wintergirls – Page 5 – Laurie Halse Anderson

May 12, 2009

Debates about WINTERGIRLS and camera in my face

My face still hurts… for so many reasons.

School Library Journal sent a photographer to our house yesterday to take a picture of me that will run (July, I think) with an article about the Margaret A. Edwards Award. It’s going to be the cover photo, so there were specific demands of the picture in terms of surrounding space for text, etc. There was also a request to try and get the picture in a natural setting, possibly because of the tree themes in Speak, and the amount of time I spend gardening, etc.

The photographer was a super nice guy from Syracuse. He took pics of me in our Forest, on the stone wall behind the garden, in the house, and by the Magic Window in the cottage. Queen Louise developed a new job skill; she had to hold the whatsit that softened the light. Now she is officially a Grip. And she has a grip on life. Many bad puns were made while the guy shot – I kid you not – hundreds and hundreds of pictures. Here’s hoping that one of them turned out OK.

Me standing on the wall. Do I look like a target for haters? Keep reading.

In other news, a small firestorm about WINTERGIRLS is raging over on the New York Times website, on the Well, a discussion section. The question posed was “In writing about eating disorders, are authors, unwittingly, creating an alluring guidebook to the disease?”

The debate is fascinating; take a peek.

Some of the comments were very painful for me to read, like the one that accused me of writing “anorexic porn.” The debate seems to be boiling down to a question that pertains to many YA novels: Will our children act in a dangerous manner if they read about dangerous behaviors in books?

And then the good people at the Jezebel blog joined the fray, with a blog entry called “Are Teen Girls Really That Fragile?” Plenty of response to that question, too!

What do you think about all of this?

April 10, 2009

More airport coffee, llooking for llamas

I’m back in the Atlanta airport, waiting, this time, for the plane that will take me to Lima, Peru. No, this is not part of the book tour. I am going to Lima to speak at an American School there, the same way that I went to Warsaw, Poland in 2007.

Many people have written to ask if I’ll be going to Machu Picchu. Sadly, the answer is no. I get altitude sickness easily and I have wicked asthma – the combination of the two makes it unsafe for me to travel to altitude alone. But I hope I can come back with the Beloved Husband one day. He will take many photos of me wheezing or passed out amongst breath-taking scenery.

I am under strict orders from BH to avoid wheatgrass, btw. He would be happiest if I abstained from all adventurous eating on this trip. Not sure I’ll be able to comply fully (I’m going to PERU, for crying out loud. Must try new food!!!) But no wheatgrass. Never, ever, ever, ever again. And no llama beans, thunderchiken. No, thank you.

This weekend I will be absorbing a tiny bit of Lima courtesy of the peripatetic Hoiseth family. Monday – Friday I’ll be giving presentations about my books and writing workshops at the Colegio F. D. Roosevelt. Late Friday night I start the long journey home. I would have loved to schedule some vacation time, but the next week I head to California for the LA Book Festival, and shortly after that is the International Reading Association Conference in MN.

At this point, being able to wake up in my own bed for a week running will feel like a vacation.

I am not sure if I’ll be able to blog or tweet from Peru. So I will post a bunch of links right now to keep you busy while I’m gone:

1. Publisher’s Weekly has a nice article (with photos!) about how I used Twitter on the book tour. Hello new media! You can read my Twitter stream here, if you want.

2. The YAthenaeum has posted a terrific recap of the poetry slam, Time Warp, and my time at Books & Books, complete with video. Booksellers – if you’re looking for a model of how to run a teen book club, here it is.

Watch my Q & A session from my book tour stop at Kepler’s in Menlo Park, CA. Really there was a BUNCH of people there, but no one wanted to sit up front. They had no doubt heard out my tendency to foam at the mouth and spit (unintentionally, of course) when I get on a rant.

And spitting brings us, at llong llast, to llamas. I have been assured that I won’t see any llamas in LLima, but I might get llucky. I am llonging for a llama encounter. I am playing with all kinds of multi-llingual puns along of the lines of “Como se llama, llama?”

(If you were walking with your dog and you saw a llama who resembled Perry Como, you might ask your dog, “Perro, como se llama llama?” And then, if LLorenzo LLamas joined you….)

I definitely need to get more sleep.

I’ll be back here sooner, hopefully than llater.

April 8, 2009

Tour recap!!!

I’m about halfway packed for Peru and halfway caught up on business stuff, so I think I deserve a little break to fill you in on the second half of the WINTERGIRLS tour.

