Recapping CityLit

This past Saturday I attended the CityLit Festival in Baltimore.  Since I only had a few hours before I had to pick up Kiddo I didn't get to see the headlining author, Elizabeth Kostova, but I did have a great time nonetheless!

The Festival is held in the huge and gorgeous Enoch Pratt Central Library right in the heart of Baltimore.  If ever you want to feel happy walking into a library, you simply must visit the Pratt.  The main floor was a mass of tables featuring local authors, bookstores, literary publications.  I spent a good hour browsing around there.

At noon I headed upstairs to listen to a sports-themed panel.  Not my usual area of interest, but one of the authors had written a book about kids sports teams and the way kids really feel about them.  Considering Kiddo's passion for ice hockey I figured I'd better check this one out.  The panel featured a conversation between two authors moderated by Festival coordinator Gregg Wilhelm.

author Time Wendel with Gregg Wilhelm from CityLit

The first author was Tim Wendel; his most recent book, HIGH HEAT, is a look at the history and mystique of the fast ball in baseball.  I thought his name sounded familiar and sure enough he was the author of RED RAIN.  The second author was Quinn Cotter; his book, PLAYING TIME, was just released this past week.  And get this - Quinn is 17 years old!!!  He started taking notes at age 15 on coach and parent problems that he noticed while playing various sports and ended up submitting a manuscript later that year. It's taken two years to get to publication, but WOW. I was very impressed.

Gregg Wilhelm with author Quinn Cotter

Despite my non-interest in baseball (and the fact that I'm from Maryland and our baseball team, the Orioles, just isn't that great) I really enjoyed this panel.  Greg kept the conversation rolling and the authors both shared some interesting stories.  I purchased Quinn's book and hope to read it in the near future (note to self: do not leave this languishing on the shelf!).

I had hoped to meet up with some new-to-me bloggers there but it just wasn't in the cards.  I did run into Dave and Nancy from Read Street though!  Nancy was tweeting about the Festival and included a photo of Dave and I.  You can check out Dave's Festival recap here if you like.  Dave introduced me to a local gal named Celeste who has just started a book blog.  She took my card and I'm hoping she drops in to say hello (and to put her info in my local blogger database!)

It was a short day but a fun one.  It just makes me even more excited for the Baltimore Book Festival in September!