Books and Circuses

This weekend was the National Book Fest and I got there at ten so I could see Daniel Nayeri. I got to the room a bit early and so saw the tail end of Lauren Tarshis's interview, including the audience portion where a kid asked, "Which book were you least excited to write and which book was your editor least excited about?" This was a standout question. Applause young child. Tarshis said that sometimes she would be very excited about something and her editor would say hmm, let's come back to that. But for her part, she found the more research she did for something, the more she would find interesting things, and then she would get excited. Nayeri was on a panel with Caroline Brewer with moderator Monica Valentine. They talked about working with illustrators, and crafting stories, and how folktales have always been a mix of people entertaining but also sending a subtle message. Then I went up to the ballroom for Kate McKinnon who was in conversation with Amna Nawaz. McKinnon thanked us…