LA Times Festival of Books

Last weekend, I attended the Los Angeles Times Festival of Book.  It was held on both Saturday and Sunday on the campus of the University of Southern California.

I live close enough to a Metro stop to grab a train nearby and change trains downtown to get to the campus.  That made it easy, especially when I heard from a lot of friends there how difficult the traffic was.  No surprise in LA.

I did two book signings, one each day.  On Saturday, I was at the Sisters in Crime, Los Angeles Chapter, booth, and on Sunday at the Mystery Writers of America, Los Angeles Chapter, booth.  I had fun at both, talking to fellow writers and people who stopped by to say hi because they like mysteries.  I even sold books and autographed them!  The bookseller for SinC was Mysterious Galaxy, and for MWA it was Mystery Ink. 

One of the most enjoyable things at the signings was that at the MWA booth, I was one of three authors, and  in particularly revered company.  I sat between T. Jefferson Parker and Anne Perry.  Fun!

In addition, I volunteered for a couple of hours on Sunday at the Los Angeles Romance Authors booth--and give away some swag there, too.

I also got to wander around the rest of the festival and check out other booths.  One of my favorites was The Ripped Bodice, a local store that specializes in romance books.  They brought their adorable mascot along, a one-eyed little pup named Fitzwilliam.  I also bought a copy of an Inspector Waffles mystery by Fitzwilliam--which was actually a cute journal I can write in.

Another fun booth was the P-22 booth, featuring information about P-22, a local revered mountain lion.

I heard there were about 150,000 people at the festival.  There were a lot of talks and lectures but I didn't take the time to go to any, although clearly a lot of people did.

I definitely had an enjoyable time this year, as I do every year.  Of course I plan to attend next year, too.