On Saturday, I attended my second Pougkeepsie Book Festival. In a word, it was . . .
AWESOME!
Below are a few photographic highlights:
I would like to shout out a super huge thank you to John Torres, the Poughkeepsie Public Library, and to all the hard-working volunteers who made the day extraordinarily special. Can’t wait for next year’s festival!!!
Readers, you have no idea how rough it is to leave New York in the middle of February to head to warm and sunny Amelia Island for a book festival. But somebody’s got to do it. And I’m so glad that somebody is me! 🙂
Amelia Island at sunrise.
I LOVE Amelia Island.
And I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE The Amelia Island Book Festival!
So, it’s no surprise that the festival is held annually around Valentine’s Day! What can I say? There’s book love in the air.
This was my third Amelia Island Book Festival and it was nothing short of AWESOME! This year I was joined by many east-coast friends, including several members of the KidLit Authors Club, including Timothy Young, Nancy Viau, Julie Gonzalez, and honorary member, Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen.
Left to right: Timothy Young, Nancy Viau, moi, Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen,
and Julie Gonzalez
It was also wonderful catching up with old friends at the festival, including Evelyne Holingue, Jessie Miller, and Eileen Meyer, and wonderful to meet new authors, including my tablemate, Eddie Price, MJ Hayes, and Jacques Pépin. Wait one book-festival second! Did she say, “Jacques Pépin?” Why, yes I did! I’ve been a HUGE fan of Jacques Pépin since he and Julia Child had their PBS show, Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home, and it was an incredible treat to finally meet him in person.
Jacques Pépin et moi
One of the things that makes The Amelia Island Book Festival extraordinarily unique and special is the Authors in Schools Program.
“The Amelia Island Book Festival’s Authors in Schools program not only aims to put a book in the hand of every student in Nassau County, Florida, but also place the book’s author right in front of them in their own classroom or school auditorium.”
Through the Authors in Schools Program, thirty authors visited schools in Nassau County and 13,000 books (Yes, you read correctly. 13,000 books!) were purchased for students from pre-k through high school.
This year I had the privilege of visiting with first and second grade students at Yulee Primary School. During my presentation, I spoke about how I became a writer; the writing, revision, and publishing process; fractured fairy tales (or twisted tales as Yulee students call them); and how they can use fairy tales to create their own twisted tales by changing the basic elements of a story—whether it’s the characters, conflict, setting, plot, and/or resolution. The students had fabulous questions and it warmed my heart to see many of them at the book festival the following day.
Below are a few photographic highlights from my festival weekend:
I’d like to shout out a super huge THANK YOU to Kelley MacCabe, Yulee Primary School Media Specialist extraordinaire for arranging my visit, and to the festival organizers, sponsors, volunteers, and community members who made the Authors in Schools Program and The Amelia Island Book Festival an incredible success. THANK YOU!
My bags are already packed for next year! I can’t wait!
As many of you know, the last year and half has been a rocky one. One brain tumor removed. Check. Two seizures. Check, check. One broken nose thanks to that second seizure. Check, check, check. But with all of these rocks thrown my way, there has been so much more good thrown my way as well. And I cannot tell you how incredibly grateful I am for the encouragement and support that I’ve received from the kidlit community.
I know you must be wondering how does any of this tie into the Chesapeake Children’s Book Festival? Good question. I was just about to get to that.
Because of the seizures, I can’t drive. And the benefit of not being able to drive meant I could bum a ride to and from the Chesapeake Children’s Book Festival with the AMAZING Doreen Cronin.
Doreen Cronin
I met Doreen back in 2012 when she came to my son’s school for an author visit. At the time, my website and blog were brand spanking new and I hoped Doreen would let me take some photos of her visit for the blog. Not only did Doreen let me take some pictures, but she also let me do an interview. (Click here for the link to that interview.) Since I was beyond excited to do the interview (never mind the fact that I can’t draw), I even did a quick comic strip titled, “Tales From ‘I Can’t Believe My Mom Took My Beloved Doreen Cronin Books.’ ”
Now, onto Chesapeake. It was nothing short of AWESOME!!!!
On Friday night, Timothy and Melanie Young hosted an incredible author dinner at their lovely home. Their dog, Presto, provided much entertainment chasing their two cats. (The cats didn’t seem to be bothered by Presto’s antics.) Since I was so enjoying The Presto Show, I forgot to take pics.
But at the festival the next day, I did manage to grab a few shots. Below are some photographic highlights:
The 2019 Chesapeake Children’s Book Festival Authors and Illustrators
I would like to shout out a GINORMOUS THANK YOU to Timothy Young, Melanie Young, Sabine Simonson, Laura Powell, to all the amazing volunteers at the Talbot County Free Library who made the day extraordinarily special, and to Presto and the cats. One of the things that makes this festival so special is that students can participate in the Talbot County Free Library Summer Reading Program entitling them to receive one free book.
This year’s festival was also dedicated in loving memory of the amazing Susan Kehoe, who ran the 2018 fundraising efforts for the festival.
Dear Santa,
What a wonderful surprise to see you at the Princeton Club of New York last Saturday! And let me tell you, you look marvelous! Was that a new suit? You know, not a lot of people can wear a bright red suit but on you it looks fantastic.
I hope you enjoyed story time with the amazing Roxie Munro, Laura Schroff, and Rocco Staino. I managed to take a few photos.
Now, I know you’re quite busy these days but I’ve been a reasonably good author this year. Okay, I’ll confess that I didn’t write every day but I can honestly say that I did mull over my stories and revisions daily. Then, I felt extreme guilt for when I wasn’t writing. Does that count for anything?
My list hasn’t changed much since last year. Here goes:
Also, if you’re looking for last minute gifts, might I recommend some AWESOME books from the KidLit Authors Club?
For more information about these wonderful books,
please visit the KidLit Authors Club.
Hope you have a wonderful holiday! Here’s to a great new year of reading and writing.
Much love,
Robin xo
robinnewmanbooks.wordpress.com 