Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
Over the years, I have met many different authors and poets because of my classes and the events I attended during college. Here are six of the authors and poets I was able to meet. I also put some of the books or poetry collections they have written.
- One of my majors in college was Creative Writing and our professors had many different authors come in to talk with us. Nick Flynn is a poet and nonfiction writer. He came in to talk about his book Another Bullshit Night in Suck City which became the movie Being Flynn. It is a memoir about when he re-encountered his father while working in a homeless shelter. We had read the memoir and watched the movie in class.
He did a talk at my university about how it was to see such a personal story of his become a movie with actors such as Robert De Niro playing his father and Paul Dano playing a young version of himself. After his talk, we were able to go up and talk with him and he signed our books. He was such a sweet man and I'll always remember my talk with him. Also, he personalized my book with a beautiful message. It was definitely one of my favorite memories from college.
- In June 2015, my university (Bloomsburg University) hosted the 25th Annual Virginia Woolf conference and I read a paper there on the poet Mina Loy. Another of my fondest memories from my time in college. We went to a poetry reading of Cynthia Hogue where she read from her collection called Revenance and we also were able to get a copy of it. She is an amazing poet.
- In 2014, I went to the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) in DC and met many different authors there and was able to get a book signed by them. I had never read The Maze Runner series but one of my friends I went with to the conference wanted to meet James Dashner. So, I also stood in line with her to meet him. It was a very rushed line and was not the best experience for one of my first big author signings.
- Another author I met during one of my Creative Writing classes in college. I believe it was in my Introduction to Creative Writing course. We read her historical fiction book The Hollow Ground for the class and then she came in to talk about her inspirations for it. She also read sections from it and then signed our books at the end of her talk.
5. Tim Federle
- Another of the authors I met at NCTE in 2014. He was very nice to our group and made a hectic day so much better.
6. Melissa de la Cruz
~ Some of her books:- Another author I met at NCTE in 2014. Her line was also very long and she literally signed the book and said a quick hello to each of us. She seemed nice though the little bit I interacted with her.
Some Authors I wish I could have met/
- Terry Pratchett is my favorite author and I cannot say how much I wish I could have met him while he was alive. He is one of my biggest inspirations as a writer. His books have a way of both making me think and getting me laughing. They are always a joy to read. I love how distinct his writing style was. It makes me sad that the world lost such a talent, though I agree with his quote: "No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away." from Reaper Man (Discworld #11)
8. T. Kingfisher
Some of her books:
- My favorite author other than Terry Pratchett is definitely T. Kingfisher. I love her writing style very much and have heard she is an absolute joy to meet in person. She is definitely on the top of my list of authors that I would love to meet someday.
- I have loved Chris Colfer ever since I first saw him on Glee back in 2009. His character Kurt Hummel was my favorite from the show and when I found out he was writing a fairy tale retelling/continuation series, I knew I had to read it. The Land of Stories series is one I wish I could have read growing up. It would have been everything to me from an early age. I still love this series to this day and have enjoyed all of his books that I have read. Chris is high on the list of authors and actors I would love to be able to meet someday.
