Great news to share – I’ve just learned that SETTING FREE THE KITES has been chosen as a “Midwest Connections Pick” for next February by the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association. A GOOD AMERICAN also received this honor and so I am doubly thrilled to have been selected once more. Midwest booksellers are excellent people – I met with a ton of them in October when I went to their annual get-together at the Heartland Fall Forum in Minneapolis to talk about the new book.

In honor of that happy trip, here are a couple of photographs from the event. This first one was taken during the “Moveable Feast”, a slightly insane lunch during which 40 authors talked about their forthcoming books to 20 tables of booksellers. I’m still looking relatively composed in this photograph so I can only assume it was relatively early on in the process. By the end of the event I barely knew my own name.

One of the pleasures of Heartland was seeing booksellers whom I hadn’t seen since I was last in Minneapolis five years ago, for A GOOD AMERICAN. One of my very favorites is Pamela Klinger-Horn of Excelsior Bay Books, who has been a wonderful champion of both of my U.S. novels.

Finally, these events are also excellent opportunities to meet new authors, and I met a ton, including the lovely Greer Macallister, whose new novel, GIRL IN DISGUISE, is coming out in March, and with whom I’ll be doing an event on March 5 at the “Literature Lovers’ Luncheon” put on by Excelsior Bay Books. Here we are on the floor of the trade show at Heartland. As you can see, Greer is a polished professional at this stuff. Look at that elegant hand, perfectly displaying her book. Whereas I, on the other hand, am gripping mine in terror, obscuring not only my name, but some of the title, too. Sigh.