Photo by Carolyn Kraft
It is a blessing the doctors were able to replace my ears in time for this year’s Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. I’ll never fall asleep in a lawn care store again, let me tell you.
Anywho, this past weekend the LATFOB was held once again at the glamorous USC campus and was a treasure trove for authors and readers alike. I checked it out on both Saturday and Sunday, and the gauze was just breathable enough to let in many an insight and observation, as well as several nuggets of wisdom. Here is a smattering of what I heard:
“Authors are the brand, not the publishers.”
“The intimacy between book and reader is part of every aspect of the industry.”
“An editor’s job is to connect the writer and the reader. Editors are sometimes guilty of not thinking about that.”
“Staying respectful is very hard to do on the internet.”
“Before Amazon, it was Barnes & Noble and Borders as the behemoths [accused of] crushing the industry, and now it’s like ‘please Barnes & Noble, please stick around!’ ”
“Someone told me that you’re only allowed one dream sequence in your career, and I’ve just blown my load in this new book.”
“I don’t remember my dreams, but for some reason people always tell me theirs…so I steal them.”
“Anyone who looks at the world, if you’re not writing horror stories, what are you doing?”
“I push back against the label ‘literary’ horror. It sounds like, ‘we like you but not your friend.’ ”
[Regarding writing] “There is no way you can escape the work.”
“Elevators are the physical manifestation of a traumatized mind.”
Photo by Carolyn Kraft
“Every story should start a chapter late and end a chapter early.”
“A fellow writer once described my book as this beautiful bonbon that when you bite into it oozes puss and maggots.”
[Regarding technology] “We tend to believe that we can make it, but not always should we make it.”
“Young people don’t have the opportunity to be bored anymore.”
“I believe there is a creative energy that connects our hearts to each other.”
“I have a blood splatter library.”
“As a Nigerian-American, you have four career options: Doctor, lawyer, engineer, disgrace to the family.”
“It is the insecurity of our parents that stifles our children.”
“Listening keeps my writing fresh.”
“You find out at 15 that you don’t have much control over what happens to you. But you do have control over how you react to it.”
“Excellence is a habit.”
WHO SAID THIS STUFF: Carolyn Kellogg; Betty Amster; Peter Ginna; Glory Edim; Ginna; Carmen Maria Machado; Victor LaValle; Ben Loory; LaValle; Jason Reynolds; Reynolds; Reynolds; Dhonielle Clayton; Marie Lu; Reynolds; Laurie Halse Anderson; Emily Carroll; Tochi Onyebuchi; Reynolds; Renee Watson; Anderson; Reynolds