Readercon, Northboro Library, and Fitchburg State

This Friday, July 18th, I'm heading up to Massachusetts for not one, not two, but THREE book events. Yes, three. This is a new record for me. Hmmm, perhaps I've overbooked myself ever so slightly...

8:30am - Fitchburg State College

My high school English teacher, Ms. Tsang, is giving a course at an AP teacher training institute (teaching teachers to teach AP English) and invited me to be a guest speaker. Should be very cool.

2pm - Northboro Library (17 Lyman St, Northboro, MA)

I've been looking forward to this for a while. I'm doing a library visit in Northboro (my hometown and the setting for Into the Wild and Out of the Wild) at the library where I spent a large fraction of my childhood. I'm really, really excited about this event. The Northboro Library is where I learned to love books. It's where I discovered Lloyd Alexander and Tamora Pierce and David Eddings and Diane Duane and Diana Wynne Jones and... My mom used to take my brother and me there all the time, and we'd leave with this huge L.L. Bean bag full of books. (My mom eventually had to put limits on me, or I would have walked out with entire shelves straped to my back. And by "limits" I don't mean "you can take one." I mean, "Sarah, please try to limit yourself to twenty.")

And check this out. I've even got a picture of myself, at age four, signing up to get my first library card at the Northboro Library. A newspaper photographer happened to be there at the time, covering some sort of card registration drive at the library, and I happened to be absolutely adorable, so I got my picture in the paper! And my mom kept the article for the past thirty years! Take a look:

Hey, that's me!

Plus, this library also features prominently in Into the Wild -- an entire chapter takes place there! So, yeah, I'm kinda excited about this event. I'll be talking about, reading from, and signing copies of my books. And I'll probably tell a few embarrassing tales from my childhood. So, if you're in Northboro this Friday (7/18) at 2pm, come on by!

6pm (and the rest of the weekend) - Readercon

After Northboro, I'm hightailing it (I love that expression -- where does it come from?) over to the Marriott in Burlington, MA for Readercon. Readercon is a Boston-area fantasy and science fiction convention with an emphasis on literature. It's attended by lots of excellent authors and is always well-run and well-organized. I'm really thrilled with my schedule this year. My first event of the weekend is a reading from Out of the Wild at 6pm (thus completing my book triathalon). Here's my full schedule:

Sarah at Readercon 2008:

* Reading - Fri. July 18, 6pm - Sarah Beth Durst

* Autographing - Sat. July 19, 11am - Ellen Datlow, Sarah Beth Durst

* Panel - Sat. July 19, 1pm - Beth Bernobich, Suzy McKee Charnas, Michael J. Daley, Sarah Beth Durst, Walter H. Hunt, Ellen Kushner, Judith Moffett - "Are You Writing a Sequel?"

* Panel - Sat. July 19, 3pm - Judith Berman, Cassandra Clare, Michael J. Daley, Sarah Beth Durst, Charles Oberndorf, Nancy Werlin - "Gatekeepers to the World of Letters"

* Workshop - Sun. July 20, 10am - Kay Kenyon, Sarah Beth Durst, Walter H. Hunt, Elaine Isaak - "Stop Making Sense: Next Stage Dialog"

* Kaffeeklatsch - Sun July 20, 11am - Paolo Bacigalupi, Sarah Beth Durst

* Panel - Sun July 20, 1pm - Shira Daemon, Sarah Beth Durst, Scott Edelman, Louise Marley, Ann Tonsor Zeddies - "Finding Hamster Huey's Head: The Nature of the Childhood Favorite Story"

And after that, I collapse into a little puddle of tired (but happy) Sarah.