SIBA 2011 – Part 1
I look forward to the SIBA Trade Show every year. This year’s show was held September 16 to September 19 in Charleston and boy, did I have a blast! Swapna and I arrived at about the same time and went to get a quick bite to eat while we waited for Heather and Sandy to roll in. The four of us traveled in a pack all weekend, so I’ll be using “we” a lot in this post.
Swapna, Kathy, Sandy, and Heather
After we got over the excitement of being together again, we headed to the opening reception, which was hosted by Dorothea Benton Frank, Mary Alice Monroe, and Patti Callahan Henry. From there, we headed to a party hosted by cookbook authors Nathalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubart and their husbands, Jack Bass and Cliff Graubart, in one of their homes. Nathalie and Cynthia are the authors of Southern Biscuits and they had some biscuits that were to die for at the party! After the party we headed to 82 Queen for a late dinner. We headed back to the hotel after that because we knew we had a busy day on Saturday.
The first thing we did after breakfast on Saturday was meet with the gorgeous Jennifer Niven. Her 5th book, Velva Jean Learns to Fly was released on August 30, 2011. She has a contract for two more Velva Jean books and her next one, Velva Jean Goes to War, is currently with her editor. Jennifer said she’s making Velva Jean do all the things she’s dreamed of doing and it’s been a lot of fun. We enjoyed chatting with Jennifer and I think we all want to go back and read her non-fiction books, The Ice Master and Ada Blackjack.
When it came time for the panels, we split up and I headed to Post-Civil War North Carolina, Pearl Harbor, Katrina, and Glacial Loss: History and a Sense of People & Place and heard the following authors speak:
- Sharyn McCrumb aims to counter-attack mountain stereotypes. Her new book is The Ballad of Tom Dooley.
- Jennifer Niven loves to research and spends as much time researching fiction as non-fiction.
- Megan Smolenyak is a professional genealogist and her book is Hey, America, Your Roots Are Showing.
- Jesmyn Ward whose new novel about surviving Katrina is entitled Salvage the Bones.
- Allan Wolf spent five years researching for his book, The Watch That Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic. The book is written in verse and is for high school and above.
After the panel, it was time for the Kick Off Lunch featuring Avi, Kadir Nelson, Gordon Korman, Kami Garcia, and Margaret Stohl. Talk about a great line-up! It was fun hearing what they had to say.
After lunch, we got together with Alma Katsu who is adorable and delightful. I was the only one who hadn’t read her book, The Taker, but we chatted about it and life in general. I found her fascinating and easy to talk to and appreciate the fact that she didn’t seem bothered with my obsession with football scores.
After our chat with Alma, I headed to the Steel Magnolias panel which was moderated by the hilarious Shellie Tomlinson, the author of Sue Ellen’s Girl Ain’t Fat, She Just Weighs Heavy. I swear I could just sit and listen to Shellie talk all day long. Others on the panel were:
- Jessica Maria Tuccelli, an MIT graduate and documentary filmmaker, had us all in tears before the panel was over. Her book is entitled Glow.
- Lisa Patton has a new book out entitled Yankee Doodle Dixie and is currently working on her third book about Leelee Satterfield.
- Lisa Wingate has written 16 books and has found success in both the Christian and mainstream audience.
- Susan F. Craft is 62 and has been writing since she was 8. Her book is The Chammomile and she told us she was a stickler for historical accuracy.
After the panels, it was time for The First 180 Days Party which celebrated authors whose books were published in the first half of 2011. With over 15 authors in attendance, a good time was had by all!
SIBA Supper followed the party and it featured:
- Sandra Brown who was hilarious! Her newest book is Lethal.
- Karen White who told us about the newest book in her Tradd Street series, The Strangers on Montague Street.
- Tedd Dekker whose latest book is Forbidden. He introduced us to his co-author Tosca Lee.
- Thomas Mullen whose latest book, The Revisionists, is being compared to 1984 and Fahrenheit 451.
The next event of the day was the Late Night Readings with Milk and Cookies which featured the following authors:
- Christopher Buehlman, author of Those Across the River
- Ann Hite, author of Ghost on Black Mountain
- Patti Callahan Henry, author of Coming Up for Air
- A. Carter Sickels, author of The Evening Hour
- Alan Shapiro, author of Broadway Baby
- Julie Klam, author of Love at First Bark
- David Weber, author of A Beautiful Friendship
- Janice Hardy, author of The Healing Wars Book III: The Darkfall
- Lauren Groff, author of Arcadia
After that wonderful day, we headed to our rooms to collapse in bed after the readings because we had to get up bright and early on Sunday.
