A Week of Book Events & Some Bookish News

So last week marked the end of my lull in book events. Because I got to attend three fantastic book signings...mostly (referring to my attendance, not the fantasticness of said events, of course).

On Wednesday, I made my way down to good old Books of Wonder for the launch party of The Beginning of After, a book that I loved but have yet to write a review for yet! I was so excited to meet Jennifer Castle, even though I knew I'd have to leave the event early (see next part of this post), because her book really moved me.

Jennifer Castle reads from her favorite scene in The Beginning of After

Due to a little mess up with times and scheduling, I ended up arriving an hour late to the event. Fortunately, since I wasn't the only person who missed the memo, nothing too major had already happened. I still got to meet the wonderful and very sweet Jennifer Castle and hear her read and talk about her novel.

The reason I had to leave early was because I had already made plans to go to another book event that evening, one that I had learned about during my internship this summer. This one was for Gabrielle Zevin, an author that I absolutely love. I've read all her YA books, but her latest, All These Things I've Done, is definitely my favorite so far. I knew that her event was going to be fantastic, so I made my way to WORD in Brooklyn to enjoy it.

Gabrielle Zevin in (hilarious) conversation with her editor Janine O'Malley

Here's a little video to give you a sense of the awesomeness of the event, where Gabrielle talks about her inspiration for All These Things I've Done:

What was even more exciting, more so than even the chocolate that was available to munch on, was that there were so many people in the audience from Macmillan. It was really cool being able to see so many of the people I worked with this summer, hear a little bit of how things have been going on in my absence, and the like.

In addition to all the fabulous MacKids Marketing lovelies I saw, I also got to chat with lots of more lovely people, including Genna from Reading, Writing, and the World of Words and author Alecia Whitaker, both of which are some of the sweetest people I know. Other authors in attendance, which I did not sadly get a chance to talk to, included Lisa Greenwald and Carolyn Mackler.

And let's not forget the star of the evening herself! Gabrielle Zevin is one of the funniest, smartest, nicest authors I've ever met. I introduced myself when she signed my book, and she remembered me from one little email or so that I sent her when I was interning at Macmillan! Pretty awesome, right?

Me, Genna, and the lovely Gabrielle Zevin (thanks to Genna for this picture!)

Later that week, on Friday, I went back to Books of Wonder for yet another event. This one was for Kody Keplinger's launch party for her second novel, Shut Out. Now, despite the fact that I adore Kody and that she is one of my favorite people ever, I arrived about an hour late for her event. Consequently, I missed hearing Kody read from her book, any Q&A, and mingling with the people who actually arrived on time. Fortunately, I still got to see Kody and enjoy the last of her event with all the other cool people who stuck around, including Kody's publicist and agent, as well as a few other literary agents and publishing interns!

Kody signs copies of Shut Out

The adorable Kody with her second book! Aren't they gorgeous?

Now, I did have a legitimate reason for being late to Kody's event. That reason was that I had just started a new internship! This internship is a little different from the other ones I've had because I will be working with a literary agent. I'll get to see another side of publishing that I haven't been exposed to before, so I'm very excited.

And that's all for now, folks! Expect more book signing posts in the weeks to come, because there are some really fabulous events that I am definitely planning on going to (and hopefully actually arriving on time!).