Signings in Seward

This morning I realized that I hadn't posted anything about our busy weekend of author signings, so here's an update.

Friday morning Christianna Reinhardt stopped by on her way to California to sign some presold copies of her book, A Culinary History of the Nebraska Sand Hills. She's a Food Network, Travel Channel, etc. producer and has worked with many big-name chefs. . . . and she owns a former Carnegie library building in Burwell, Nebraska. When I asked how she came to own property in the middle of nowhere, she said she had family connections to the area. It was fun to meet her and her sister, and the book would make a great gift for anyone who knows and appreciates the beauty of our sand hills--or of good down-home cooking, or knows someone who might be mentioned in the book. I think we even have one or two autographed copies left, but they're going fast.

Saturday's local author event featuring Echo Ardour, Laine Boyd, and Kathleen Itzen was a success all around. All three authors were experiencing their first signing, and all three sold several books. The stories behind their books were inspiring, and the audience was attentive, and the chocolates Laine brought from St. Louis were almost as good as our Baker's candies. We wish Kathleen continued good health and a good prognosis after her recent surgery. Thanks to everyone who made this event so much fun, especially to Kathy and Ellen for bringing your moms. I loved seeing them and hearing their bowling stories!

A visit to the Seward Memorial Library by New York Times Bestselling author Melanie Benjamin capped off the weekend  nicely. She told her very entertaining story of overcoming the dismal sales of her first published novel by writing and writing and writing some more until she hit on the secret to success--she wrote a good book that people wanted to read, and then she wrote a couple more. Now she's so successful that she can't even tell us who the subject of her next book is. We have a couple of signed copies of The Aviator's Wife left from Sunday's event. Read it if you haven't!

The Plum Creek Children's Literacy Festival is just around the corner now. Hopefully a few of the featured authors will stop by Chapters while they're in town. If so, we'll post their photos and have them sign a few books.

Happy reading everyone!