What fun, Kathy! I wish I could have been there with you all!
Sounds like a great event so far! I’m glad you ladies enjoyed yourselves
Sounds like a fun-filled day. I so wanted to go – maybe next year.
OMG — what a fabulous, fabulous event.
Wow! And this is only part 1? I’m writing titles, authors, etc down to look up later! Sounds like you had a fabulous time!
Kathy, I always love reading about SIBA as it sounds like so much fun. One day I will have to make it down there. The books you talk about so interesting and there is some new titles I will have to look for.
Thanks for sharing part 1 (wonder how many parts there will be? HEHE) with us and the pics as well. Its so nice to see the bloggers behind the blogs.
And this is the wrap up for Days 1 and 2 only?! I’m exhausted (and grinning!) just reading it, Kathy!
Lots of terrific authors and books – I’m interested in that genealogy book, and clicked over on your link to learn more about it.
The Revisionist book looks incredible! Can’t wait to read your thoughts on it!
Too cool.
So fun! And I agree – I could listen to Shellie all day. She’s a riot. It’s so great to see these pictures of all you wonderful people together!
I feel like I was there after reading everyone’s wrap ups. Very fun!
Wow! What a great weekend! I’m glad to hear you had a lovely time.
That was an awesome recap. It made me tired all over again! I’m organizing my recaps by author and books, so between the two of us, we should have it all covered. Such a good time!
Looks like you had a fantastic time! Lots of great authors to spend time with.
Sounds like you had a blast!
Oh this all sounds so wonderful! I want to go to this one next year!
This sounds like an incredible event! Wow!
It was such a glorious weekend, wasn’t it? I loved reading your post and reliving those first two amazing days all over again! I think Wanda really outdid herself this year with the amazing authors that she invited to participate. There was some big talent there this time around. It was also just so amazing and wonderful to get the chance to hang out with the three of you all weekend. It always amazes me the way that bloggers who are so different can come together and make the most unforgettable memories. This was a wonderful post, Kathy!
You sure had so much fun! Thanks for sharing your experience with us!
It looks like you guys were very busy and having a lot of fun!
Whew! I am exhausted just reading all you did! What an incredible day you all had! I also see some new titles to add to my list. I can’t wait to hear more of your adventure!
Now that sounds like a great week filled with friend,fantastic authors, and all sorts of great bookish things!
It sounds awesome…really and truly…fun and food and friends…what more could you want…oh and books…even better…
Sounds like a fabulous array of talent there (you guys too) LOL
living SIBA through you. wow is all i can say
This sounds like an awesome event! Thanks for sharing it with us.
Sounds like you had a great time, and so many great authors. I’m jealous you got to see Karen White! I just adore her books.
Sounds fantastic … especially the biscuits! And I just finished a Lauren Groff book.
OMG! Such a great time. I don’t know how you kept going at that rate!
so excited to hear about more Velva Jean books!! I LOVED the first and the second is on my amazon wish list!
So jealous! I adore Charleston, and I won’t be able to get there this year till December. We’re going for New Years. Which means I’m gonna miss YA’ll Fest, too
Wow – what a line-up! And looks like you had a lot of fun. It’s great seeing bloggers getting together in real life.
Sounds like you had a great time! I’ll bet these biscuits were tasty too!
I’m tired just reading about your day!
Thanks so much for sharing this event with us. It likes there was such a wonderful overload of great authors. I would have loved to hear Sandra Brown.
SIBA sounds more fun than BEA! more manageable, at any rate!
Sounds like you had a great time! I’m jealous.
What fun! I would love to meet up with all of you someday.
wow, so many great authors and friends, fun!!!
This sounds like so much fun. I hope to attend one day when my next book comes out! Then, I’d actually get to meet you!
SIBA sounds like a really ideal book event. I’d really like to go next year! I spent quite a while reading Jennifer Nivens website because of SIBA and the posts you, Sandy and Heather wrote. I’m so happy to have been reminded that Jennifer wrote a book(s) I want to read and then I discovered several wonderful links to cat rescue groups and shelters on her website and other wonderful links. I also added a long list of books to my Goodreads site because of your posts. Thank you for sharing the wonderful time you had!
Wow! I so wish I could have made it to SIBA this year – looks & sounds like y’all had a blast!