Famous Authors

I've been lucky enough to meet quite a few famous authors in the children's, young adults, and adult circuits. Some of them were brief and resulted in an autograph or a photograph, and others lead to long lectures and advice in the field. The latter was thanks to Maria Salvadore's classes where she invited colleagues of hers as guest lecturers.

Children's Authors
Mo Willems - Autographed my copy of "Don't Let the Pigeon drive the bus"
Rosalyn Schanzer - Author of "What Darwin Saw"
Susan Stockdate - Illustrator of "Fabulous Fishes"
Katie Meizner - Author of "Going Places with Children in Washington, DC"
Jean Gralley - Author of "The Moon came down on Milk Street"

Young Adult Authors
M. T. Anderson - Autographed my copy of "Feed"

Adult
Jodi Picoult - She autographed my copy of "My Sister's Keeper" and took a photograph with me.

I really hope to meet more YA and children's authors like Julie Andrews, Louise Rennison, John Green and Sarah Dessen, whom I really admire. But this list is definitely a good start.

Get well soon!

Rosalyn Schanzer was scheduled to appear at the Hyattsville Library (down the street from me) to discuss her new book, What Darwin Saw, this book also comes out around the time of the 200th anniversary of the voyage of the Beagle. Rosalyn was a guest lecturer for my Advanced Children's Seminar class last semester. Not only was she a pleasure to talk to but she also informed us about the long, arduous process of getting a book like this published (apparently books about Darwinism and evolution are hot topics) and the research and design that goes into creating a children's book. Alas, because of an injury to her back she wasn't able to make it to this lecture. They're setting to reschedule her sometime for October or November.

On another related note, The National Book Festival is coming up this weekend on the National Mall. Practically every important children's author will be present (except R. L. Stine and Neil Gaiman who were present last year). I highly encourage everyone to go and witness the awesome gathering of good literature! Among the guest list are:

• Kate DiCamillo, Shannon Hale, Craig Hatkoff, Nikki Grimes, Steven Kellogg, Lois Lowry, Megan McDonald, Charles Santore (illustrator of the festival poster), Jon Scieszka and David Shannon, and Mo Willems;
• Teens & Children authors Judy Blume, Pat Carman, Sharon Creech, Paula Deen, Carmen Agra Deedy and Wilson Kimeli Naiyomah, Shannon Hale, Liz Kessler, Jeff Kinney, James Patterson, Jerry Pinkney, Rick Riordan, Sharon Robinson and Kadir Nelson, James L. Swanson and Jacqueline Woodson

It will be especially neat to meet Mo Willems, whom I am doing an author study on. Hopefully I can afford one of his books and get it signed for a friend for Christmas, and possibly snag a picture.