I had a pretty good day this past Friday, and the end of a pretty busy week. I was down at a professional development day at the Thames Valley District School Board (London and area), and spent the day promoting my books to teachers and teacher librarians, and also meeting up with fellow authors and all around lovers of the written word.

As far as I could see, the event was organized by Marlene Turkington. I managed to gain an invitation after I’d approached her for helping me find someone in her area to do a literature unit for Fathom Five. Unfortunately, that fell through, but while we were talking, I learned about the event and asked if I could participate. She agreed, and I’m glad she did.

Marlene and her tireless team put together a smooth run event that packed in over 500 attendees inside the board headquarters (which is obviously a converted school building. Getting to various venues between events did bring up memories of my crowded high school corridors). There were a number of booksellers and authors at the event, but many came to see the featured authors, including Barbara Reid, Deborah Ellis and, all the way from Australia, the incomparable Mem Fox (author of some of the best selling picture books of all time; if you are a parent, you have probably read Time For Bed).

Mem gave the keynote address and it’s interesting how one’s skills as a teacher and a reader for young children applies to keeping an audience of grown-ups enraptured. It was an engaging speech about the importance of rhythm when reading aloud to our children.

I also had a chance to present, along with seven other authors, at one of the panel discussions later that day, and I had a good response to the five-minute snippet I picked from The Unwritten Girl. But, otherwise, I was in the vendor room, promoting myself and the Authors’ Booking Service, and that might sound boring, but there was a good crowd, and they were more than willing to engage a young author in conversation about his book, about what sort of school readings I did, and what I was working on next. It was a very friendly audience (they bought the six copies of my book I brought and seemed interested in buying more!), and one just thrives on that.

I’d like to thank Marlene and all of the people who helped to bring this event about. I hope it becomes an annual event, and I look forward to next year.