Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Morristown Festival of Books

So you may have heard me mention on the blog that Kate Morton is one of my favorite authors.  When she announced on Instagram that as part of the book tour for her new release, The Clockmaker's Daughter, she would be coming to the Morristown Festival of Books, my first thought was, OMG, that's only 30 minutes from me, I need to go!  My second thought was, there's a Morristown Festival of Books?  I can't believe I had never heard of this FREE bookish event that was so close by.

Even though Kate Morton was the obvious draw for me at the festival, the more I read about it and what other authors would be there, the more excited I got.  The Morristown Festival of Books brings dozens of authors (nonfiction, fiction, and YA) to several locations around Morristown to discuss their books and interact with readers through Q&A sessions.  After the panels, the authors immediately go to a book signing tent.  You can bring your own books to get signed, and they also sell them all right on site.

On October 13, my sister Michele and I drove to Morristown and went right to one of the first panels, which featured Fiona Davis (The Address, The Masterpiece) and Kate Quinn (The Alice Network) along with a moderator.  When we arrived, the church where their talk was held was only partially full, but it soon quickly filled up.  Both authors were great speakers and I'm looking forward to reading more of their books!

Fiona Davis (center) and Kate Quinn (right)

Afterwards, we had a bit of time before Kate Morton's panel, so we wandered around, down to the book signing tent and also Kidfest, where they had all this fun stuff for kids to do, as well as tons of books and author talks.

Book signing and sales tent

Church of the Redeemer, where we attended 3 talks

After seeing how crowded the first session was, we knew we wanted to get to Kate Morton's early.  Good thing we did, because it was basically standing room only.  Along with a moderator, Diane Chamberlain (The Dream Daughter) was also part of this panel.  Kate Morton was as lovely and charming as I'd always imagined she'd be, and Diane Chamberlain was wonderful, and funny!

Kate Morton (center) and Diane Chamberlain (right)

The church was such a beautiful setting for the panel!

After the Q&A session, we ran down to the book signing tent to get on line.  I was so nervous to meet Kate Morton, totally star-struck, I could hardly think of anything to say!  I eventually told her that I'm a huge fan and I recommend her books to everyone, including my mother, who isn't a big reader but is now obsessed with her books.  She loved that we share books together.  My sister got another of her books signed for me because I didn't want to just give her a whole stack to sign.



Because the signing was right after the session, we figured we might miss Kate Moore (The Radium Girls) speak because she was on about 20 minutes after Kate Morton, but by the time we got our books signed, we had only missed 10 minutes of her talk, so we ran back to the church.  Kate Moore talked about how she came across the story of the radium girls and a little bit of the history.  The room was packed, and everyone was just enraptured by Kate Moore.  She spoke with such passion and emotion, and you could just tell how much the story of these poor women really impacted her.  When I got my copy signed by her, I told her how The Radium Girls is my favorite book of the year and I recommend it to everyone; it's such a powerful read.  She was so happy to hear that more people are reading it.


Kate Moore

I'm so glad I finally went to my first bookish event, and now I'm looking forward to next year's!


35 comments:

  1. Wow it is so cool you got to go to this event! It looks like such a nice atmosphere and I love that you got the books signed as well. I've heard a bit about The Clockmaker's Daughter and it sounds amazing :)

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    1. It was so cool! I can't believe I'd never heard of it before. These are my first signed books, so I'm really excited!

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  2. Oh wow I had never heard of this festival - I'm not terribly far from there either.it sounds amazing. I will have to remember next year to check it out!

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  3. Wow! It looks like an amazing event. Thanks for sharing the pictures with us!

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  4. What a great event! I enjoyed the photos on instagram, glad you wrote a post about it, too.

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  5. This was so much fun - I was pretty star struck!! Looking forward to making this an annual event with you!!

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  6. Kate Quinn! I am so jealous right now. She's one of my favorite authors. This really looked like such a great event!!

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    1. She was such an amazing speaker! So funny, and she talked a little about her upcoming book!

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  7. That’s a pretty church and a great place for an author event! I’m glad you had fun and got to meet a favorite author.

    Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  8. How awesome that you got to attend this festival. Glad you got to meet one of your favorite authors.

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  9. OMG, that is like an hour from me...How come I haven't heard of this before! I would sooo have went! Darn, maybe next year you can remind us and I can go. =)

    Mary

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  10. What an amazing setting. Sounds like such a fun event. I have a copy of the Clockmaker’s Daughter and I am looking forward to it!

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    1. I'm almost done with it, I hope you enjoy it!

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  11. How wonderful, Angela! I've loved the mystery conferences that I've attended and once I got past (mostly) my awe of being with authors, I have enjoyed talking a bit with them. Great authors that you mentioned and I bet you guys had such fun! Will you go back again, assuming they have this annually?

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    1. We had so much fun! This was the fifth year and I think they already have the dates for next year. I would love to go again, I can't wait to see what authors they'll have!

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  12. This looks like so much fun and what a beautiful venue! I'm so glad you got to go! I really need to look up The Clockmaker's Daughter!

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  13. What an incredible experience! That really does sound like a great lineup of authors at that event. It's always crazy to discover the events that go on so close to where you live and never knew about--that happens a lot to me, haha. So glad you had such a great time!

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    1. Thanks, Jordan! I know, this is literally so close to me, I'm surprised I never heard about it through the library or anything!

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  14. Looks like an amazing event! Glad you got to meet Kate Morton! :)

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    1. She was so kind and friendly and totally forgiving of the fact that I could barely speak, I was so happy to meet her!

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  15. SO JEALOUS!!! I love your pictures and the whole event itself. Meeting Kate Morton would be amazing in a setting as cool as this one. I am happy that you had soon a wonderful time. :)

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    1. Thank you, thank you! It was so great meeting her!

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  16. Oh wow, I would have loved to hear all of these authors speak, especially Kate Quinn and Diane Chamberlain. Congrats on attending your first bookish event! I still haven't attended one yet so I'm living vicariously through you. :)

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    1. Thanks!! Kate Quinn and Diane Chamberlain were so great and really funny!

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  17. I saw your awesome pictures on Instagram and was so mad I did not know about this. I am not very far from Morristown. Looks like it was awesome.

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    1. I didn't know about it before this year, either, and this was the 5th year! Definitely something to look forward to next year!

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  18. A signed copy of Radium Girls!? How cool! This sounds like a really fun event.

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    1. I was so excited to meet Kate Moore and so glad to have her sign my book!

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I'm so glad you stopped by, and I would love to hear your thoughts! Comments are always greatly appreciated!