It's like Comic-Con for book nerds - readings, signings, and treating writers like celebrities. Literary heaven.
I spent the morning volunteering at the WriteGirl booth, recruiting new volunteers and spreading the word about their amazing work!
Our booth neighbors Get Lit kept us entertained with spoken word poetry performances. All you poets out there should pick up one of their trendy t-shirts --
Around lunchtime, it was time for the WriteGirl reading at the Hoy Cultural Stage. Our girls gathered --
And I was asked at the last minute to jump in as emcee, a role I gratefully accepted. (That's me on the very right.) The teens were amazing, as usual!
After the reading, Elizabeth Espinosa from CNN Latino - who profiled WriteGirl on her show - shared some career advice with the girls --
I only had a few hours left after the reading, so rather than try to catch one of the panel events, I spent the rest of the afternoon browsing the wonderful booths. Plenty of books for sale --
I chatted with the guys at the Oni Press booth about The Sixth Gun pilot adaptation at NBC --
And discovered the next book I want to read, a romance the guy at the Penguin booth described as "the perfect novel." Well then...
I also talked to small press publishers, writing organizations, and picked as many free books as I could find.
There was plenty of randomness among the booths, too. Like the Batmobile --
Though I was happy to see some familiar faces from the Comic-Con circuit, like steampunk-y artist Steamcrow --
I finished my day with a visit to the row of food trucks feeding the event. Picked the BellyBombz truck - Korean wings and sliders --
Opted for wings with "Bomb Dust," their signature dry rub --
Ate while enjoying some Afro Latin Jazz on the USC stage --
All in all, a spectacular day of books, books, and more books. Can't wait for next year's festival!
I finally went this year too - it was a hot and crowded one!
ReplyDeleteSo hot! Thank goodness our WriteGirl booth was in the shade... :)
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