Boston Book Festival 2014

Boston Book Festival was fantastic this year! I only attended events on Saturday and was able to attend two events I planned to see and one event that I wanted to see but wasn't my number one priority. Originally, I wanted to see Rick Riordan at the Kid's Keynote but of course you had to show up super early to even get seats. Even two hours prior to the event, there was at least 20 people in line. Because I was at a Harry Potter Ball in Salem the night before, I opted to go into Boston a little later than I planned to.

Trinity Church

However, arriving to Boston at 10:00 a.m. was actually not that bad. I was able to peruse around the area in front of the Trinity Church in Copley Square. There were dozens of tents and I was able to find one that were giving away free books. I was able to pick up a couple of ARCS and four finished copies. Surprisingly I found a book by Holly Black. Since I planed to see Holly later on the day, I figured it was worth keeping in order to get it signed.

Some of the books I was able to pick up.

Rick Riordan's panel was at the Trinity Church and right across from the main Boston Book Festival tent. I was able to see a table full of pre-signed Riordan books. I believe all the pre-signed books were from The Heroes of Olympus series. Riordan was the only author that did not have an author signing after a panel due to how insanely popular he is. I don't blame him either because I bet so many people would be in his line just to get their books signed. Plus, I would feel bad for little kids who have to stand in line for hours just to meet him and to get a book signed.

My first panel of the day ended being Fiction with a Twist. It was my only Adult panel but I enjoyed it very much. The guest speakers included Lauren Oliver, Ben Mezrich and William Giraldi. Robin Young was the moderator. The event was hosted in the Church of the Covenant which was gorgeous but then again most panels were held in churches. I arrived to the church around 10:20 and I was able to get a 5th row seat. The event started at 11:00 but at 10:55, the reserved seats opened up and I was able to snag a front row seat. I was super excited when the reserved seats opened up. During the panel, the authors touched upon their stories of characters that haunt us. The panel was very informative and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I am glad I was able to attend it. After the panel, autograph signings took place. I met Lauren Oliver and had her sign a copy of Delirium and a copy of Liesl and Po. The latter I had personalized and signed to my little cousin, Alicia.

Around 12:20, I was done with the signing and proceeded to the Emmanuel Church for the Middle Grade: Masters of Fantasy panel. Cassandra Clare, Holly Black, Soman Chainani and Gregory Maguire were guest speakers. Roger Sutton was the moderator. I love how The Iron Trial and the The World Without Princes trailers were shown at the panel. It definitely amped up the vibe. Everyone was super excited. I wasn't able to get super close seats like the previous panel but I have to say 7th row is not that bad at all. I love how Chainani wrote his college thesis on Maguire's Wicked and now he gets to be a panel presenter with Maguire! How cool is that? I would love to present with one of my favorite authors.

The signing line for Black and Clare was suuuuuper long. I wasn't surprised by it. Clare signed three books and in City of Glass, she drew a picture of Church. Now, I have Church in City of Glass and in Clockwork Prince. Chainani and Maguire had pretty short lines. My friend Melissa (1/3 of Novelty Podcast) and I were able to be in the first 20 people who stood in the Black and Clare line. Afterwards, we lucked out being the last two to be in the Maguire line. Maguire was leaving at 2:30 sharp and we made it just before he left the venue. I know a lot of people were super sad that he left early. I plan to see Maguire again in December when he visits Cambridge.

Maguire was amazing when he sang a song from what he thought Baba Yaga would sing. You can see a picture of him above. "She sings when she is nervous and so do I," exclaimed Maguire right before he started singing.

Melissa and I went to Starbucks and Panera afterwards since we had a break between panels. Panera was sooooo gooood. I was looking forward to a sit down meal instead of eating snacks all day.

Last but not least, I went to the YA: Reality, Meet Fantasy panel. Panel guests included Scott Westerfled, Meg Wolitzer and A.S. King. Cathryn Mercier was the panel moderator. Even though my friend Melissa and I were there at least 45 minutes prior to the event, we got seats near the middle back. I guess it was good that we were near the signing area but I didn't expect the line outside to be so long so early. I anticipated Scott Westefeld's line to be long and I was right. Melissa was near the front of the line which was good since we were able to meet the authors near the beginning of the signing. I was able to meet A.S. King and I had her sign Glory O'Brien's History of the Future. King barely made it to the event. She said her flight was delayed and she just made it to the panel. She's such a trooper. Also, on Twitter, I heard that Lauren Oliver almost missed her panel earlier on in the day because her taxi got pulled over. Authors are super determined to make it to their panels and to meet their reader fans. I LOVE how dedicated they are. 

THANK YOU to all the authors, publishers, Boston Book Festival organizers and volunteers for making this event possible!

Books I got signed.

I will do another post about the panels in more detail. There is so much stuff that happened in one day but I hope you enjoyed reading about my BBF experience.