11 months and counting…

Last year, I sat down at the Austin Teen Book Festival and looked around in complete awe.  Hundreds of teens, gathered together in one room excitedly tweeting and talking and making new friends…at a book festival.  The concept just blew my mind in a good way.                                                                          
 I wanted my teens, in my town in north Louisiana, to have that experience.  Driving 8 hours or more?  Not possible.  And why should they?  We have big towns like Shreveport and Monroe both with airports and nice convention centers.  I made up my mind that no matter what, I was going to make this happen.

Immediately I knew that we had to give credit to someone who put North Louisiana on the map in the publishing field, especially since he was born and raised here.  So, Corey Whaley, a friend of mine from college, became our keynote speaker.  After all, we are trying to pay tribute to the state as well as literacy.  It was a match made in heaven.  And then, he won the Printz and the Morris Award so, from a festival director standpoint…HECK YEAH!!!  

In the past few months, we’ve added a website, a Facebook page, a Twitter account, and we’ve been soliciting sponsorships from local businesses and community foundations.  We have several authors signed up and we plan on releasing that lineup in the September.  

From time to time, I’ll do a festival update but just know that if you are in the vicinity, you better make plans to be there!  Please help us spread the word and we would love to have you follow us on Twitter or like our FB page!

So, 11 months to go…it’s gonna be a wild ride!