Bookmarks Goes Big for Its 10th

My favorite local book festival, Bookmarks, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year with a BIG lineup of authors and a new location.
The free festival is the largest of its kind in North Carolina, and it takes place on Sept. 6 at the Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts and Spruce Street in downtown Winston-Salem. The headline speaker this year, James Patterson, will speak at Reynolds Auditorium on Sept. 4 to kick things off.
I have to confess I'm not a Patterson fan, but I am definitely looking forward to the full day of festivities on the 6th, featuring authors like Rita Mae Brown, Frances Mayes, James McBride, Scott Berg, and J.A. Jance.
There are also booths full of books at the festival, naturally, including little-known and brand new authors trying to get a foothold in the book world. I always find a hidden gem or two.
If you're in the area and want to go, just click here to learn more.
And if you're having a hard time getting back to work after the long holiday weekend, let me just link you through to a list of David Bowie's 75 favorite books as a distraction. You're welcome.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Forget those overblown winter holidays. If you're any kind of book lover, fall is the season that we dream about, thanks to new books, fab festivals, and lots of prizes and awards.
This Saturday, I'll be heading to one of my favorite book festivals, BookMarks, held in nearby Winston-Salem. Last year, I had a blast meeting authors like Michael Malone and Gillian Flynn. Gillian even signed my book with an nod to our weird names and the constant mispronunciations we both endure (hers is pronounced like Gilligan, not like Jillian).
This year's line-up is just as promising, and includes Jill McCorkle, Debbie Macomber, Carl Weber, Ann B. Ross, and Craig Johnson. I will also be volunteering at a table for the Bienenstock Furniture Library, the largest furniture specialty library in the world. That library is based in High Point, NC, and has over 5,000 furniture and design books in its collection. I've had a sneak peek at what they will sell at the festival, and let me just say that I already know I'll be dropping some serious dollars at that table.
It isn't just the one-day festival that I love, though. BookMarks hosts Lit/Flix, a showcase of movies made from novels, and Eat & Greet events that showcase why food and books make such a delicious combination. If you're going to be in the area this weekend, be sure you head to their website to see what's coming up (http://bookmarksnc.org).
In just a few days, the Man Booker Prize will announce its short list of finalists. I've been plowing through the long list, and I'm not sure I'll make it through all of them before the short list comes out on Sept. 10, but I do have some favorites already. We Need New Names had better be on that short list.
On Sept. 12, the National Book Award announces its long list - which means it's time to add to my ever-growing list of books I must read immediately. The new long lists for the NBA will include 10 titles now, in the same four categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Young People's Literature. That is 40 books, in case you don't want to do the math. While I appreciate that the National Book Award execs believe this will allow them to recognize more fantastic books, I'm not sure they realize what they are doing to me.
Look for a post from me about Bookmarks next Monday, and the short list from Man Booker Prize on Tuesday, and the National Book Award long lists on Thursday. And then don't look for me anywhere else; I'll be cocooned in my house with thousands of books.

Meeting Lisa See

If you've read my review of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (click here), you know I'm a fan of Lisa See. So I was happy to hear that she would be speaking at the Bookmarks Festival in Winston-Salem last weekend. There she is to the right during the event.

I'm not a stalker-fan when it comes to meeting favorite authors. I like to hear them speak, but I don't hang around at the foot of the stage with books clutched to my chest (okay, there was that one time with Elizabeth George, but I was younger then).
I was charmed by Lisa See, however. I knew she would be intelligent and hopefully entertaining. But who knew she would have such a wicked sense of humor?
She also agreed with my assessment that the movie edition of Snow Flower did not mesh with her book. Unlike other authors who have given interviews about how much they hated the filmed version of their works, Lisa See had a much more sanguine viewpoint. She said that her book was her vision as an artist, and that once the director took on the film project it then became his vision as an artist, so there was a part of her that respected that.
But she followed that with a quick comment that she had also learned a few lessons that will come in handy when filming begins later this year on the adaptation of her book Peony in Love. 
See also talked about her own laotong (or life friend), Amy Tan, and their interesting parallel lives. And she gave us some insights into the book she's working on now, tentatively titled China Dolls. It will tell the story of women on the "Chop Suey" entertainment circuit in the '30s and '40s, and how they straddled the line between American looseness and Asian cultural rules. Sounds great!
If you  live in the area, be sure to mark your calendars for the next Bookmarks event, held the second weekend in September. To tempt you, I'll post a couple more photos from this year's festival.