. For me, it was a combination of luck and knowing the right people. Either I or my friends shopped at the local bookstores that sponsored Neil's signings and I just happened to hear about them in time to get tickets. :) Little Shop of Stories in Decatur has author visits CONSTANTLY. They're the ones who brought in Rainbow, so I'm forever in their debt.

Anonymous said...

Wow, what a cool bunch of authors to meet! I like Neil Gaiman, and I really enjoyed Shine. I haven't read anything by Rowell, but I hear good things & she's cool to follow on Twitter. Lucky you! :)

Anonymous said...

Great author interactions! Neil Gaiman...Nice! First time visitor, looking forward to getting to know you through the week.

jessi said...

Thanks, roofbeamreader! I also enjoy following Rainbow on twitter (and tumblr - she posts more Benedict Cumberbatch photos than anyone I know!).

@Stephanie - Thanks for stopping by! I'm looking forward to meeting lots of new people through BEA. :)