This sums it up nicely. (One of the lovely things given to me by a reader while I was on the road.)

The last time I posted anything of significance, I was in Salt Lake City. From there, I went to Phoenix, then Houston, then Austin, then Oxford, MS, one of my favorite little towns in the South. Paid homage to Mr. Faulkner by visiting his house and

his grave.

There was one minor hitch in Oxford. I drank wheatgrass juice. Why? Because everyone said how healthy and wonderful it was. (Can you hear my grandmothers asking me if I’d go over Niagara Falls in a barrel if everyone said how healthy and wonderful it was?)

Wheatgrass is healthy for some. Cows for example. And goats. Maybe pigs.

Not me.

I am deathly allergic to mold. The mold that grows on wheatgrass (not visible, btw) does not hurt cows, goats, pigs or most people. It made me into one very sick author. Combine 48 hours of food poisoning with a severe asthmatic reaction and you’ll get the picture. It wasn’t pretty.

But the worst of it occurred in the airport and hotel room, and I was able to (ahem) gut out all of my events and interviews. Two days later, I was perfectly fine. I bet William Faulkner and my grandmothers had a big old laugh.

After MS came St. Louis, and after St. Louis, several days of speaking at a conference, schools, bookstores

and going on television. “Good Morning, Atlanta” to be precise. With massive amounts of make-up on. The woman who interviewed me couldn’t remember how to pronounce my name and became so flustered I felt really bad for her, which was good because I totally forgot to be nervous.

A great tee-shirt spotted at the conference. The phrase originated in a conversation I had with Gail Giles at an ALA cocktail party one year. Librarians are always listening, don’t you know.

While in Atlanta, I spoke at the Georgia Center of the Book and got to see my friend Terra Elan McVoy whose new awesome book, PURE, was published this week. You should buy it right now.

A bunch of bloggers came out to my Alpharetta signing. Not surprisingly, they blogged about it!

After Atlanta came South Florida, including a memorable stop at Books & Books In Coral Gables, where I got to finally meet the YAthenaeum girls, who all came dressed in the their winter(girls) whites and were patient with me as we tried to do the Time Warp. In addition to our dancing, the store hosted a wonderful poetry slam with area teens!

In Raleigh, North Carolina, I did not get to see David Macinnis Gill, because he is a really good dad and needed to be at one of his kids’ tournaments. His book, Soul Enchilada, came out this week, too. Please go buy that one ASAP and thank me when your ribs are aching from laughing.

However, I did get to meet the Eva Perry Mock Printz Book Club!!!! I LOVE these kids! I want to adopt them all. They won the 2009 Margaret A. Edwards Award for Best Literature Program for Teens, so I’m hoping I’ll get to hang out with them in Chicago at ALA this summer.

The crowd in NC was HUGE – the perfect way to cap off a spectacular tour. And then I got to fly home, where it was snowing sideways, but it didn’t matter because my BH was waiting for me.

Thank you, thank you to everyone who came out to see me!! And everyone who has purchased WINTERGIRLS – I got word today that the book made the New York Times Bestseller List for the third week in a row.

Now I just have to figure out what to wear in Peru…..

April 6, 2009

Update on that update

I am home for a few days and not drowning in the backlog of mail, thanks to the gloriousness that is Queen Louise. Plus, she’ll totally organized the office in my absence!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Yes. I would take a bullet for La Queen.)

The, erm, somewhat frantic news is that I have to repack my suitcase because I leave again THIS FRIDAY, at 6am, for LIMA PERU.

Right.

Another country. Another continent.

Right. I should have my head examined. I think Queen Louise is organizing that.

So I am in triage mode, trying to make sure that the things which Absolutely Must Be Done get done by Thursday night. And there are a couple more interviews I have scheduled, not to mention an itty-bitty basketball game tonight.

(Which, btw, I can’t lose. IF UNC wins, I’ll be happy for Sarah Dessen and cheer on her boys. I already lost our bet, so what’s another loss? If Michigan wins, I’ll be even happier.)

If all the critical things can get done, I’ll post a tour recap to the blog, and a couple of fun pictures. This was hands-down the most fun and the busiest tour I’ve ever had. Thanks a million to all who made it such an adventure!!!

And thanks to all for buying WINTERGIRLS – it has been on the New York Times Bestseller List for two weeks in a row!!!! W00T!!!!!!

March 28, 2009

I’ve been on tour for a week already?

HAPPY BLUR.

