So this weekend I went to Brisbane Writers Festival! This isnt an even that I would normally consider going to as I went to the Byron Bay Writers Festival and the things I went to see where just not things I am interested in and I struggled not to fall asleep.
But then Melina Marchetta posted that she was going to be at BWF and my world stopped. I had a mini breakdown and went on a hunt to see who, when and where. I had it all worked out except on the 10th I also had a baby shower to attend so I made my friend push it back by half an hour so that I could do all the things and not be too late for that :D
So on the 10th I got up bright and early to go make sure I got a park and I could look around and make sure I got a good spot in Melina’s book talk for the book Tell The Truth Shame The Devil which the publishers were kind enough to send to me so I had managed to read it before the talk. I had all this extra time up my sleeve because I had read someones ‘guide to surviving BWS 2015’ and they had said rock up super early because there was a line for carparks and what not. Well thank god I didn’t mind being early because this was not the case. I don’t know if it just wasn’t as busy this year or if that person was talking about the weekday events but it was rather quiet on the weekend.
I loved every moment of the talk and I can now proudly say that my favorite book is signed. It feels soo good. I just wish I had had the guts to ask her for a picture, but she was so serious and composed the entire time. I was just so flustered!
Then after Melna’s talk I went to a booktalk with Jay Kristoff for his book Nevernight. Holly hell that man is tall! He came in like a dark lord towering above us all but was super happy and friendly the whole time. Again I really really enjoyed this talk despite the fact that I have yet to actually read this book. I do have a copy, just haven’t gotten to it yet with my schedule :( I think in terms of talks I liked this one even more because Jay told us a few different stories about a few other books as well, and he was just so damn happy and enthusiastic the entire time.
This super friendly attitude was sort of my downfall here though. I was like the 5th person in line, but he was so friendly to everyone that it took like 20 minutes for him to get to me and by then I am freaking out because I was already going to be late for the shower and everyone was taking pictures so I wanted a picture too but then I freaked and sort of invaded his personal space and bhfiebkjrkjbrjkbf. I was very embarrassed for myself. I look spastic in the picture too!
Then I raced down to the shower and proceeded to get drenched helping her get presents inside the house when the shower was over.
Moving on to the day to, the very first thing I did was see that David Levithan was about to come out for his signing, and while I have yet to read any of his works, some of them where for sale there so I thought why the hell not and picked up a few of his works and had him sign them for me. It was a bit awkward because I couldn’t comment on anything of his so I just asked him how his day was going haha.
I then went straight to Meg Rosoff’s book talk on her latest book Johnathan Unleashed, which I have not read because I have not heard very good things but I had just got given and read How I Live Now so I was interested in listening to what she had to say. She had a very different kind of way about how she did the interview. It was very serious but also funny in a serious kind of way, sort of a sarcastic funny. She at one point said how she wished she got asked or compliment more on other works besides How I Live Now and was sort of sick about hearing about it so this lead to me awkwardly apologising for not having a more original book for her to sign as I was the first person in line XD
Then I had Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman talking about Illuminae. This was just as fun as the Nevernight talk. This talk had the same host and she was really good at asking the right questions and keeping everything fun. Jay and Amie are just the funniest thing together they get along so well. I am a bit ashamed to admit that I didn’t realize they were Australian authors that had just gotten then works published in the US first because it was a bigger market. I just assumed they were from the US because thats where the books were first happening.
Again I got a photo with these two. I wasn’t going to because no one before me and the girl I was in line with had gotten pictures, but then the girl asked me to take a picture and I just said only if you don’y mind taking one for me as well! You can see if this picture I was very conscious not to invade anyones space haha. I also had the guts to asked a question during the panel about whether or not they felt pressure for writing the third book because of the success of the first two and they said that it was already written and they try not to look at reviews as to keep true to what they wanted to write. This is probably a good way of doing things. But yes, just two of the most friendly people in the world.
And then of course no literature day is complete without getting hold of some stationary.
And that all I have for you guys today, sadly there will be no TTT this week as I do not have time, but for the first time in a very long time I might have the weekend off so I hope I can get some posts in there somewhere.
Till Next Time…
