This past weekend was the super fantastic Twin Cities Book Festival. Don’t know what that is? Here, go learn! It’s a great event full of interesting books, awesome speakers and panels, and tons of book people. I was trying to remember why we missed last year, but it was because I was speaking at NerdCon. We had a great time this year wandering around, picking up books and literature about organizations of interest. The whole event is also a total exercise in avoiding eye contact, as many of the vendors are very eager to talk to people, which is FINE, but is not my thing unless I’m interested. I was, however, very glad to bump into all kinds of area writers and to meet cool new people, too.

Anyway.

Here are some pictures of the day.

 

 

I took this picture to make sure to remember to order this book.

We bought one of these tiny accordion-fold zines for my artist brother.

 

An important debate Matthew instigated.

 

We were Carrie-less for this event, but Sajidah and Peter did great!

I was so glad to get to meet S.K. Ali in real life after lots of Twitter interaction. She was lovely. Her book is wonderful, too.

This was another good panel.  Make sure you read Malinda Lo’s recent blog post about LGBTQ YA by the Numbers: 2015-16. Also, her new book is FANTASTIC. I took a picture of this book cover because I feel like that’s the face I’m always making. Also, so is Sam Weir.

I also finally get to meet Rachel Gold IRL. She approached me and said she was pretty sure I was who she thought, but she’d peeked at my socks during the panel and that solidified her hunch. My brand on Twitter is fun socks, books, mental health, and donuts. Truth in advertising.

I can’t wait to read both of these.

Of course we bought this. OF COURSE WE DID.

Looking forward to our next Rain Taxi-sponsored event in a few weeks!