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The real fun of any book festival comes not in its panels, but in its social events. From catching up with an old friend over coffee to attending a big party, book business fades and book gossip increases — and when I say “gossip,” I don’t necessarily mean the negative, toxic kind. I mean connecting, chattering, and sharing. 

For example, I said in my last post that Alan Cheuse was irascible during our Book Review Superstars panel. After we finished, Bella Stander asked if I could give Cheuse a ride back to the Omni, as he was driving back to his Maryland home that evening. Since I was already chauffeuring Lou Bayard, I said sure, and we all hopped into my Mini for the very short ride across town.

Unfortunately, since everyone else chose that moment to leave the UVA Bookstore parking garage, too, we three were trapped together in my little car for much longer than we’d expected. We were in close quarters. We were still wearing the faux-bling necklaces that Bella Stander had draped over our necks at the panel’s start. We had no choice. We had to…talk.

Now, Lou Bayard and I can talk each other’s ears off, and have even been known to break into song from time to time (just don’t ask about the late-night rendition of “All the Single Ladies”). But neither one of us has met Cheuse socially before, and we felt a little shy — especially after hearing him on the panel. 

But you know me. I can’t just sit there and waste an opportunity to get to know an author, and Cheuse had been gracious enough to take one of his books and inscribe it to me. Before we could get to the lowest parking level, I’d discovered not only that one of his daughters went to Smith a few years after I did, and that said daughter is a fantastic publicist with whom I’ve worked several times. 

A few minutes more and all three of us were having a wonderful conversation about politics, DC, children, books, reading, and more. There was no irascibility and there was no line-drawing; it was a fun, collegial chat. I’m looking forward to interviewing and working with Cheuse more in the future (although he may not agree to vogue with me a la Sasha Fierce). 

Tomorrow: Dinner with agents and authors, and why knitting matters

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I apologize for taking so long to post more from VA Book, but a) during the Festival, things are so hectic and so many conversations are taking place that it’s hard to Twitter, let alone blog; and b) on Monday morning, while driving the Brigadier of previous post to his country’s embassy, I was involved in a car wreck. My beloved Mini Cooper with its “Book Maven” plates is no more (as my Tweeple already know).The Brigadier suffered a badly bruised hand, the driver who slammed into me hasn’t a scratch, and I am really OK except for a minor leg fracture. I’m so grateful we’re all alive. (That photo is not really my car or our accident site, but I did have a silver Mini…)

I’m also grateful that this accident didn’t happen last week, before I drove down to Charlottesville. I had an absolutely great time at the Festival, and while I may not be covering everything in minute detail, I’d like to be sure I wrap up this year’s blogging by giving a brief postmortem of the two panels in which I participated, as well as a snapshot of Saturday night’s Author Reception in the Special Collections building.

My first event was the “Book Reviewing Superstars” panel, consisting of “Mod Ron Hogan” (as @bellastander dubbed him on Twitter) as moderator, and Michael Dirda, Alan Cheuse, Louis Bayard, and me as panelists. I said in a tweet that Dirda was sanguine, Cheuse was angry, Bayard was bemused, and I was a cockeyed optimist. Seriously, I felt like an antique Pollyanna as I continued to tell stories of how things are changing in a productive way for book reviewing and publishing, especially when Cheuse began to fulminate on how democracy will tumble into the sea without major newspapers supporting their book reviews in print.

If you ask me, The Washington Post could do a great deal by simply supporting Book World online. Right now the site is in need of some serious glamor-shot work, and its editors know that. Marcus Brauchli, hello? They can’t work magic without wands…

Tomorrow: More about Book Review panel, Agents Roundtable, and Authors Reception

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I’m so excited about heading down to Charlottesville, one of my several hometowns, that I’ve decided to throw out a special end-of-week, Virginia Festival of the Book, giveaway. Unfortunately, Amy Dickinson will not be one of the authors at the Festival — but as you’ll see in a short while, I had the opportunity to interview her here in DC. 

The Mighty Queens of Freeville is Dickinson’s remarkably honest and elegaic memoir of the years after her divorce, when she and her now-college-aged daughter Emily made their way through several cities, always supported by their fiercely loving female relatives in the upstate New York town of Freeville. Those “mighty queens,” as Emily deemed them, included Amy’s mother, sisters, and aunts, all of whom disagree frequently while remaining committed to each other’s welfare. 

During our interview at DC’s Politics & Prose bookstore (Dickinson still considers it her hometown, and we had frequent interruptions from old friends who wanted to say hello), the new author told me a bit about the genesis of her book. She is, of course, the writer who was chosen to “replace” Ann Landers, and her advice column “Ask Amy” is syndicated to hundreds of papers and sites around the country. When Hyperion approached Dickinson to write a book (it could not have hurt that they approached her with an advance that would take your breath away), they wanted her to write something advice-y.

But that wasn’t the book Dickinson wanted to write, and she told then-publisher Bob Miller (now the head of Harper Studio) that she had something else in mind. Although she’d never written a book proposal or a full-length book before, the girl from Freeville sat down and produced a proposal so strong that her editor accepted it immediately.

