Stiefvater on the Road: The Raven King Tour

Look! An author event finally right in my backyard! I was so thrilled that Maggie Stiefvater was making a stop in Cleveland for her Raven King Tour despite getting to see her at BEA. There never seems to be anything around me so I was lucky not to drive far for this one. Plus it was at my local Barnes & Noble so I felt right at home. I haven’t been to an event there since the midnight release of Deathly Hallows.

On the day, I arrived at about 5:15 pm and grabbed a numbered ticket from the customer service desk. My B&N is two stories and the event was on the second floor by the cookbooks. There were a fair amount of people already sitting and I quickly grabbed a seat in the middle. While waiting, I made small talk with those around me as the area began to fill up.It was packed by the time Maggie arrived at 7:00 pm!

So if you didn’t already know, Maggie Stiefvater is like the coolest person ever. She walks right in, gets up on the table, and starts talking away. Not surprisingly, just as good a speaker as she is a writer, artist, musician, etc. Instead of speaking about her books to avoid spoilers, Maggie talked in detail about a day in the life or for her many different types of days in her life. 

From her stint as a portrait painter and the woes of ugly babies, to that time John Green caught on fire or the mysteries of airplane travel and being sick on vacation. She even talked about her feinting goats and an affinity for horses. A highlight was Maggie’s story from the night before of returning from her Detroit signing to the Culinary Vegetable Institute where she was staying. The chef was up late and had her trying all of these different edible plants. Her talk was riveting and hilarious, ending with a quick Q&A.

Then it was onto the signing portion of the evening which they had set up along the railing. I have to say it was all handled so well and went super fast. I ended up having her sign my copy of The Raven King as well as The Raven Boys and The Dream Thieves. Plus I got that stunning book hugger with Maggie’s beautiful artwork. Once out of the line I was able to sign her car cover and that was that!

I had such an amazing time listening to Maggie talk about her life experiences and sharing my love of The Raven Cycle. I really hope that with such an amazing turnout my Barnes & Noble will bring more authors to the area in the future! So have you experienced the joy of hearing Stiefvater speak? Do you love her books as I do? Let me know in the comments below!