LITERARY LOCALS: The 3rd Annual Treasure Valley Book Fair (and tiny book haul)

This past weekend, the Nampa Public Library hosted The 3rd Annual Treasure Valley Book Fair and, as is my habit, I wanted to take a minute or two to talk about it.

Like last year, everyone was given a Passport with the names of every author present. If you got a stamp from every author, you got a free book from…I don’t know where they got this selection—but it was a pretty good one. I got a hardcover of Terry Pratchett’s Dodger, which looks fun. The downside to this is that there were several people that just came by, got a stamp, and moved on. My daughter and I had a conversation of a decent length with all of them—and were interrupted more than once by someone just wanting that. It’s kind of a shame because you could tell that too many people were just out for that (we actually had to be reminded more than once by an author to get a stamp—we’d just get distracted by whatever we were talking about). We had some great conversations—too many. Once again, we spent about 4 hours at an event we’d planned on attending for 90 minutes. We both would’ve gladly talked to many of these authors for longer than we did.

We didn’t see nearly as many returning authors as we’d hoped (Amy Maren Rice‘s absence made us briefly rethink attending). However, there were many that we got to meet for the first time. I’ve already talked to some about showing up here—and will be reaching out to as many of the others as I can in the next few days.

All in all, it was a great event with a large range of genres, target audiences, and authors represented (which was pretty encouraging) and one I hope is repeated again and again.

Now, I can’t be expected to show up to an event like that and walk away empty-handed, can I? I did restrain myself this time (the budget was very restrained this year—I bought less than half of what I wanted too) I do have a shopping list of some of the leftovers.

(behold yet more evidence of why I don’t do bookstagram).

I, again, really enjoyed getting to talk to all of the authors there. Here are the social media (and/or way to order the books for) everyone that I could find. Do yourself a favor and check these authors out!

Ashley DeLeon—a writer of spooky and humorous tales, I think my daughter and I could’ve stopped and talked to her for quite a while
Bonnie Schroeder—her “novels feature complex female characters who must navigate challenging and even extraordinary circumstances to discover strength and wisdom they never knew they had.”
Vannotes—writer of graphic novels, who was super-friendly
Charles L. Hay—his novel focuses on survival, nature, and faith (I really wish we could’ve talked more)
Cindi Hartley—her book talks about her struggles, and how she gets through them, with guidance for others (if this book is half as bright and optimistic as she seemed, it’ll be great)
Daniel J. Breen—author of a cute children’s book about a well-loved dog
Danielle Harrington—Fantasy and YA Fantasy novelist
Elliott Linker—a young graphic novelist, back for his third time at this festival
Ellis L. Knox—a local Fantasy novelist with a healthy backlist and a new mystery series in that fantasy world that looks promising
Felicity Watt Wilson—author of a charming children’s book with art you have to see
Gail Cushman/Helene Mitchell—As Gail Cushman she writes rom-coms for the senior set, and as Helene Mitchell she writes mysteries set in a (fictional) small-town Idaho
Glen Gabel—his doorstop of a fantasy novel looks to be fun. Glen took time out of talking about his stuff to tell me about a Western that he’d recently become a fan of. A non-Western reader talking to another about one instead of plugging his own book. It’s exactly the kind of conversation I love falling into
Katherine Ecrivain Joy—writer of faith-filled books for children
James T. Lambert—one of my favorite local writers—SF and Steampunk—with one of the best beards in the valley
Charles Sage—His thrillers look like they could be uncomfortably realistic (just from the setting). Came all the way from the panhandle.
J.S. Anderson—writers of thrillers with a supernatural edge
J.C. Jackson—I’ve probably been reading Jackson longer than any other local writer, always great to see her.
JoEllen Claypool—Claypool writes for children, adults, and writers of all ages. And probably a few other audiences as well
Julie Howard—writer of a series of domestic suspense novels
K.J. Backer—writes books for younger readers who love animals and fantasy novels for adults that feature unicorns who know what to do with that horn. She’s new to the area and I hope I run into her at future events.
Kelsey Elwood—the author of a memoir full of life-coaching lessons
Ken Pollard—a musician-turned-travel writer. He had a violin/fiddle with him to decorate his table. We only realized later that we could’ve asked him to play for us (what we could hear from a distance sounded good)
Laura Jenski—writer of cozy-ish mysteries
Lori Josifek—writer of bird-centric children’s books
Margaret Koger—a very nice poet
Mary Vine—writer of “Romance With Humor, Suspense and Inspiration” and “Language-based Children’s Books that Educate, Inspire and give Hope”
Melaney Taylor Auxier—Writer of Adult Fiction, Middle-Grade and Children’s books. Also a generous fellow dog-lover.
Mel Parrish—A YA Fantasy writer from the Eastern part of the state
Nathan Keys—Epic Fantasy writer. Our conversation led me to realize I didn’t post a Q&A we did last year. Oops.
Nicole Sharp—her website describes her as a “writer of love, coffee, Italy, and fearless women.” I think she’s added “with a touch of spice” to her signage. Conversing with her was just as pleasant this year as last year—she’s the kind of person you’d love to get coffee with.
Rachelle Nelson—writer of YA Fantasy
Rebecca Evans: another brave soul trying to sell poetry
Robin Chadwick Rundle—writer of Historical Romances
Samual Smith, aka Joe Idaho—writer of “action and adventure, political commentary and satire, contemporary or historical fiction, modern or weird westerns.” Anyone who titles a book Teddy Roosevelt’s Goblin: A Bigfoot Story has got to be fun to chat with (and he was!).
Sara Knightly—writer of Fantasy, who had one of the best-decorated tables.
Sarah Hill—writer of Romance, who (with good humor) remembered that I told her last year that I probably would never read her books.
Sherry Briscoe writes : writer of “suspense mysteries with a flavor of the paranormal”
Troy Lambert—a writer of thrillers, and a couple of other things. He’s been distracted from getting to sequels that I’m waiting for by things that pay better (and that sound pretty cool, truth be told)
Wendy Ann Mattox—a writer of Christian children’s books. She seems so full of energy, I expect her to put out 5 more books this year. At least.