Monday, April 02, 2012
Colorado Teen Literature Conference 2012
Last Saturday was the 24th Colorado Teen Literature Conference. I think this was my 8th or 9th year being on the committee. Each year it seems to get more fun. This year it was an absolute blast! The natural chemistry between our featured author, Todd Mitchell and Maggie Stiefvater, was perfect. They are both funny, humble and engaging.
Todd Mitchell is a wonderful author. He is also very personable and fun. I really enjoyed talking with him about his books, his writing, the graphic novel he contributed to and teaching creative non-fiction.
I loved Todd's keynote address. It was funny, intriguing and certainly made me want to read his book, The Secret to Lying. When Todd was a teenager he he died his hair bright green and took a female impersonator to prom since his girlfriend was the prom queen and had to go with another guy.
He is so good about talking to every single person who asks him to sign their books.
I am certain that if Maggie and I lived in the same town that we would be friends. She is artistic in so many realms - music, literature and fine art. She even makes trailers for her books. She was very much the rebel when she was a teen.
I run the Teen Connection panel where 10 teens get an opportunity to ask the authors questions. It is my favorite part of the day. This year Christy was on the panel.
We have a local author's panel, too. Colorado is home to so many well known authors. This year we featured Terri Clark, Denise Vega, Brenna Yovanoff, Dom Testa and Amy Ryan.
Brenna is one of Maggie's writing friends. They are the first editors for each other's books.
Ellie took the photos this year. She has such an artistic eye. She finds beauty in things that people walk by, barely noticing what is offered.
Tomorrow I will write about our post-conference dinner at Euclid Hall Bar and Kitchen - so yummy!
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