Hey friends, Liz here! This weekend, book lovers, writers, readers, and all other literary types will gather in Copley Square and in Roxbury for the Boston Book Festival. It’s such a great event to gather bibliophiles together, and it’s at the perfect time of year to be outdoors enjoying the fall weather.
A few years ago, Julie took the lead in putting together a Sisters in Crime New England panel for some of us Wickeds and New England author friends, using the “Wheel of Why” to create a mystery on the fly. It was great fun and as Barb and I recently talked about on our tour, a huge milestone in our author careers. So on the eve of this year’s festival, we thought it would be fun to reminisce about that day and talk about what we love about this awesome event. So what do you think, girls?
Sherry: I’ve never been to the Boston Book Festival but I hope to make it some day. I’m excited about attending Murder by the Book in Bar Harbor this weekend. My first time in Bar Harbor and Murder by the Book. I’ll be on two panels and one is with Barb!
Edith/Maddie: Have fun at Murder by the Book, Sherry and Barb. I was on that super-fun SINCNE panel Julie so ably hosted, and I’m delighted to be on another of our chapter’s popular Mystery Making Improv panels tomorrow! SINCNE Prez Connie Hambley wrangles Frankie Bailey, Hallie Ephron, Kate Flora, Joanna Schaffhausen, and me on how genre plays into plot and craft at 11 AM at the Boston Public Library’s Orientation Room. I’ll also be working the SINCNE booth (Booth 57 on Dartmouth directly across from the Boston Public Library), selling and signing from 2-3. I hope to see you at one of those places!
Julie: I love the Boston Book Festival. Such fun to see how passionate folks are about their books! I remember moderating that panel–what fun! I’m going to be at the SinCNE booth on Saturday at 11am selling and signing, so I won’t be at the panel this year. Alas-I do look forward to seeing folks at the booth!
Barb: I’ll be with Sherry at Murder by the Book in Bar Harbor. Have a great time this weekend, everybody!
Edith: Barb, I remember you saying you were working the SINCNE booth some years ago when Alexander McCall Smith dropped by. He even bought a copy of that year’s Level Best anthology! I, a huge fan of the #1 Ladies’s Detective Agency, was so sorry I’d already gone home by then.
Readers, do you have a favorite book festival? Will we see any of you on Saturday?
Since I’m a few thousand miles away, I think I won’t make it this year, much to my regret. I too was part of that original mystery panel, and it was definitely a success–the crowd was standing room only. I think a lot of faithful readers forget that even suspense writers can have a sense of humor. Have fun, everyone!
Thanks, Sheila. We will! And we’ll see you at Crime Bake, right?
I would have loved to go to the Boston Book Festival to see the Mystery Making Improv panel tomorrow. There’s a panel on Emerald Noir that interested me due to one author on the panel. Sharon Dempsey’s “Little Bird” was added to my TBR list after I read the book synopsis.
Sadly, I can’t make it to the event. I hope everyone has a great time.
As for favorite book festivals, I don’t have one because I’ve never been able to attend one. However, I’d love to attend Thrillerfest, Malice Domestic, Bouchercon (They need to bring it to Boston!). There’s a new book event over in England that just held it’s first gathering a couple weeks back I’d love to go to because it had a lot of writers that I read.
We’ll miss you, Jay!
Sounds like it’ll be fun! There is talk of creating a book festival in Pittsburgh, although it is still in the early stages.
Cool!
Edith, you’re right. Not only did Alexander McCall Smith drop by the the SinCNE booth at the festival, he insisted on paying for his copy of the anthology, even when I offered to give it to him. “I PAY for books,” he said. I, too, am a huge fan of all his series.
Right!
Sounds like such fun.
I go to the LA Times Festival of Books every year in April. It’s fun, although it doesn’t seem to draw the crowds it once did.
I wonder why, Mark.