A few weeks ago I wrote about the authors I have seen in person (or virtually).
Today I want to share some authors I would like to see if given the opportunity and others who are long gone, but who I think would have been great in person.
- Phillip Pullman - I have been reading Pullman since the His Dark Materials series in the 90s. As far as I have seen, he does not do book tours or festivals. I respect this if it is his preference, but I would enjoy hearing him talk about his work. Especially now that he has been writing another trilogy (The Book of Dust) set in Lyra's London. I have also read his Sally Lockhart mystery series.
- Connie Willis - Given my feelings about her time travel books, Willis is an author I want to have tea and a good chat with. I'd also like to see her talk about her work.
- Erin Morgenstern - I rarely read books more than once, but I have both read and listened to The Night Circus. I haven't yet read her second novel, The Starless Sea, though I have owned it since it was released in the spring. I know I will be sorry to have waited, but there isn't a bad time to read a good book.
- Jason Reynolds - In reality I have seen Reynolds speak, but it was in his capacity as the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, not in connection with his own writing. This is a goal.
- Tana French - The more mysteries I read, the more I am intrigued by mystery writing.
- Ann Patchett - The first of her books I read was Bel Canto, the most recent was The Dutch House. In between I have never been disappointed. She is one of this generation's greats. AND she owns an independent bookstore!
- Glennon Doyle - I so enjoyed listening to her book Untamed recently. I am on the wait list for Love Warrior. I connect to her real voice because she sounds like a friend and to her written voice. She says things that make sense and encourage me to look inward.
I could probably write all day about authors I would like to hear talk about their work, the world, philosophy, life, but these are a few of the top who I will seek when there is again an opportunity for in person events. Until then I will look for virtual events, like the National Book Festival, which begins tomorrow.
I also made a list of authors who are no longer living who I would like to have had the opportunity to see and hear in person as well. They mainly include authors whose work I have taught, but in most cases I chose works I loved or found merit in so the authors are those I respect and whose work I would love to hear more about.
- Oscar Wilde - I love his satire from The Importance of Being Earnest to The Picture of Dorian Gray. I visited his resting place in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France. It is a beautiful memorial to a favorite writer.
- Edgar Allan Poe - Poe's work is attractive to students and therefore fun to teach. The short stories are masterful examples of the power of brevity. Despite his final resting place being in Baltimore, I have not visited, an oversight I hope to rectify soon.
- The Transcendentalists and their friends - After visiting Concord, Massachusetts last summer for a National Endowment for the Humanities educator workshop I came to know this remarkable group of writers and philosophers more deeply than I had from only their writing. Seeing the places they wrote and spent their time offered insights that have made their work more meaningful to me. The writers I include are:
- Henry David Thoreau
- Louisa May Alcott
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Margaret Fuller
- The poets Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson - 2019 was the 100th anniversary of Whitman's birth. The Library of Congress had a special open house during which were displayed rare works and special publications. The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City had an exhibition as did the main branch of the New York public library. I was able to see all three.
- I consider Dickinson and Whitman to be parallel poets, whose words resonate with me in similar ways. I have participated in an all day reading of Dickinson's poems to commemorate her birthday and visited her home in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
- I think a walk in the park with the two of them and some time on a bench in conversation would be intellectually stimulating and nourishment for my creative soul.
- Zora Neal Hurston - Because she was a groundbreaking writer, a talented folklorist, and Their Eyes Were Watching God is one of the most gratifying novels I have ever taught because of the ways in which almost all students find a point of connection with Janie Crawford's story.
There are certainly far more authors I could add to this list as well.
What authors do you want to see in person? Who are you sorry to have missed?
