Programs at the Tucson Festival of Books are scheduled a half hour apart to give people time to buy books, get them signed, get to the next place, or just browse all the books. I took an hour and a half to talk to some of the authors, and meet up with friends. Here are the notes to accompany pictures you may have already seen.
I went to see Craig Johnson after the "Slaying with a Smile" panel. I told him
Jen Forbus had told me to say hi, and he promised me he wouldn't hold that against me. When I asked if I could take a picture, he asked the woman in line behind me to take it. Everyone on Facebook loved the pictures. They thought he looked like a train engineer in my cap, but Craig said he looked more like "Thomas the Train." He said he's thinking of changing his image.
Then, I went to thank Cara Black for her nice comments about me, my blog, and the Velma Teague Library. Here's Cara looking just as sophisticated as her character, Aimée Leduc.
Although I didn't get a picture, I went to say hi to historian Douglas Brinkley. Doug appeared at the Lee County Reading Festival the year his book on Henry Ford was out. When you ask me what some of my fondest memories are over the years of hosting authors, Doug is part of one of them. Jim and I had the chance to have lunch with him and Rick Bragg. I don't think we said more than a few words. We were just in awe that we were actually sitting with Douglas Brinkley and Rick Bragg. I got a hug and kiss from Doug, and I told him Jim had died last year. I'm still impressed with Doug as an historian.
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| Not from Tucson - Doug Brinkley & Rick Bragg at the Lee County Reading Festival |
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I stopped by the Poisoned Pen booth, then headed to the Desert Sleuths booth. The local chapter of Sisters in Crime was doing a brisk business selling copies of their books,
How Not to Survive the Holidays, and
How Not to Survive a Vacation. My picture of the group didn't turn out well, due to gorgeous sunshine and shadow, but here's the picture.
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| Left to right - Kris Neri, Roni Olson, Chantelle Osman, & Deborah Ledford |
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The national organization, Sisters in Crime, was great as to asking members from other chapters to also appear at the booth. Sophie Littlefield and Juliet Blackwell both showed up to work the booth while I was there. But, two of the members of Desert Sleuths are our current celebrities. Kris Neri and Deborah J. Ledford both have books that were nominated for awards to be presented at Left Coast Crime this week. Kris' book,
Revenge for Old Times' Sake, is up for The Lefty, awarded for the best humorous mystery novel. Deb's
Snare is nominated for The Hillerman Sky Award, a special award given this year, in honor of the convention's New Mexico location, to the mystery that best captures the landscape of the Southwest.
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| Kris Neri and Deborah J. Ledford |
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Break over. Time to go stand in line to see NPR's Scott Simon.
