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Posts Tagged ‘writers’

What Makes Author Events So Appealing?

Thursday, October 6th, 2022

Dear Readers,

One of my favorite pastimes is to attend author events. I have gone to more events this year than ever before. The last time I attended a bookish event was when I attended the Boston Book Festival back in 2019. It was the first time I ever covered an event for my university’s newspaper and my first experience with journalism. 

When COVID hit, bookstores had to figure something out. If these events could not continue in-person, what were the alternatives? I am sure that many of the questions asked were in line with how to bring together many people in one setting in order to hear an author speak. Then, online events came in full swing. It allowed for people with busy schedules or long commute times to be able to see an author from the comfort of wherever they were. 

At the beginning of 2022, author events began to return to in-person, with an added bonus of hybrid events. Being able to meet authors face-to-face again and hear them discuss their works that they have spent time on, often in the hopes of giving an audience something to love or learn from, is utterly inspiring to me. 

It has made me wonder what makes author events so appealing? On the one hand, author events are like celebrity meet-and-greets for readers. If one loves an author’s book, one may hope that they can meet the author in-person and pick their brains. On the other hand, readers just love to hear about books, but this is a step above a simple recommendation.

Another thing that I personally love about author discussions is that they are super inspiring and motivating. I never leave an author event without immediately yearning for my laptop to continue writing my own manuscript. 

For introverts, author events can either be a completely solo experience or it can be a great opportunity to make bookish friends that may be hard to come by in a different environment. 

For go-getters, these events are great ways to branch out and connect with people in various industries related to books. Sometimes author’s friends, publicists, editors, and/or agents tag along. If you can find a way to put yourself out there, author events are a great avenue for your career. 

I love the excitement that author discussions bring. It feels so amazing to know that an author is just a regular person who found the time to put their imagination on a page and sought out the right people in order to give people a story to love. Since the majority of events I go to feature Young Adult writers, it reminds me that no matter how old I get, I was a teenager once who fell in love with reading, and I want nothing more than to share that same feeling with teens in the future. 

What do you love about author events?

Sincerely,

Kaliisha of Woods BEAUyond

From Our Beau House To Yours – What I Talk About When I Talk About Brooklyn

Monday, September 28th, 2009

Feeling rather pale and sickly lately, perhaps due to the rain and long hours of reading (but also doing the bar rounds at Lorimer and other Brooklyn drinking favourites that have lost my interest), I’ve rethought the notion of the writer/intellectual lifestyle. A number of examples come to mind, we’re not the Beats anymore – we’re not cool enough to jump on a freight car to ‘Frisco (unless your Jerimee’s friend Juan) with the breezy northern California sun on our faces. We’re not war heroes like Orwell or Hemingway; Spain and Italy don’t need our immediate help. No one can really afford an F.Scott Fitzgerald romp on the French Riviera, what do we have? Proust’s beloved Parisian apartment and Kafka’s middle class recluse?

When we look around at who’s deemed creative, the ironic mustaches and pale faces of Brooklyn’s finest. The thrift store magnates, secret Top Shop binges, cafe-with-cool-bookstore-on-Bedford soy milk latte drinking, bleary eyed smokers. It’s actually not aesthetically displeasing, I like that image: think Michael Pitt in The Dreamers, except this is not 1968, or Paris, and  most of your friends are from New Jersey or Pennsylvania. The point is (or really my point got a little lost) it’s unhealthy, man.

Being outshined by my older brother’s interest in extreme sports and his shared love of surfing and healthy eating (inherited from my mother), I had some not-so-feeble attempts of fitness positive thinking that manifested in cross-country running. Of course this faded, like all parent-sponsored high school skills, when I started university. Then I read Haruki Murakami’s What I talk About When I Talk About Running (again, left by my brother visiting from Tokyo last week, who mentioned running the NYC marathon sometime in the future, outshined again!). Murakami talks about how running marathons/triathalons/6 miles a day for the last 25 years helps his writing lifestyle, is essential to his creative process. He’s says (in words I will interpret as relevant to my life) you don’t have to be a pale, thin hipster to be a creative genius, and since he’s most likely a creative genius, I’m going to take his word, quite literally, for it. Everyone hit the streets! Take your vintage Schwinn seriously! Hydrate, protein, positive thinking! This is gonna be productive.

-Nikki-Lee