It’s one of my favorite times of the year – the annual Tucson Festival of Books takes place this weekend on the beautiful campus of the University of Arizona. My wife and I generally go in person for it’s an incredible experience wandering through author tents or taking in a talk from a writer neither of us has yet read. I’ve picked up so many awesome l books over the years that we stumbled upon while working the event – and had the insane chance to get up close and personal with some of our favorite authors.
One wonderful side effect of attending a few years ago was the discovery of BookTV. Up until we visited the RV they had at the festival, I had no idea CSPAN regularly covered various festivals — and that they kept the archives available long after the event had ended. I still have the canvas book tote they handed out – and now regularly tune in to see who might turn up in their coverage.
One of my fondest memories is meeting a favorite author from my childhood, Katherine Paterson. Like many of my generation, I loved (and was infinitely moved by) Bridge to Terabithia, and broadened my horizons with Sign of the Chrysanthemum. She was in Tucson just after publishing her memoir and I have to admit to being a bit of a super fan and rushing to get my copy autographed after her talk. Ms. Paterson was so nice, taking time to thank everyone that came up to her. It’s a moment I’ll treasure forever.
Someday I hope to be an author at that festival. That’s been one of my goals from the beginning — a long term one, of course — but one that will mean the world to me once it happens. Sharing in the experience of sharing the joy of reading is something I’m looking forward to doing.