Last Monday I had the opportunity to go to an author event for Maggie Stiefvater. This is the first in person event I’ve been to in over 2 years. Covid had stopped all that for a long time, but finally in person events are coming back and I couldn’t be happier.

Maggie was there to talk about her new book, Bravely. I have to admit, I hadn’t heard about this book, even though I have read a lot of her other ones. This one just slipped under the radar. So I was really interested to go and listen to her talk about it. The event was held at The King’s English, my favorite bookstore in the Salt Lake valley. It was held outside on their patio, and just being back listening to an author talk about their work with other people who are there for the same reason was the best.

Maggie has such a great personality. When she talks it’s always a good time as you’re never quite sure what is going to say. In this case, there were several stories that really had nothing to do with the book, but it didn’t matter because they were funny and enjoyable. She talked about Disney contacting her about writing the book, which was itself a hilarious tale, and then where her idea came from for the story and how it eventually came to be. This is the third time I have seen Maggie at an event, and I am hoping that she continues to come back for more. I haven’t had a chance to read this book yet, as I have a pile of ARC’s and other stuff I want to read, but I am hoping to get to it soon.

After she was done talking, there was a period after for a quick meet and greet and to have books signed. I had her sign a copy of Bravely and of The Raven Boys, the last book in that series I needed signed by her. There wasn’t much chance for a conversation as there were other people waiting, but we did have a few quick words. For my first event in quite some time, it went well and was enjoyable, and I can’t wait to be able to go to another.

Last week I had the opportunity to listen to Madeline Miller talk about her writing. I loved both of her books and definitely wanted to listen to her talk and meet her after.

The event was held at a local bookstore that I’ve visited for many author events. I love going there. It’s such a fun bookstore, and the employees are always friendly and helpful.

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Madeline talked about her books, and how she decided to get into writing her take on classic Greek mythology tales. She also talked a lot about Circe, and how she was drawn into writing a strong female character, and how it’s something she hopes to continue. I did get the chance to ask her if she plans on continuing to rewrites of mythology, and she said yes. She did say she plans on writing some original contemporary novels, but that she has ideas of tales she’d like to rewrite as well. I’m excited to see what she plans to do, as she didn’t say which tales she was thinking of rewriting.

I enjoyed listening to her talk, and meeting her after, and would definitely meet her again if she ever came back.

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A few weeks ago, my best friend texted me and asked if I thought getting someone tickets to an event for their birthday was a good present, even if the seats weren’t the best. I said I thought it was fine, since they’d still get to see the event. As it turns out, the tickets were for me and her to see Neil Gaiman. She knew I loved Neil, because I talk a lot about his books, and thought it would be a good birthday present.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from listening to him. All the author events I’ve attended have been quite small in size, and they’ve all done meet and greets and book signings after. This wasn’t the case for Neil. The event took place in a downtown theater usually reserved for touring Broadway plays and such, and it was quite crowded.

When he came out, he briefly stated that he had just been at an event a couple of days ago at Stanford University, which due to the fires, felt like he was experiencing the Apocalypse, and how happy he was to land here and be able to see everything and breathe normally. He then launched right into a Q&A, answering questions that people had submitted before the event started. There were a lot of the basic questions (how do you work through writers block, what was your favorite book to read to your kids), but there were some new ones too. A person asked how they should get their husband to be okay to listening to Christmas music in November (Neil’s answer: Christmas music should only be played starting on December 19). Another asked if grief had ever influenced his writing (yes: he read a short story titled “The Man Who Forgot Ray Bradbury”, and afterwards talked about how it had been influenced by Terry Pratchett, who was suffering from a rare form of Alzheimer’s, and written as a tribute to Ray Bradbury. It was quite moving). 

It was wonderful listening to him speak. He has a very soothing voice, which I knew from listening to a couple of his books on audio that he had narrated. At one point, my friend leaned over and said she wanted to listen to his voice at night to fall asleep to because it was so soothing.

We ended up leaving a few minutes before the event ended, because my friend had just had minor surgery and wasn’t supposed to sit for long periods of time. On the way out, we walked by the merchandise table, where they were selling signed copies of his books. On the plus side, there was absolutely no one waiting in line, so we could walk right up to the table. On the downside, they had sold the majority of his books before the event started, so there were only a few choices left. I ended up buying a copy of Norse Mythology, which I had recently read and really enjoyed. All in all, it was quite a successful evening, and one I would gladly repeat.