Emceed by Tina Jordan of HarperCollins, this morning's breakfast program offering from the Association of American Publishers' Trade Libraries Committee turned out to be a surprise treat amidst the business meetings. Eight authors shared stories about their writing lives, their latest books, and their love of libraries: Eli Gottlieb, Now You See Him (Harper Perennial); Brian Dennis Monaghan and Geraldine V. Monaghan, The Power of Two (Workman); P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast, Hunted (St. Martin's Griffin); Craig Johnson, Another Man's Moccasins (Viking Penguin); Abraham Verghese, Cutting for Stone (Alfred A. Knopf); and Luis Alberto Urrea, Into the Beautiful North (Little, Brown and Company). A selection of quotes from the authors: Gottlieb: "Films will never be able to show the nuance and subtleties of human relationships the way a book can." Geraldine Monaghan: On dealing with her husband's serious illness: "No one ever tells you to be courageous unless you're going to need it."
"We approached it as if this were a war, cancer was the enemy, and we were going to defeat it." Johnson: On his willingness to accept a six-pack as stipend for library appearances: "The library wasn't big enough to hold the event so they held it in a bar on Main Street." "I haven't bought beer in three years." On being caught speeding in a small town and recognized as an author by the officer who said: "We wish you would slow down, Mr. Johnson, we'd like to get some more books out of you." Verghese: On being a physician called to write: "At the age of 12 my true calling to medicine came, and it came in a book, Of Human Bondage." "Fiction is the great lie that tells the truth about how the world lives." Urrea: "If not for librarians I wouldn't be here." "Librarians don't distribute books, they distribute hope." On living in a tough neighborhood as a child: "I learned very early that it was better to stay home and read than to go out and get beat up." The meeting was cosponsored by HarperCollins, Hachette Book Group, Workman, Macmillan, Random House/Bertelsmann, and Get Caught Reading.