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lame BEA report from E Wein
I’m back from my first Book Expo America at the Javits Center in New York City. I didn’t even scrape the tip of the iceberg. I have this weird personal viewpoint which is entirely based on the number of engagements I had to fulfil: the School Library Journal ‘Day of Dialogue,’ the pre-BEA art auction, the Disney dinner on Thursday night, and a full day on Friday including the Children’s Author Breakfast, a signing, an interview with Publishers’ Weekly (holy cow!!!), then the Children’s Author Tea. The Tea was undoubtedly my favorite event of the whole thing and THAT was because everybody at my first table had read Code Name Verity and we had an excellent All Spoilers, All the Time discussion which began with one woman leaning over the table and gasping passionately, “WHY???? WHYWHYWHYWHYWHY????!!!” To which I responded, “I’m sorry!” XD
The panel at the Day of Dialogue, “Real World Horror,” was cathartic –I think for audience and panellists alike. We dug deeper than usual. It was a great panel – fortunately it’s summed up very handily here, and there’s even a picture of the panellists (Elizabeth Scott, Julie Berry, Matthew Quick, Adele Griffin and me) and moderator (Karyn Silverman), who were all scarily intelligent and just wonderfully nice. (And also, they are all very slick dressers. I felt quite inadequate on all fronts, but so welcome that it didn’t matter.)
I did not go to any panels that I wasn’t shepherded to by my publisher – I didn’t even have a schedule until I stole one from a kind person, but I never got a chance to look at it, either. I saw Holly Black and Kareem Abdul Jabar, Octavia Spencer and Mary Pope Osborne and Rick Riordan and Veronica Roth, by virtue of their speaking at events at which I was expected to be present – but I didn’t get near enough to get anything autographed (except Riordan, at the Disney dinner). I saw Dr. Ruth from very close by and had my picture taken next to a placard with Bill Bryson’s name on it, on someone else’s camera (I forgot mine), but couldn’t go to his event because I had an event of my own scheduled at the same time. I feel like I did so much and yet I really didn’t see much of anything! AND, despite not actually going around collecting books on purpose, I ended up with TWENTY-SIX POUNDS' worth of books to drag home with me. That is weight, not worth. It is an accurate number – that was my checked baggage.
I can’t believe how many people I met that I actually know – not all from the Internet, either. And I also can’t believe how many people I know were there and whose paths never crossed with mine. There really is not enough time and space in the universe.
When it was all over I got to eat Ethiopian take-away in Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman's amazingly wonderful 1908-era apartment on Riverside Drive (first time I'd seen it), and we went to see a marvelous play called Nikolai and the Others in Lincoln Center. And on my last morning in NYC I bicycled around Central Park.
Oh my goodness, my READERS, they are SO WONDERFUL. Becky, for example, who turned up at Politics & Prose last month and again at BEA, and whom I’ve been meaning to thank for this lovely little card –
(Becky is the one responsible for this sketch)
And Jessica from Read My Breath Away, who turned up in the signing line with a CNV-inspired charm bracelet including a tiny gold Eiffel Tower (gold-colored, anyway) such as Maddie mentions, and which I have to admit Maddie mentions because Eiffel Tower charms constitute my very favorite tourist tat ever.
I have a story to tell about the bracelet. I was wearing it for the first time in the elevator on my way to check out of my hotel on Saturday morning. I was carrying five bags, and I moved to avoid braining the other occupant of the elevator, a very pretty and well-dressed woman. She said apologetically, “I hope you’re not allergic to my perfume!”
I said to her, “Listen, you should never apologise for your perfume.”
She answered, “Why, thank you! Thank you! It’s always a little strong when I first put it on, and I worry.”
I said, “Well, for goodness sake. What’s the point in wearing it if you go around apologising for it?”
“You are so kind!” she said, and then pointed to my new CNV charm bracelet. “And I can tell that you mean it, because you’re wearing that cross. A lot of people might wear a cross, but they don’t always remember what it means. You are putting into practice the kindness you believe in.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that the “cross” she was pointing to on my wrist was, in fact, a B17 Flying Fortress bomber. Or something like that.
The panel at the Day of Dialogue, “Real World Horror,” was cathartic –I think for audience and panellists alike. We dug deeper than usual. It was a great panel – fortunately it’s summed up very handily here, and there’s even a picture of the panellists (Elizabeth Scott, Julie Berry, Matthew Quick, Adele Griffin and me) and moderator (Karyn Silverman), who were all scarily intelligent and just wonderfully nice. (And also, they are all very slick dressers. I felt quite inadequate on all fronts, but so welcome that it didn’t matter.)
