The National Book Festival  was last weekend. We had to be there to meet some of today’s most popular YA authors.

The two authors we wanted to meet were Sarah Dessen(This Lullaby, Dreamland) and Cassandra Clare(Mortal Instruments Trilogy). We got to hear them speak and even have our books signed.

Sarah Dessen

Sarah Dessen discussed how she started her career as a writer. After graduating college, she worked all day and wrote all night.

Like all the writers, she discussed her inspirations. For example, the novel Just Listen was inspired by a photo she saw in a high school yearbook.

Cassandra Clare

Clare had a lot of fans at her discussion. Despite the somewhat dark nature of her work Clare is a bubbly redhead. She read the prologue to the unreleased Clockwork Prince. She discussed character inspirations and funny stories that went into the research for the series.

No, I am not the biggest fan of The Mortal Instruments, but Clare is a writer who inspires young girls  to read and write. The devotion she shows to her books and fans is pretty remarkable.

Bonus !

After the Clare signing we saw a small crowd near the Children’s Pavillion–it was Julianne Moore signing posters  ! I’m sure everyone who got an autograph went immediately to the theaters to catch Crazy, Stupid Love. We stood across the street and snapped a photo (the Nikon L110 has crazy zoom).