Event Report! Maureen Johnson and Stephanie Perkins in San Francisco (& signed Anna and the French Kiss Giveaway!!)

This past Wednesday, I was lucky enough to be able to attend an awesome book event in San Francisco. Maureen Johnson and Stephanie Perkins were there to talk books and sign copies of their two new releases, The Name of the Star and Lola & the Boy Next Door. OH,...and they served cupcakes. :P


Yummy Books AND Yummy Cupcakes!

These two ladies are completely hilarious together. They play so well off of each other, it's like watching stand-up comedy. They came out wearing pirate hats that they had just bought on their tour of the city. They later explained that they had gotten them at 826 Valencia, a local San Fran non-profit organization that holds teen writing workshops.

An audience Q & A session began and the hilarity continued. There was talk of books and writing, the pointlessness of book banning (I didn't know one of Maureen's books had been challenged! I will be reading The Bermudez Triangle very soon!), characters, themes, and not letting anything stop you if you want to write. They talked about NaNoWriMo (November! It's coming up soon!) They talked about where they get their ideas and inspirations---Maureen let the secret out that there are tiny raccoons in her head that go forth and gather shiny pieces of ideas and information and bring it back to her head. xD Stephanie talked about how she researched Paris for Anna and the French Kiss just through books and movies and internet research and the awesome satisfaction of finally getting to travel there and finding that she'd portrayed it right. It was the perfect lesson for any aspiring writer: don't let anything stand in your way. Even if you can't travel to your story's location, there is always a way to make it come alive on the page. I was glad to have my daughter with me so she could hear all that, as she's decided she wants to be a writer someday!

Sorry for the blurry pics! These were from my phone and my husband snapped it in mid-animated conversation! Stephanie was so sweet and completely adorable. I was completely floored that she remembered the blog when I mentioned I was a book blogger!







Maureen & Stephanie graciously signed tons of books (one girl brought a total of 11 books---that number won her Maureen's pirate hat when they gave them away!) and were sweet enough to pose for pics. This is Stephanie, me, and of course, my silly boy, Declan (recognize him from my profile pic? He's gotten big since then!) The kid will talk to anyone, and happily chatted away to both authors!




Here's my lovely signed books! I did also get my copy of Anna signed.

* * * * * * *

So I DID get one more thing!! I picked up an extra paperback of Anna and the French Kiss and got it signed by the wonderful Stephanie Perkins. I got it just for one of YOU!! If you want to win it, comment below with your email and I'll choose one lucky winner!! I have to keep this one in the US (sorry!) and I'll run this one until 10/31. Good luck, St. Claire fans!! :D