In early February, I attended Melissa Albert's book event since I loved
The Hazel Wood and learned some pretty fascinating things.
Melissa Albert came back to Illinois to do an event at Anderson's Books. I was surprised to run into
Jessica @ A Great Read as well. Jessica is a true camper who drove 5+ hours from St. Louis to the Chicagoland area. Meanwhile, I could barely be bothered to travel the 45 minutes it takes me to get to Anderson's. See who is the more dedicated reader?
Anywho, Joelle Charboneau moderated the event and she is a presence! I've been to a few Chicago events where she was either on a panel or moderating and she's just a delight to listen to! I learned at the event that Melissa Albert was originally for the Chicagoland area so a lot of friends and family were in the audience to support her debut novel. It was a really fun event and here are some fun facts I learned!
- Melissa is a big fan of portal fantasies
- Melissa is currently juggling writing, promoting, and handling a newborn (superwoman, I tell ya)
- The Hazel Wood was inspired by her 2011 NaNoWriMo piece that she never completed
- Melissa writes in chronological order
- The ending to The Hazel Wood changed from what Albert originally imagined
- As a child, Albert created a shoebox diorama for the 12 Dancing Princesses
- In fairytales, the mother is usually a villainous character and Albert wanted to ensure that Alice's mom wasn't portrayed like that in The Hazel Wood
- Albert is currently writing Tales from the Hinterland short story collection
Have you read The Hazel Wood?
What are some questions you would have asked Melissa Albert?
Labels: book event, book signing, Melissa Albert, tales from the hinterland, The Hazel Wood