POLL: Who would be at your dream book festival?
I love getting the chance to meet authors. I love hearing them talk about their books, about how they write them, about where they find their inspiration. I love getting to meet them.
I love being around other people who are just as excited about books as I am.
So no one should be surprised that I’m completely psyched to be heading to Washington, DC, bright and early this morning to attend the National Book Festival.
Look at the schedule of who will be there. Impressive, isn’t it?
But it got me thinking as I attempted to wind down and go to sleep last night after looking at the list for the 87 millionth time with fangirl stars in my eyes…if I was making my dream book festival, who would I most want to have there?
So I’m asking you…who would you invite?
Use whatever criteria you want – it’s YOUR festival – and share your list with us in the comments below!
Nerdy Book Club 
What a great question!! Oh you’ve given me so much to consider. Even though I have piles of work to get through today, this question will be floating around in my head. I’ll be back later with an answer. You’ve given me a great idea to blog too. Thank you!
Anytime, Michelle! 🙂 I can’t wait to see what you come up with!
John Green, Margaret Peterson Haddix, Suzanne Collins, J.K. Rowling
Oh dear…… Rick Riordan, John Green, Mo Willems, Maggie Stiefvater, Carrie Jones, and the author of whatever book I’m reading right now.
Eloise Greenfield, Gary Soto, Jacqueline Woodson, Andrea and Brian Pinkney, Rita Williams-Garcia, Kadir Nelson, Pat Mora, Christopher Paul Curtis, Karen Hesse, Francis Ray, Brenda Jackson, Rochelle Alers, Frank Peretti, Maya Angelou, hill harper, and Bernice McFadden just to name a few.
That’s such a hard question! A mix of seasoned authors and newbies, for sure! And have offered a variety of well-written stories that have (or will) endure(d). Barbara O’Connor, Linda Urban, Liesl Shurtliff, Jenni Holm, Jack Gantos, Lois Lowry… How many do we get to pick?
Oh wow. Hadn’t thought about a limit. I’ll leave that to you all to figure out. 🙂
I have had the pleasure of already meeting some of my favorite authors. So I will just mentioned some of authors that I haven’t met in person yet! 🙂 Kate Dicamillo, Judy Blume, J.K. Rowling, Sharon Creech, Ame Dyckman, Lynda M. Hunt, John Green and Neil Gaiman. That is just off the top of my head. 🙂
Katherine Paterson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Avi, Richard Peck, Jacqueline Woodson, Susan Cooper, Joan Bauer, Christopher Paul Curtis, Gail Carson Levine, Shannon Hale, Gary Paulsen, Sharon Draper, and… how many do we get?
A fantasy book event is WAY more fun than a fantasy football game!
So I would invite:
Carolyn Slaughter – because she once answered (three handwritten pages!) a gushy letter I wrote to her
Stephen King – because he’s Stephen King
John Green – because his brain is sexy
Kristin McCloy – because she wrote the book I read once a year (Velocity)
Thomas H. Cook (my favourite mystery writer)
Lauren B. Davis – because I loved Our Daily Bread and she tweeted with my book club
Patrick Ness – I loved the Chaos Walking Trilogy and A Monster Calls
Charlotte Bronte – because Jane Eyre changed my reading life.
Yikes – I could go on and on.
I gasped when I saw the list! How would I make it to every one of them? I will be there one day. Dream list? Dear oh dear. That’s going to take a while…& I will enjoy compiling it!
I have a whole mixed-up laundry list of authors. It would be quite a party. Dan Gutman should be there. He would bring some much needed comic relief to everyone…so would Jeff Kinney. Daniel Pinkwater has an incredibly original viewpoint on literature and on life-he’d be fun to have around. A student of mine is reading Sounder…William H. Armstrong would be able to tell unbelievable stories.You didn’t say whether or not they had to be alive, so I’ll go out on a limb and say Laura Ingalls Wilder-wouldn’t it have been great to meet her? Same with Lucy Maud Montgomery. Those women were pioneers in more than one sense of the word.I could just go on and on…oh, let’s not forget Emily Dickinson-again, a quirky sense of humor and a viewpoint that is still, even now, utterly refreshing.
Forgot to mention Jeff Foxworthy. My students love his book, Dirt on My Shirt!! Great for fluency and just plain silly and fun.
Kids books: Maurice Sendak, J.R.R. Tolkein, Susan Cooper, Roald Dahl, Margaret Wise Brown, Richard Scarry, Beatrix Potter, and Rick Riordan. Adult books: Rudyard Kipling, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, Ben Franklin, Abraham Lincoln. And so, so, so, so many more!
