True Confessions of a BBF Moderator

Since a couple of months ago, when my editor Nancy Mercado asked me to moderate a writers’ panel at the Brooklyn Book Festival, I’ve been reading works by Gayle Forman (If I Stay, Where She Went), Jacqueline Woodson (After Tupac and D Foster, Under a Meth Moon), and Cory Doctorow (Makers, For the Win, Contents) so I’d be ready to ask them a few questions.  Gayle’s books made me think about if, without family, there’s a point to living, Jacqueline’s made me feel like I am a 12-year-old friend growing up in Queens, and Cory’s made me see technology and world-wide gamers in a way that I still can’t quite wrap my head around.  Devising questions around the panel’s topic, Making Difficult Choices (3:00), has intrigued me.  These are the kinds of books I have personal relationships with now.  They’ve become part of me and nudged the way I see the world.  As I writer, I’m thinking about memory, and pacing, and scope of conflict with new attention.  I’ve had deep reminders to write honestly about what matters to me, in ways only I can do, and to do it with conviction.

A week ago, my editor told me a different writer cancelled out on another panel and asked if she could plug me in there because my work fits the topic, Another World (2:00).  So I’m on a panel with Bill Willingham and Jewell Parker Rhodes, and that should be fun, too.  I expect to be inspired.

The Brooklyn Book Festival is this coming Sunday, September 18th, 10:00-6:00, and over 260 writers are involved.  Events are free.  Come by to hear about some amazing new books, meet some super nice writers, have a few laughs, and say hello!