This year I have been lucky that my local book store Books and Books has brought in amazing authors to give talks. I highly suggest you check if your local book store does the same thing. Some will be paid events and some will be free. So far I have seen Amor Towles, New York Times Dance Critic Marina Hariss, and Kevin Kwan.
Amor Towles has written A Gentleman in Moscow, Rules of Civility, The Lincoln Highway, and his newest book A Table for Two. I love learning that his mentor unintentionally guilt tripped him into finishing his first book by always asking him if he had finally finished writing one until one day he stopped asking the question and Towles was like “oh man, I don’t want to disappoint him. I better finish the book.” Or maybe it was intentional by the man, I don’t know.
Kevin Kwan is known for the Crazy Rich Asians series, Sex and Vanity, and now Lies and Weddings. He spent a lot of time on the Big Island in Hawai’i which filled him with inspiration for his newest novel. That was special to me since I am from Hawai’i.
Marina’s first book is an autobiography (The Boy From Kyiv) of the famous ballet choreographer Alexei Ratmansky who is now a co-creative director of the New York City Ballet. I have seen a few of his dances and think he is brilliant.
Every event was special in its own way. The Towles event was a paid ticket that included entrance for two people and one copy of his new book. I went with my friend and my mom and we had such a good time. My mom had never read one of his books but my friend and I were freaking out because we love A Gentleman in Moscow so much. She has read all of his books and I have only read two.
Kwan’s event was hosted in a church with a local indie author as the moderator. It was amazing to learn that the first book event Kwan ever did was at Books and Books. I love that he said that the worst advice he was ever given was when a major Hollywood producer told him his main character in the first movie had to be white and his response was basically “ha ha ha no.”
Hariss had Ratmansky with her so he could talk about his personal story and how he choreographs. He created a version of Swan Lake just for the Miami City Ballet that my other friend and I have seen so it was fun to be at an event with him in Miami. He and his wife (also a ballet dancer and his choreography assistant) did hundreds of hours of work researching the original version of Swan Lake through writings and drawings and tried to recreate it as best they could.
A major common factor between all three authors is that they all had other jobs that were not “being an author” before they ever got published. Towles was in finance for 20 years before his first book was published, Kwan was a photo journalist for years, and Hariss was/is a journalist.
There is much more I could say about these events but I think you would be bored. So off you go, go look for some fun book events near you!
Book It Babe 