It was amazing! I think I have discovered ANOTHER new hobby. I'm going to travel around the U.S. to book signings of all the author's I have contacted! Isn't that a great idea?
The King's English Bookshop, a charming and beautifully stocked bookstore, in the Sugarhouse area of Salt Lake City hosted a book signing for Jennifer Chiaverini on April 21st! It was Jennifer's first time to Utah. How fortunate for me to meet the AUTHOR that inspired my project! Several of us from book club made the trip and arrived an hour early to get a good seat. I was joined by Jane, Donna, Charlene, Yvonne, Karen, Carol, Shannon and Sandi.
The night was awesome! We began at the bookshop's neighboring gallery, The 15th Street Gallery (gorgeous by the way!), where Jennifer provided background about herself, told stories about how she developed characters (very interesting!) and then discussed how she created her new book THE ALOHA QUILT. She HAD to travel to Hawaii four (4) times for research...she said that was the toughest part for her! Ha-Ha!
Then to hear the AUTHOR read several pages from HER book with HER perfect emphasis and enthusiasm was just awesome! She could have read the whole book; I think everyone would have stayed and listened in complete silience and awe but unfortunately that wasn't the plan. Then Jennifer opened up a Q&A sessions. What a fun and delightful discussion we had. After awhile, I thought we were discussing "real" people; not characters in a novel. Jennifer's passion and excitement was amazing along with her GREAT sense of humor! I didn't want it to end!! And to top it off, everyone attending received a THE ALOHA QUILT pin! Nice touch, eh? Local readers and quilters, if you weren't there...you missed a good one!!!
We returned to the bookshop where Jennifer sat in one of the quaint little rooms for her signing. My whole thrill of the evening was to get Jennifer's signature on a quilt square along with a photo. But that immediately dropped on my list of priorities when I entered the bookshop (my new best place) and heard Jennifer speak. I was so excited to just get my copy of THE ALOHA GUILT signed I almost forgot about the quilt square (almost!). AND my photographer (my darling daughter Shannon) got some great photos. And to show you a little of Jennifer Chiaverini's humor, we asked if we could use her photo on the website, she responded..."only if I look good." PLLEEEAASEE. Along with her success, she is beautiful and petite! The whole package!
Jennifer sharing her stories. And what great stories they were!
Jennifer signing the quilt square for our quilt.
If you can't tell, I'm "shaking" in this picture. Jennifer's book, THE SUGAR CAMP quilt was the inspiration for this project and right now, in this picture, the AUTHOR, is standing in front of me and signing a quilt square, in person, for our beautiful, gorgeous guilt!
Jennifer Chiaverini (right), me (left) and my sister Jane Lewis (center) who flew out from Indiana just for this BIG EVENT!