Author Meeting: Jandy Nelson! + Meg Wolitzer & Ally Condie

After getting to meet all the fabulous authors at the North Texas Teen Book Festival back in March and Rainbow Rowell in June, I was pretty happy with my year, book/author-wise. Then I found out that Jandy Nelson was coming in November to the big Half Price Books in Dallas and I was ecstatic. I had such a deep connection to both her books and I just knew I had to meet her. I feel like she's not talked about much yet in wider circles and she should be. So I dragged my sister off to the bookstore once again and had an amazing time. :)

(L-R: Jandy Nelson, Meg Wolitzer, Ally Condie)

Surprisingly, I haven't read any of the other two authors' books: Meg Wolitzer and Ally Condie. Unsurprisingly, after I left the event, I had to add them both to my to-buy list lol. We got to HPB pretty early because I was afraid it was going to be massively crowded like Rainbow's, but I was actually the first one there! So I wandered around while I waited and added stuff to my Christmas list. :)

Once the event got started, it was lots of fun. All 3 of the authors (and the moderator) were great and had so many interesting things to say. Ally is very quiet and Meg was so funny trying to explain her "adult" book she was writing. You can watch Jandy talk about creating the twins in I'll Give You the Sun over here on my Facebook page. (And like it while you're there, maybe?) Then we all got in line to get our books signed. I brought my two books for Jandy, obviously, and didn't have anything for the other two, though I did thank them for coming and let Meg know I would be picking up her book, Belzhar, soon. I actually got it at the library already and finished it yesterday and now I'm super annoyed I didn't go ahead and buy it! (I got Atlantia too.) While talking to Jandy, I let her know how much her books spoke to me and even sparked my creativity, in ways that I never had with a book, and she was really interested in that (or at least pretended to be lol). Hence, her first signature. I love when authors have the time to personalize their signings and talk to people. It makes it a lot more fun and memorable. If you get a chance to see these authors, definitely do it!