I can’t believe it’s been almost a month since I participated in the L.A. Times Festival of Books at the beautiful USC campus. Here are a few take aways that come to mind.
It was so nice to meet so many book lovers together in one spot. I had heard that this was one of the largest book fairs in the world but I had no idea how big. There were tens of thousands of people from all across the country and from other parts of the world that came out to see what it was all about. Many of the experienced book fair visitors planned ahead and brought wagons and large travel bags in order to hold all of the books they acquired during their visit. I highly recommend that if you plan to visit next year. Many of the books are free or discounted which is great for avid readers that like many different genres of books.
There were so many famous people in attendance that spoke at many of the large stages that were set up all throughout the venue. Some of them that stood out to me were Susanna Hoff’s from The Bengals, Jennifer Garner, Matthew Perry, Idina Menzel and Max Greenfield to name a few. All of them were there talking about their biographies, children’s books and fiction novels. The star gazing is what you would expect when you’re in LA right? When I wasn’t signing copies of my book “Glimpse” I was standing in line to get Idina Menzel to sign multiple copies of the children’s book “Loud Mouse” she wrote with her sister for my wife, daughter and grand-daughter.
Last but not least is all of the connections you can make no matter what side of the book your on. If you just like reading a certain type of book you’ll find a lot of authors that specialize in it. If your a beginning author looking to get published there are lots of book companies there with free information on how to get started If you like joining reading groups there are a lot of national book clubs represented you can sign up with. Bottom line, if you’re a book fan you don’t want to miss this event next year. Make sure you give yourself the two full days to attend and I guarantee you will not be disappointed.
Happy reading my friends!
