BOOK SIGNING AT THE LA TIMES FESTIVAL OF BOOKS in the SCBWI Booth

Signing books n the SCBWI booth at the LA Times Book Festival.

A week ago, Sunday, April 23rd, I was at the LA Times Festival of Books selling and signing my books in the SCBWI Los Angeles Chapter booth along with other Los Angeles authors who are members of SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.) The festival was held on the USC campus, with dozens of tents lining the walkways and presentations going on in classrooms and on multiple open-air stages. According to the report in the newspaper, it is the largest celebration of books in the United States, with more than 10,000 people attending over the weekend!

I shared my two-hour time slot with two other authors, Micky O'Brady and Brenda Scott Royce, and we had a steady stream of people stopping by to buy books, chat about SCBWI, take a koala tattoo sticker (from Brenda), a gummy butterfly and postcard (from me) or a mint candy (Micky), or to just say hello. While I didn't sell a lot of books, I connected with a lot of people and felt that the outing was worthwhile. When I wasn't in the booth I wandered the aisles browsing new books and enjoying the festive atmosphere.

With many thanks to Robert Mellette, the SCBWI organizing committee, and all the volunteers who helped everything run smoothly.