ALA Midwinter Events - 1/18/2010

Monday January 18, 2010 Events!

This is few days late but I had to send it along........ I had a wonderful time at the ALA Midwinter Conference on Monday January 18, 2010. I started my day by attending Monday's Sunrise Speaker Series featuring best-selling author Adrianna Trigiani's session from 9 am until 10 am. We absolutely loved Adrianna Trigiani. She was very outgoing, fun, brilliant, and has the most effervescent personality that I have ever encountered...  I had never heard of Adriana but decided to attend the presentation any way. What a pleasant treat!!!!!!!!!! I laughed so hard that I thought I was going to explode. Tears were streaming down my face... Everyone loved Adriana.  Here is the picture that someone took of Adriana and yours truly!


I knew she was awesome when she mentioned that her mother is a former librarian named Ida... Doesn't get any better than that.. being that I am a librarian named Ida::)))) We chuckled about this during her presentation as she offered to give me the chain around her neck until she looked at mine and teased me about having the real thing around my neck and that hers was fake. I told her I wasn't sure of that and she said it looked "blingy" even as far away as she was. The audience roared with laughter!

She kept us going from the time that we arrived until after we left! I can't wait to read her books. I brought back several with me and will be jumping in soon! I know that I won't be able to put them down once I start reading them! I took several pictures during and after her presentation that I am going to share with you. 

I enjoyed our pleasant interaction during her question and answer period and chatting with her afterwards. She will be coming to Joseph Beth Booksellers in Pittsburgh Southside Works on Friday February 19, 2010. We are hoping that she will come to St. Benedict the Moor School and some of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh locations that same day.

Here is the list of some of her books:

Viola in Reel Life

Brava, Valentine

Big Stone Gap

Home to Big Stone Gap

Very Valentine

The Queen of Big Time

 Lucia Lucia

Cooking with My Sisters: One Hundred Years of Family Recipes, from Bari to Big Stone Gap

Milk Glass Moon

Big Cherry Holler

Rococo: A Novel

Here is the link to her web site:

http://www.adrianatrigiani.com/welcome.html

Here is the link to the books that she has written that are included on her website:

http://www.adrianatrigiani.com/books.html

Here is the link to her books on Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_6?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=adriana+trigiani&sprefix=adrian

Here is the link to Adriana's schedule in case she is coming to a town near you:

http://www.adrianatrigiani.com/dates.html

Adriana made my day! I hope that you all have the opportunity to meet this remarkable woman and to buy and read her books!

ALTAFF Gala Author Tea

Later in the day, I attended a tea in the afternoon with several award winning authors. There were finger sandwiches, teas, and pastries. This rounded out my exciting day! The authors included Teri Woods Dutch II: Angel's Revenge), Janice Y. K. Lee (The Piano Teacher), Karl Marlantes ( Matterhorn), and Marilyn Johnson (This Book is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians can Save Us All), and Holly LeCraw (The Swimming Pool). 

These authors discussed their books after being presented by different members of the ALTAFF team. Many of the books were given away free and were autographed by the authors. I brought back two copies of each book. I met several very nice people who loved the tea and conference in general as much as I did.