Tampa Bay Times Festival of Reading 2017

A few months ago my husband and I went to the Tampa Bay Times Festival of Reading on the campus of USF St. Pete. It was a full day of author talks and book signings as well as various book-related booths to purchase books and other merch. We went to see three authors in particular.

The first one was Michael Connelly, author of numerous popular books including the Harry Bosch series which has been adapted for the small screen and is available for streaming on Amazon. While he did not read from any of his works, he did participate in an hour long interview including Q&A. He introduced his newest series about an L.A. female detective named Renee Ballard who works the night shift and catches now retired Harry Bosh rifling around in the file cabinet to work on a cold case that won't let him sleep. The two team up to solve the case.

Next we attended a talk by Nathan Hill, author of The Nix. The Nix is Mr. Hill's first novel and it took him ten years to write. He joked that his next book will only take 9 years to write. Mr. Hill read from his book and discussed his writing process. Unlike most authors who start with an outline, Mr. Hill wrote "improvisationally" allowing his novel to come to life organically, drawing from influences affecting him during that ten year period. He only tied the themes together after most of the book was written, maybe that is why the book started out at a hefty 1,000 pages until it was cut down to a still sizeable book of 600 pages.

Mr. Hill told the audience that all the elements of the book connect together by two themes: the ways people wall off others and how people lose the ability to communicate with others. These themes seemed to resonate with readers as the book has become wildly popular and there are plans for The Nix to be turned into a limited series tv show with Meryl Streep and J.J. Abrams behind the scenes.


The final presentation we attended was by Sarah Gerard, a young female writer who grew up in St. Pete and now teaches creative writing in New York. She discussed her most recent book, Sunshine State. It is a collection of creative nonfiction essays that take place in Florida. They consist of deeply personal accounts of events that took place throughout her life. Ms. Gerard first read from an essay about the amusing and heart-breaking relationship with her childhood best friend. Then she read a poem about all of the animals she has ever seen in her thirty plus years.

You can follow Michael Connelly and Sarah Gerard on Twitter @ConnellyBooks and @SarahNumber4