That’s what the first week of the WINTERGIRLS tour has been. I apologize for not being more faithful with my blog posts, but seriously, the last part of the week was in hyperdrive, and everyone knows that the laws of physics prohibit blog postings while in hyperdrive.

I am in Austin, TX right now eagerly anticipating tonight’s event at BookPeople at 7PM.

In the little bit of time I have, let’s see if I can summarize the last few days of craziness.

San Francisco Day #2 was highlighted by time with Rakestraw Books, which – in total defiance of the state of the economy – is moving next week to a new store that is 50% larger!

Also, at my Vroman’s event, I saw my first fangrrl poster, from the Casa Grande High School Book Club. Quite lovely! I had cilantro coleslaw for dinner at an Armenian restaurant and am now consumed with the need to find a good recipe for it. Do you know how to make it?

Seattle Day was filled with students, stock signings, and a terrific event at the library, hosted by Secret Garden Books. Every chair was filled, many with teachers and friends, like the Readergirlz Divas who managed a quick video Q&A with me. Thank you, everyone, who came out (especially you, Olive)!!

After Seattle, things got a little nutty. I woke the next morning at 3:30am so I could make my flight to Phoenix. Had awesome school events in Phoenix and ate lunch with another group of librarians. We ate OUTSIDE because the sun was shining and birds were singing. There was no snow. I think it was 85 degrees. The strange weather gave me the creeps, but the librarians were super nice and the food was yummy – prepared and served by the school’s culinary arts students.

My evening event was on a very tight schedule because of my need to get to the airplane on time. Unfortunately, there was some confusion about the time the event was due to start. Plenty of people turned out to hear me speak at 6pm, but another crowd turned up at 7, when I was scheduled to leave. I apologize again to anyone who got the wrong event info. And thank you to all who came out, including…

my friend (Professor) Jim Blasingame, who showed up on his gorgeous motorcycle. I was so bummed that I wasn’t spending the night in Phoenix, because I really wanted a ride on the bike. (Jim and I and a couple of other bookish people are thinking about a serious motorcycle ride… probably in 2012, after I get my Harley.) My author nanny took me firmly in tow and delivered me to the airport, and yes, that was the night I ran through the terminal in my stocking feet so I didn’t miss the plane.

I stumbled into bed, at midnight, in Salt Lake City, and woke up hours later for another round of schools and stores. But the weather in Salt Lake was much kinder to me; it was snowy.

And gorgeous.

After my school visits, I was interviewed by this fellow, Ori Hoffer, for his TV show “Mountain Views” in Park City, UT. As soon as I can figure out how to link to the interview, I will.

That night was an AWESOME event at a bookstore I’ve been wanting to visit for years: The King’s English Bookshop, owned by one of the most convincing voices out there advocating for people to strengthen their communities by supporting local business; Betsy Burton. She wrote a great book, too.

It seemed like there were a million people in line; thank you so much to all. After signing everything, I had the chance for a short chat with the folks who hung around, most of them writers and bloggers. We had a great conversation; I am stunned (happily) by the increasing number of adults who are reading YA fiction. Never saw that one coming.

Like my friend, Sara Zarr.

Yesterday started with an early flight from Utah to Houston, Texas. They served us breakfast, in COACH, on the plane; cornflakes and bananas. Astounding.

In one of the best school visits ever, I returned to Hasting-Alief High School, and talked to a wonderful group of students who had all read WINTERGIRLS. I talked to students at the same school a couple of years ago and it was so cool so see some of them for the second time – they were all grown up!

I talked at the bookstore, Blue Willow, after the event (Thank you Kathy & tribe!!) and headed out to the airport – again – this time to head for Austin.

TONIGHT’S EVENT!!
7:00PM Book People
603 N. Lamar Blvd.
Austin, TX
Contact: Mandy Brooks
512-472-4288 x. 411

Early flight tomorrow, then a long drive from the airport to Oxford, Mississippi. HEY!!! I HAVE AN IDEA!!! How about EVERYBODY come down to Oxford Mississippi and join me! It is a very cool place; FAULKNER lived there, for crying out loud.

I CALL ROAD TRIP!!!

TOMORROW’S EVENT
3:00PM Square Books
160 Courthouse Square
Oxford, MS 38655
Contact: Jill
Phone: 662-236-2207

Monday = Brentwood, MO
Tuesday = Decatur, GA
Wednesday = Alpharetta, GA
Thursday = Coral Gables, FL
Friday = Raleigh, NC