As many of you already know, this past weekend I stopped by LTUE to see Megan Whalen Turner, who was the guest of honor at the symposium. I’m not an aspiring writing (at least at the moment) but I couldn’t miss this landmark event, so on Friday night I headed down to the Provo Marriott for the mass author signing. In line I met up with Angie as well as a lovely group of aspiring writers and bloggers who included Heather Zundel of The Adventures of Writer SecretGirl and Angie’s friend Bethany, who had just read the entire The Queen’s Thief series in four days a week ago, courtesy of book-pusher Angie. It was great to hang out with both old and new fans of Gen, Attolia, Eddis, Sophos, and Turner’s ingenious plots.
Our spot in the line wasn’t too bad either:
Here’s a picture of Megan and I. I was chuffed that she remembered the acrostic of Gen I wrote for Chachic’s The Queen’s Thief week. If you look closely you’ll also recognize Jennifer A. Nielsen, author of The False Prince
On Saturday I returned for MWT’s keynote address. The room was packed and the sound wasn’t great but that did not taint the experience of hearing her speak. She based her address on the problems she see in critics like Meghan Cox Gurdon who argue censorship is needed for the YA of today, which is becoming too dark. She said that science fiction and fantasy in particular are like a sandbox for isolating real life issues without the distractions of the real world, a sandbox to which teenagers need access. She stated that censorship is arbitrary, and is often a shortcut for parents who aren’t paying attention. “Saying that at age 16 they can’t be responsible for the books they choose to read but that at age 18 they can choose to go to war is a restriction of their ability to grow.” Children and teens should be given the responsibility and freedom to choose a book they do or do not want to read. It is up to the parent to decide at which age a child is ready to be responsible for her reading choices.
Reading advice from MWT’s personal experience that elicited laughs from the audience:
“Don’t read books with the word ‘poignant’ on the back.”
“Stay away from anything that has a love triangle in it.”
“At least I didn’t feed him [Gen] to a lion” (referring to Elizabeth Wein’s The Lion Hunters series)
And finally some tidbits about future books from a wisely tight-lipped author:
-Currently MWT is rewriting the entire next Thief book from third-person to first-person. (Could this mean it’s being rewritten from someone else’s perspective to Gen’s?)
-Her publisher is pushing her hard for a map in future books (MWT said there has not been a map previously because everything she imagines ends up looking like Middle-earth. Lol.)
Overall, it was an amazing two days. 
Stay tuned for a Tahereh Mafi event recap later this week. Until then, happy reading, blogging, and author-sighting!
That sounds like a bundlefull of awesomeness. How cool!
Yep! It was. I don’t know how I got so lucky.
I am really feeling ALL of the jealousy right now, in the best possible way. I love the point MWT makes about how a 16 year old should be able to choose their own books because heck, an 18 year old can choose to go to war. I just don’t get that whole censorship thing — as I think what the kids come across on TV and real life is probably worse than anything they read in a book.
ALSO lol to not reading books with poignant on the back cover. I like those sort of books but that cracks me up.
I’m so glad you had a great time meeting MWT and listening to her keynote! Looking forward to your Tahereh Mafi recap!
I’m glad that it’s the good kind of jealousy. Your comment about TV is so true. Lol, I like poignant books too.
What a fantastic weekend! Love all those MWT books displayed so proudly
It sounds like it was a great keynote speech – excellent statement about censorship.
I know, we were shameless fangirls among shameless fangirls.
It was an insightful and thought-provoking speech. I took tons of notes.
Very jealous.
Also: SHE’S REWRITING THE BOOK!?! We are going to be waiting even longer now. Grrrr…but it will be worth it.
Lol, I KNOW! But at least we can trust that it will be up to snuff after all that time.
Great recap! You already know how jealous I am that you got to meet MWT in person. I’m glad she remembers your guest post for Queen’s Thief Week (and that she remembers me when you said hi from me). Looks like it was an amazing event, love what she said about fantasy and censorship. And LOL at that comment about EWein’s books.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I’m glad there’s an update about the next book, although it looks like it won’t be released anytime soon.
I was betting you’d like that EWein comment. Made me think of you. Yep, it is sad the book won’t be out soon but at least it will be good.
Ha, I love the quote about “poignant”! YES, I agree.
Lol, yep. It was hilarious to hear that admission from her.
Wow. That is absolutely amazing that you got to listen to and meet Megan Whalen Turner! She’s a writing goddess for sure, and I love those little advice tidbits you shared! And eee! So excited to hear she’s writing in first person again. I may be the only one upset when I saw The Queen of Attolia was in third person. I miss being in Gen’s head. I hope we get that again before the series is over.
I have not heard about the censorship argument, nor arguments that YA is becoming too dark, but I’ll definitely have to read into that. At the end of the day it’s fiction. I don’t think fiction should ever be censored. Adapted for specific age groups perhaps, but not censored.
Writing goddess–I like that. Eee is right! I don’t mind that she is rewriting the entire book if it’ll be in first person. I agree that it maybe should be adapted for certain age groups but it should be very individualized according to the reading level of the child.
I’ve never read a blog post about an even with Megan Whalen Turner before so this was amazing. And how exciting that you got to go with other book lovers! I totally agree with MWT about books that have things like “poignant” written in the blurbs. Ugh. Also, I was totally grinning that she remembered what you wrote for Chachic’s blog. That’s adorable and very flattering.
I know, I don’t think I have either. How many events does she do anyway when she doesn’t have a new book out? We got lucky is all I can say. And I’m lucky to have people like Angie around. We’re going to the Mafi event together as well. Maybe one day we’ll move to WA (Since as you know it’s like DH’s favorite place) and we can hang more.
I was considering applying to the U of WA-Seattle MLIS program…
DO IT. We have so, so many book events around here.
THIS IS AWESOME! Yes, I’m screaming as I meet MWT vicariously through you. It’s funny because I only picked up The Thief because I needed a Q book for my A-Z Challenge and Noelle suggested The Queen’s Thief, and I ended up racing through all the books. That series is #1 on my list of books I’d like to see adapted into a TV show or movie. I cannot wait til #5 comes out.
I love that she remembered you and your acrostic, Holly. So jealous but glad that you got to meet her and share with the class.