Around here, a sure sign of spring is the Virginia Festival of the Book. If you've been following us for a while, you'll remember that the Slushbusters usually try to meet up and go to some of the events as a group. While the festival lasts five days, we do have jobs and families and other obligations, so we generally make Saturday our big festival day.
This year, there's a Friday night event we're going to. If you're in the area, and you haven't heard about it yet, (which is hard for me to believe, because those of you in Charlottesville are usually pretty aware of this stuff) check it out! All the children's and YA authors attending the festival will gather to honor Ashley Bryan, eat dessert and sign books. What more could you want in an evening?
There are several other events geared toward children's authors. Saturday morning, there will be a panel on Picture Books. Saturday at noon we'll have to choose between panels on writing historical fiction for kids and books for young adults. Why do they always schedule two things I want to attend at the same time?
There are more events on publishing and book signings and speakers and the book fair. It's impossible to get to everything. Especially since this is also a time when we get to catch up with some of our writer friends who will be in town from Richmond, Northern Virginia, and elsewhere. If you'll be around, let us know. We'd love to meet up.
