Last weekend, I attended Edinburgh International Book Festival to see John Green – young adult author and my favourite YouTube author – in person.
For the uninitiated, John Green has authored four books: Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Towns, and Will Grayson, Will Grayson (co-authored with David Levithan). He also runs a YouTube channel with his brother Hank entitled vlogbrothers. Their followers and co-conspirators are known as Nerdfighters – one of those labels you tend only to use around other internet nerds. With so many Nerdfighters in attendance at the talk, it was pretty much the best fan audience you could imagine.
The talk was chaired by Keith Gray, also a young adult author. After pointing his video camera at the audience in order for us to greet Hank (for this video), John read a short passage from Paper Towns and went on to discuss the book, Nerdfightaria, and some more in-depth questions about his work.
After the talk, the entire audience of the tented auditorium descended upon the Children’s Bookshop next door for a signing. Being the over-considerate klutz that I am, I only took one of my hardback copies of his books along with me to be signed (I’m kind of collecting as may editions as I can find). We had a brief exchange about how he’s never in LA at the same time as I am, and he complimented Evan’s (plain polo-necked) shirt.
The day also continued to lend a false impression of Edinburgh upon me. After 2 straight weeks of glorious weather at Edinburgh International Film Festival, the sunshine on Sunday was also a treat. I must vow never to move there, so as not to shatter the illusion.
Edinburgh International Book Festival (@edbookfest) concludes this Thursday 26th August. If you are in the area I highly recommend that you check out an event.