Collingswood Book Festival

Our first time at a local book festival with a surprising number of author connections

Just a hop-skip away from our home base in Philadelphia is the Collingswood Book Festival, an annual one-day event held in Collingswood, New Jersey. 

It was our first time at this event, so we took the opportunity to make a few new friends (and hang out with one of our authors.)

Philly's Lanternfish Press represents at Collingswood Book Fair pic.twitter.com/x1FhJr703g

— Kevin Riordan (@Inqkriordan) October 7, 2017

Other Worlds artist Saul Rosenbaum stopped by to sign a few things and hang out with us in the slightly hot but otherwise lovely day. 

#collsbook #Otherworlds #coloringbook

4 Likes, 1 Comments - Catherine Gladney Gross (@cat92155) on Instagram: "#collsbook #Otherworlds #coloringbook"

You can pick up a copy of Other Worlds on our website! And, if you're in the Philadelphia area, keep an eye out: there may be a few coloring parties on the way.

But that's not our only connection to Collingswood: Salamanders of the Silk Road author Christopher Smith lived in West Collingswood Heights (on Lincoln Avenue) from 1980 through 1987 and graduated from Haddon Township High School in 1987. He attended Audubon United Methodist Church and worked as a busboy at Rexy's Bar and then at Chubby's 1 1/2 Hearth.

We had a wonderful time at the book festival this year, and we look forward to another visit next fall!

This year's Brooklyn Book Fest is behind us, and we had a fantastic time meeting new readers and old fans alike this year! 

We had quite a few samplers for new readers to check out: a selected entry from Vikram Paralkar's The Afflictions and first-chapter samples of Christopher Smith's Salamanders of the Silk Road and our December release, Daughters of the Air by Anca L. Szilágyi.

Daughters of the Air Tour of Gowanus

We were joined this weekend by Anca L. Szilágyi in advance of Daughters of the Air's debut. During the afternoon of the festival, we had the opportunity to explore Brooklyn for an Instagram tour.

Daughters of the Air (December 5, 2017) is a literary fabulist story of a runaway teen set across the Americas:

Tatiana “Pluta” Spektor was a mostly happy, if awkward, young girl—until her sociologist father was disappeared during Argentina’s Dirty War. Sent a world away by her grieving mother to attend boarding school outside New York City, Pluta wrestles alone with the unresolved tragedy and at last runs away: to the streets of Brooklyn in 1980, where she figuratively—and literally—spreads her wings.

The author took us on a walking tour of Gowanus, Brooklyn, where many scenes in the novel are set.

Our walking tour centered mainly around the Gowanus Canal, including a bridge where Pluta learns about the area's history. During the tour, Szilágyi mentioned the fascinating appeal of the "nooks and crannies" around the canal, which is surrounded by dead-end streets with seemingly no purpose.

You can find more scenes from the tour by following Anca Szilágyi on Instagram.

Brooklyn Book Festival is one of our favorite events of the year, and 2017 was a wonderful time. We look forward to seeing everyone at BKBF 2018!