Top three: Maya Angelou, Ray Bradbury (no mention they had to be living) and Harper Lee.
This question is impossible.
Sharon Creech, Mo Willems, Adam Rex, Kate Messner, Mac Barnett, Jon Scieszka, Kazu Kibuishi, Raina Telgemeier, Dave Roman, Gary Paulsen, Christopher Paul Curtis, Neil Gaiman, Kirby Larson, Jenni Holm, Oliver Jeffers, Jarrett J. Krosoczka, Tom Angleberger.
Should I go on?
Rebecca Stead, Erin Stead, Philip Stead, Matt Phelan, Ben Hatke, Linda Urban, Sam Riddleburger :^), Steve Sheinkin.
Should I go on?
Isn’t it though? But I’m totally coming to your dream festival. Let’s invite Wendy Mass, too.
OK, sure. And if we’re in the mood to add people…
Dan Santat, Aaron Reynolds, David Weisner, Maryrose Wood, Sara Varon, Judy Blume, Kate DiCamillo.
Should I go on?
Add Laurie Halse Anderson and I will come to your book festival!
I would pretty much go to any of the above festivals. I agree – too hard to answer. A lot depends on what I am reading at the time.
I would love to visit a festival where the speakers included unusual matches. I’d like to hear Roald Dahl and Beverly Cleary on one panel, J.R.R. Tolkien, George R.R. Martin and C.S. Lewis on another, Dr. Seuss and Lemony Snicket on another panel, and Madeleine L’Engle and J.K. Rowling on yet another.
I have been lucky enough to meet so many authors and have loved all but, two, who I won’t mention because their books are great. From many favorites and limiting myself to a Baker’s Dozen, here goes:
Roland Smith – because he does what he writes about
Gordon Korman – every book is as good or better than the one before
Gary Paulsen – he’s a dog man and I love that
Frances O’Roark Dowell – thank you for CHICKEN BOY, he touched my heart
Maggie Stiefvater – the most beautiful writing in the WORLD!
Gennifer Choldenko – wonderful books, wonderful lady
Suzanne Collins – for giving us THE HUNGER GAMES series and Katniss
Ralph Fletcher – FLYING SOLO is an amazing book – thank you
Lester Laminack – because not only can he write – he’s a hoot!
Peg Kehret – wonderful books, inspirational person
Fred Bowen – today’s sport’s writer with the real story at the end
Katherine Applegate – thank you for giving us Ivan
Neal Shusterman – for classy young adult books and especially BRUISER
I could go on, Angleburger, Bauer, Rowling, etc. and then there are the adult authors – another day.
Because I just finished On The Jellicoe Road and think it’s one of the most exquisite books I’ve ever read–Melina Marchetta. Seriously. Huge book hangover right now. I will never be the same. 🙂
I would start with Cornelia Funke. Then in no particular order: Jeff Kinney, Mike Lupica, Jane Austen, Shannon Hale, Avi, Michael Buckley and Andrew Clements and JK Rowling Just to name a few,
Jack Gantos would be at the top of my list, because I love his books, but also because I know he is a side-splittingly funny public speaker!
Oh, he’s not American, but also Philippe Courdray. He writes the ‘Benjamin Bear’ books for Toon and I love how that bear’s mind works. Also, Nathan Hale, to talk about his ‘Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales’ series.
I would go to all of these! Is someone taking notes for the next book festival? I have a feeling we would all show up! What fun and I found a few new books and authors for me to read.
We could add Debra Frasier – creates a great workshop
Shana Berg – bringing real life into fiction
Kathi Appelt – love the animal adventures
Blue Balliett – ok so I am back to the art connection by loved Hold Fast
I could go on but won’t repeat all the great ones already listed.
Aimee Bender, Oliver Jeffers, Allen Say, Rebecca Stead, Shaun Tan, Miranda July. For starters. 🙂
There are WAY too many to name, and as soon as I post this, I will think of half a dozen I’ve left off, but….Christopher Paul Curtis, Suzanne Collins, Sarah Dessen, Richard Peck, Kathi Appelt (The Underneath still gets to me!), Jacqueline Woodson (but I will get to hear her next week -YAY!), Wendelin VanDraanen, Steve Shienkin (Bomb was awesome! So was The Notorious Benedict Arnold), Jerry Spinelli, Jon Sciezcka, I’ve heard many of the revered authors in my teaching career (Paulsen, Lois Duncan, Lois Ruby, Mary Downing Hahn, etc.), but I’d listen to them again, too!
The list is simply endless! If I only got one, I’d pick Mo Willems, because when he speaks to a crowd, he’s actually a phenomenal writing instructor.