04.20.13 - 04.21.13 - LA Times Festival of Books
Always look forward to this event every year. At USC again, but tons of vendors, stages, panels, and workshops to celebrate the art of storytelling. And of course, (my fave) the swag ;)
Day 1 started with the Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid’s Tale) panel. A lot of the audience asked really sophic, sometimes pedantic questions, but it’s a college environment, I guess. She handled them with grace and a delightfully dry sense of humor, though. Converted my friend (a self-styled feminist who nonetheless never read her books because she doesn’t like dystopias) to give Atwood a second chance. Lunch was done at Lemonade (where I had this amazing avocado salad). Then we saw LA celebrity chef Susan Feniger (Street, Border Grill) do a cooking demo of chicken satay and an Asian fruit salad. We then saw Lucy Dahl, daughter of Roald Dahl, tell some anecdotes about her father, but I was disappointed that she didn’t read anything. We ended the day with Jon Klassen (I Want My Hat Back) and Lemony Snicket (A Series of Unfortunate Events) read from their new collaborative book, The Dark. It was comic gold—Klassen is the perfect straightman to LS’s deadpan, morbid humor. If I can find the time, I’ll have to upload the vids I took.
Day 2 was much more lax. Started with Demetri Martin (The Daily Show) talking about his new book. Popped into the USC Civic Engagement tent to escape the sun, when we found out we were just in time to see Mark Hamill (Star Wars, Batman: The Animated Series) read the Dr. Seuss book, Oh The Places You’ll Go! Was it bad that I kept hearing the Joker’s voice?? All in all, a pleasant surprise. Ended with John Scalzi’s (Red Shirt Army) panel.
Exhausted. Really sunburned on my feet. But lots of fun :)