I did not go to any panels that I wasn’t shepherded to by my publisher – I didn’t even have a schedule until I stole one from a kind person, but I never got a chance to look at it, either. I saw Holly Black and Kareem Abdul Jabar, Octavia Spencer and Mary Pope Osborne and Rick Riordan and Veronica Roth, by virtue of their speaking at events at which I was expected to be present – but I didn’t get near enough to get anything autographed (except Riordan, at the Disney dinner). I saw Dr. Ruth from very close by and had my picture taken next to a placard with Bill Bryson’s name on it, on someone else’s camera (I forgot mine), but couldn’t go to his event because I had an event of my own scheduled at the same time. I feel like I did so much and yet I really didn’t see much of anything! AND, despite not actually going around collecting books on purpose, I ended up with TWENTY-SIX POUNDS' worth of books to drag home with me. That is weight, not worth. It is an accurate number – that was my checked baggage.
I can’t believe how many people I met that I actually know – not all from the Internet, either. And I also can’t believe how many people I know were there and whose paths never crossed with mine. There really is not enough time and space in the universe.
When it was all over I got to eat Ethiopian take-away in Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman's amazingly wonderful 1908-era apartment on Riverside Drive (first time I'd seen it), and we went to see a marvelous play called Nikolai and the Others in Lincoln Center. And on my last morning in NYC I bicycled around Central Park.
Oh my goodness, my READERS, they are SO WONDERFUL. Becky, for example, who turned up at Politics & Prose last month and again at BEA, and whom I’ve been meaning to thank for this lovely little card –
(Becky is the one responsible for this sketch)And Jessica from Read My Breath Away, who turned up in the signing line with a CNV-inspired charm bracelet including a tiny gold Eiffel Tower (gold-colored, anyway) such as Maddie mentions, and which I have to admit Maddie mentions because Eiffel Tower charms constitute my very favorite tourist tat ever.
I have a story to tell about the bracelet. I was wearing it for the first time in the elevator on my way to check out of my hotel on Saturday morning. I was carrying five bags, and I moved to avoid braining the other occupant of the elevator, a very pretty and well-dressed woman. She said apologetically, “I hope you’re not allergic to my perfume!”
I said to her, “Listen, you should never apologise for your perfume.”
She answered, “Why, thank you! Thank you! It’s always a little strong when I first put it on, and I worry.”
I said, “Well, for goodness sake. What’s the point in wearing it if you go around apologising for it?”
“You are so kind!” she said, and then pointed to my new CNV charm bracelet. “And I can tell that you mean it, because you’re wearing that cross. A lot of people might wear a cross, but they don’t always remember what it means. You are putting into practice the kindness you believe in.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that the “cross” she was pointing to on my wrist was, in fact, a B17 Flying Fortress bomber. Or something like that.
no subject
Well, you looked...
(Anonymous) 2013-06-06 06:51 pm (UTC)(link)Hah! Bless. That poor woman. Yes, you wear a bomber, so EVERYONE can believe you really mean what you say.
I am giggling at the idea of some woman attacking you with just the word "WHY!?" At least she didn't cry on you.
Re: Well, you looked...
Nobody did cry on me, thank God!
*whining*
Sounds like alot of fun though :-)
Re: *whining*
Re: *whining*
no subject
Hurrah for having a lovely time.
no subject
no subject
ETA: And you should have expected the WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY reactions, heh (although I totally think the book could not have ended any other way to keep a balance between hope and positive catharsis/utter despair, otherwise it would have become totally saccharine sweetness and Hollywood-like escape effect and made the readers feel they had been taken through a fake valley of tears), you're getting off pretty easy with no one crying on you.
Yay for free books! Even if you have to pay a shipment surcharge, possibly.
no subject
that "WHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYY" person was also one of those who absolutely refused to believe it wasn't going to end differently until the book was over.
I didn't have to pay a surcharge, because it was a very small bag! Just very heavy.
no subject
26 lbs of books seems like a pretty good haul ;-D. I hope you are enjoying them.
....Rosaleeluann? Are you not one of those Western people who get to eat Greek food with MWT? Who never comes this far East (generally speaking) But you should check out BEA sometime -- it's exhausting, but fun!
But I digress.
Elizabeth, I wanted to let you know that "Rose Under Fire" is not just my favorite book from BEA, but my favorite of the year so far. It is awesome! Mary & I both have it on our lists for the Printz and Best of Westchester. (and I have posted a short review, with a Question for the Author :-) )
And actually -- the perfumed woman? She was quite mistaken, but also quite right (IMO). When I picture Maddy Brodart, she always looks a lot like you. And, like her, you are very kind.
And yes, I know that flattery will get me everywhere.
(But it's true! All true!!)
no subject