Passion & Prose

On Saturday, I attended a literary conference called Passion and Prose, intended to be the first of an annual event bringing together "passionate romance readers and several dozen of their most beloved romance writers together for a fabulous day of conversation and fun".  

In actuality, there were also mystery, speciulative fiction, and fantasy  writers in attendance, many of whom were young adult authors.  

The morning keynote speaker was Gail Carriger, author of the The Parasol Protectorate series, which she describes as "Jane Austen doing urban fantsy meets P.G. Wodehouse doing steampunk".  Carriger's latest novel is Timeless, the fifth and final book in the series.

Me (l) with the stylish Gail Carriger.

After lunch was a panel called Breathless Reads, consisting of five young adult writers  who have been on tour together for some weeks.  This was the fnal stop on their tour, and thet participated in a delightful discussion moderated by M.G. Lord ( of whom I unfortunately didn't get a photo).

Me with (l-r) Andrea Cremer, Marie Lu, Beth Revis, Jessica Spotsood and Sara Wilson Etienne.

The afternoon keynote speaker was Meg Cabot, author of many books for both adults and young adults, including The Princess Diaries, The Mediator series, and the Heather Wells mystery series.  She's recenly published Overbite, the second in the Insatiable series.

Me, with the charming Meg Cabot (r).

I was able to snag an extra goodie bag from the conference, and I'm delighted to give it (and the contents) to one of my readers.  Please leave a comment here telling me the name of your favorite female author of all time.  Entries (from the US only, please) will be accepted until midnight on Friday, March 2nd.

I'll post photos of the bag and some of fabulous stuff inside it on tomorrow's blog.