Amy Koss, Kerry Madden and me at the tableOn Saturday, I attended the Duarte Festival in Duarte, CA. Sadly, it rained which meant we couldn't be out on the lovely grounds of Westminster Gardens. We still had a great time but it wasn't the same. Also, sadly, my friend Liane Bonin couldn't make it due to an illness she picked up while she was in Italy for work.
As bummed out as I was about both of those things, I did get a chance to bring the fantastic authors Kerry Madden and Amy Koss in to take Liane's place on the panel. They even hung out at the table with me for a while which was loads of fun. These girls are hilarious! You know the old adage, never judge a book by its cover, well, the same definitely holds true with authors, particularly YA and MG authors: never judge them by their books!
We met some great people who came to the festival to hear authors Ray Bradbury, DJ MacHale, Stephen Cannell and Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, all of whom were just as fascinating as you'd expect them to be.
Kerry and Amy and I did our own panel discussion, along with children's book author Barbara Jean Hicks and mystery writer Naomi Hirahara. They were wonderful! I loved meeting them. I just wish we had gotten a larger crowd because they all had a lot to say about what they write and how and where they all began - all of which was funny and smart and really interesting, even to me!
Here are some pics of the booth, as well as some of our more famous fellow authors that I'm sure you'll recognize.
I am interviewed for Duarte TV by Gonzalo
The Duarte TV Interview Crew
Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez
The great Ray Bradbury
Amy, Kerry and me looking like real authorsThanks to everyone who came, everyone who listened, everyone who worked to make the festival a success!
