ALA Annual 2015 Book-A-Licious Breakfast

The ALA Annual 2015 Book-A-Licious Breakfast was another fun event sponsored by the Association of American Publishers and LibraryReads. Held on Saturday, June 27th at the Marriott Marquis San Francisco Hotel, it featured six authors and their latest books. Attendees were treated to a full breakfast while each of the authors talked about how libraries and librarians were important to their development at authors, and discussed their books. I was amazed at what good speakers each of the authors were. They were at times earnest, passionate, and funny. I attend this event at every conference, and I'm never disappointed. As a bonus, all attendees are given a tote bag filled with each of the books that are discussed. The authors and books that were spotlighted were:

Charles Belfoure. House of Thieves. Mr. Belfoure is an architect who writes books with architecture as the backdrop. His first book was the best-selling The Paris Architect so there is a lot of anticipation for his second effort.

Anthony Marra

Anthony Marra. The Tsar of Love and Techno. Mr. Marra's first book was the best-selling and prize-winning A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, which I have at home but haven't read yet. Mr. Marra began his talk by telling us that his father worked as a young man collecting late fines door-to-door for a public library in Brooklyn and wanted Anthony to tell the room full of librarians that he never let him return books late to the library when he was a child.

Celeste Ng

Celeste Ng. Everything I Never Told You. This is Ms. Ng's first novel, although she has published short stories previously. Her book is set in 1977, and was meticulously researched at the library. Ms. Ng reports that she obsessively read both books and newspapers about the time period to get the details right.

Nnedi Okorafor

Nnedi Okorafor. Lagoon. Ms. Okorafor writes science fiction and fantasy for children, young adults, and adults. Her latest, Lagoon, was inspired by the movie District 9, which she felt got so much wrong about Africa. I really liked District 9, and I'm not sure what she was getting at there, so I'll have to watch it again and read her book to see what she means.

Stacy Schiff

Stacy Schiff. The Witches. Ms. Schiff is the only one of the six authors presenting whose work I had previously read (Cleopatra: A Life, which I loved). Her new book is an examination of the Salem witch trials, and sounds fascinating.

Brigid Schulte

 Brigid Schulte. Overwhelmed. Ms. Schulte is a reporter for the The Washington Post who writes about work-life issues. Overwhelmed explores how and why women often feel so overwhelmed by all of their obligations and responsibilities. How did this happen, and what can we do about it?