Have you got favorite literary festivals? Recently, I’ve been an author guest at a couple of excellent ones, and I had so much fun at both that I wanted to share a little bit of what made them so terrific.
The first was the Brattleboro Literary Festival earlier this fall. This festival features both children’s and adult books, and in years past, they’ve had many children’s book authors, but this year, there were just two of us: me and the ridiculously charming Jef Czekaj (usual pronunciation). (Just kidding; he pronounces it “Jeff.”) (Kidding again. It’s Checka, or really, something in between Checka and Checkeye. Oh for Pete’s sake, ask him. He and I both need to record our names for TeachingBooks.net, where you can hear authors and illustrators pronouncing their names and giving teachers and students a little tidbit of interesting related info.) Jef’s recent book is Hip & Hop Don’t Stop (<—click on the link to see his book trailer, which hilariously spoofs movie trailers while also providing a great entree into his story). As a bouncy rap/dance picture book, Hip & Hop pairs very nicely with my book, How Do You Wokka-Wokka? That was terrific planning by the festival organizers.

Jef and I were scheduled to do our presentations back to back on Sunday morning. On Saturday evening, we had a chance to meet at the lovely author dinner hosted by the organizers. Although we’d never met, I gravitated toward Jef and his girlfriend, Jacy, immediately. Children’s book writers are a kindred breed.

We are also usually more casually dressed than our adult lit counterparts, it must be said, which makes it easy to recognize one another. We sat down at one of the long tables, where a beautiful woman sat down next to me and introduced herself—”Hello, I’m Marilyn Nelson”—and I had a truly starstruck moment. “THE Marilyn Nelson?!” I gasped, as though there might be numerous Marilyn Nelson impersonators just waiting to trip up hapless fans. I like to think she was pleased by my enthusiasm; I need to think it, in fact, since I gushed, a lot, about Carver and A Wreath for Emmett Till and her other gorgeous, poetic, powerful achievements.


Then Jef Czekaj changed my life. He really did, by mentioning that he has a recorded soundtrack that goes with his book when he reads aloud to groups of kids. My Wokka is a rhythmic book, and it’s fun to give kids some music or a beat behind it to dance to. I’ve got a friend, Mashabane, who played drums to Wokka at my launch party, but he is a busy man and I can’t drag him to every event. Somehow it had never occurred to me to use Garageband, already handily installed on my laptop, to lay down a track to accompany me when I’m on the road. So after the delicious dinner, I rushed back to my hotel room and spent the next two hours messing with some jazzin’ drum beats. (I also snacked on some of the fruit from the GIFT BASKET they left in the authors’ hotel rooms (the Latchis Hotel is really wonderful, and I got a tour of the renovated old-time theatre connected to the hotel). They also gave us an envelope with the festival schedule and our individual instructions for getting to our various venues. Very helpful.)

The next day, we met Ruth Allard, the conference organizer, half an hour or so before our event to check the sound system. There was a bake sale in the room, and bottles of water provided for us, and then families strolled in and sat in the rows of seats provided and on the floor. Jef and I took turns reading our books. I had my newly minted beat background; the littler kids happily danced around, wokka-ing. Afterward, there were lots of questions, from adults and older kids asking about the writing and publishing process, to preschoolers proudly telling me they had a brown dog or that their favorite color was blue. Then I got to watch Jef’s presentation, an energetic, funny, kid-friendly-rap-filled tortoise/hare friendship story. Schools must love this book, too, with its theme of celebrating differences and breaking through barriers to bring people together.
It was a delightful two days, and I loved how the entire picturesque town of Brattleboro, Vermont, becomes a literary mecca during the weekend of the festival. Thanks, Ruth and everyone! It was extra fun to see my bookselling colleague, Lisa Sullivan from The Book Cellar, at the reading with her adorable kids. The Book Cellar was a major provider of books for the festival, and they did a great job.

The Rochester Children’s Book Festival is another fabulous festival. As the title suggests, it’s all about children’s books. Let me just say that it’s a riotously fun and extremely well organized event where 40 children’s book authors and illustrators meet 4,000+ kids, families, teachers, and librarians. There are ongoing author presentations and book readings all day long, and a big room with tables where all of the authors and artists sit and sign books and chat with visitors to the table. There are crafts for the kids—an incredible volunteer named Margie Hillenbrand comes up with a craft related to one book from every single author and illustrator at the festival! It’s 100% volunteer-run and operated, which is absolutely amazing. The three powerhouses behind it are Elizabeth Falk, Kathy Blasi, and Barbara Underhill, and they manage to pull off a huge all-day event without any of its seams showing. Lift Bridge Book Shop provides all of the books for sale at the festival, and my bookseller self knows exactly how challenging and time-consuming that must be, while my author self is wildly grateful to them for doing such a great job. This is one of the best-run big book events I’ve ever attended; every aspect of it is thought through deeply and completely.
A few particularly wonderful things the festival provides for its authors: transportation everywhere you need to go; a gift bag with water, Post-its (to help with the autographing process), candy, and other goodies; and a curtained-off lunch area for us to refuel during the day and catch a breath. They also host a beautiful dinner after the conference, which is a blast. Picture a big room full of exhausted, giddy authors and illustrators chatting and laughing their heads off, and you’ll get the idea.
This post is already stretching the length limits, so I will now close with several photos that will do a better job of conveying the joy of this event (before, during, and after) than I ever could.