MBA Children's Breakfast

The highlight of the recent Midwest Booksellers Association convention was the annual Children's Breakfast. The four featured authors were:

• Loren Long, author and illustrator of OTIS, a picture book about a very special tractor,

• Catherine Gilbert Murdock, author of FRONT AND CENTER, the last book in the DAIRY QUEEN trilogy,

• M.T. Anderson, author of FEED and JASPER DASH AND THE FLAME-PITS OF DELAWARE, and

• Neil Gaiman, author of THE GRAVEYARD BOOK and ODD AND THE FROST GIANTS.

Each author spoke about their new books and about being an author/illustrator. Each was funny in their own way. Loren Long talked about getting the idea for his book from his kids. Murdock showed pictures of her home where she works. Anderson talked about setting his scary, adventure book in Delaware (of all places)! And Gaiman told us how he originally wrote ODD AND THE FROST GIANTS for World Book Day in England where authors write short novels for free and kids get these books for free using special tokens.

I snapped this great shot of Gaiman and Anderson. It was EARLY in the morning. I'm not sure Neil Gaiman owns a hairbrush. Anderson is purposely making a "tough guy" face.

It was pretty amazing to meet these authors and hear them speak. Who knows? Maybe someday, one of us will be up there speaking at the MBA Children's Breakfast. I can't wait to see who's there next year!

Authors, Authors, Authors

This weekend, I will be attending the Midwest Booksellers Association (MBA) Trade Show in St. Paul. This annual event is geared for independent bookstores in 9 1/2 Midwest states. (I say 1/2 because MBA includes stores from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, but apparently not the Lower Peninsula.) The Trade Show/Conference has workshops for independent booksellers, publisher booths with their forthcoming books, award events, and opportunities to meet many adult and children's authors.

As a children's author, I feel it's imperative to meet other children's authors, especially those who you admire, if at all possible. Going to writer's conventions and attending book signings are two ways to do this. Another way is to work at a bookstore and go to MBA.

I will be attending MBA as a bookseller, but I will be wearing two "hats." As a bookseller, I will meet sales reps and look at upcoming books. As an author, I will be meeting other authors, listening to their stories, and snapping up copies of their books.

Some of the children's authors I hope to meet at MBA include: Neil Gaiman (photo above), M.T. Anderson, Patricia C. Wrede, Maggie Stiefvater, Loren Long, Catherine Gilbert Murdock and Cynthia Rylant.

I also hope to see children's authors I have met before including: Marion Dane Bauer, Kate DiCamillo, and Kathy-jo Wargin.

Attending an event like MBA is a big perk of working at a bookstore. (Of course, it's only one of many perks:) But, it's a good one - not only as a bookseller, but also as an author.