LA Times Festival of Books & Other News

The LA Times Festival of Books on April 26th was an amazing experience, despite the deluging rain and cold weather. Finding my way to the University of Southern California campus in the early morning was an easy start to the day as, thankfully, there was very little traffic going north from San Diego. My friend and I were able to visit for a few hours during the drive. 

Arriving on campus around nine am, we lucked out finding a spot in a covered parking garage and were able to unload the wagon and books under cover from the rain. It was fun to meet fellow authors in the garage. We helped each other decipher the codes and procedures to pay for a day of parking on the massive campus that was expecting over 100,000 guests, all looking for parking too!

The next adventure was the walk across the campus, in the heavy rain, to find my publisher’s tent.  USC is a huge venue and it was exciting to see all the different stages and spaces already established and readied for when the gates would open in an hour.

Finally, there was Acorn’s tent #731on the corner, with all the clear plastic side walls pulled around the tables to keep the rain off the books. I quickly got the wagon and my books under cover and shared introductions with colleagues. Helping each other to unpack books, arrange chairs and author banners, we shared our tips and hopes for the festival.

There were only few attendees during the first hour and a half, the rain a deterrent. We had to keep the plastic walls around the tables, but eventually the sky cleared up and we were able to go out into the walkway and share our bookmarks and discuss our stories with the folks passing by. 

With the rain and sunshine trading places throughout the day, the tent walls sliding around and back, as needed, I enjoyed many interactions with amazing writers and readers from around the world and all walks of life. I even sold a few books!  

Back in San Diego, the following day, I was invited to speak at a local book club and share my writing process over dinner with a dozen readers who had already read my book. It was a wonderful evening with new acquaintances and full of meaningful conversations. Thank you to the book club for having me.

In a few weeks I will be leaving San Diego for a book tour to British Columbia where I will be holding book signing events: June 21st at Otter Books in Nelson, and July 19th at Indigo Granville Books in Vancouver. 

I will let you all know how the tour goes over the next two months.