I’m posting this entry to the VA Book homepage, too, so that my fellow Festival-goers will have the chance to enter this random giveaway, too. We have 10 copies of The Mighty Queens of Freeville to give to 10 people from the first 50 (I’ll up the entry ante just in case scores of VA Book fans swarm the site) who leave a comment telling me the best advice you were ever given (whether it came from an advice columnist, your mother, or even a complete stranger!). 

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Here I come, VA Book authors…It’s March again, and time for me to leave the wilds of Arlington and head down to Charlottesville for a few days of professional author stalking. There’s not much I love better than cornering writer-creatures in their natural habitats, like bookstore events, book-tour media appearances, and book festivals. In the best of all possible worlds, I’d get to seem them in situ at their desks or in their armchairs, but watching them talk about their works is pretty good, too.

Often visits to book festivals mean waiting patiently in line behind dozens (if not scores) of fellow readers, each of whom has arrived at that very place and moment in order to do the same thing as the others: pay homage to an author whose work has changed our lives in some way. We readers are jungle folk indeed in these moments, fiercely guarding our places in line; you can nearly see the words being rehearsed mentally: “Your Novel X saved me from despair…my mother has each of your books in all its editions…I’m writing my first book, and it’s quite similar to yours…” The authors I’ve met, spoken to, interviewed, and (occasionally, to my great benefit) befriended all acknowledge how important readers are to them — but also acknowledge that meeting all of those readers can get pretty exhausting.

That’s why I’ve decided to do this year’s crop of VA Book authors a great service and let them know who among them I’ll prey on from Friday through Sunday (would that I could arrive early and stay late, but this Maven has to juggle the other demands of freelance life with festing). That way, the authors not on my list can relax completely, knowing that I’ll be creeping softly on little cat’s feet away from them and towards their rivals.

But this year, I thought I’d really surprise the authors, and let them know Reasons Beyond Their Books for us to get to know each other better:

Rodes Fishburne, I’ve heard Going to See the Elephant is pretty good — but I’m also interested in hearing about your alma mater, Emory & Henry. I’m trying to convince my daughter to take a look.

Elaine Fox, you live in Arlington! We need to have coffee. You want to. Right?

Etgar Keret, you’re just so cool, and you’ve brought the sexy back to short stories. I want to know your secret. Is it being from another country? Because American short-story writers need help.

Mary Doria Russell, The Sparrow Changed My Life. Kidding! However, it did change my views on science fiction and fantasy forever. I want to talk with you about Uwem Akpan and other Jesuit authors. 

Adriana Trigiani, I’ve interviewed you and I’ve moderated your BN.com Center Stage week, but I’ve never really had the chance to sit down and talk clothes, recipes, and lipstick. Run while you can!

See? Only five authors need fear my stalking. In fiction! Tomorrow? The nonfiction stalkees…

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I’m planning my activities for the (coming up all too soon) Virginia Festival of the Book, and I’m happy to see that quite of few of our former and future interviewees will be in attendance there, too. 

One of the ones I was happiest to see is James Mathews, whose short-story collection Last Known Position was our latest Book of the Week. He’ll be appearing at VA Book on a panel called “Short Stories: Men with a Mission” on Wednesday, March 18th, at 6 p.m. in the New Dominion Bookshop on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall. 

I introduced Last Known Position as our Book of the Week, and there are still a few slots left in the 30-person random giveaway, in case you’d like a shot at nabbing a copy. 

We also have my interview with James Mathews live, here. 

I know that Mathews, who has managed to combine military experience with literary life, will be an interesting member of this panel — hope that anyone coming to VA Book considers attending “Men with a Mission!”

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If you have the perfect opening line for a novel (and not much else!), here’s your chance: Enter it into this contest and you might just win a Virginia Festival of the Book 15th-anniversary book bag, perfect for stuffing with all of the titles you’ll want to read before attending. There will be Mixed-Bag Contests every week until the Festival Itself, so enter this one by February 25th, and then get ready for the next!

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I have a bit of a special relationship with the Virginia Festival of the Book, because I earned my master’s degree in English at the University of Virginia and lived in beautiful Charlottesville for five years of my life in all. VA Book is an annual opportunity to head down to “C’Ville” for a few days when it’s not overrun by garden-seeking tourists and hang out with some of the nicest people in the book world (yours truly not necessarily included, but they let me attend, anyway). 

This year I’m not only one of the Official Festival Bloggers — I’m on two different panels. I’ll be on this one as a panelist (although I may not fulfill the title) and this one as moderator (can’t wait; should be very well attended, as usual). 

I’ll be blogging more about the Festival, as well as linking to my fellow bloggers and perhaps even posting some of our Tweets in a Special LitTwits post from time to time…(remember, they’re not the LitTwits; the news posts are!). Are any readers out there planning to attend this year’s VA Book Festival? What local literary festivals, wherever you may be, do you attend?

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