Twin Cities Book Festival 2012

First was Heartland Fall Forum, and then last Saturday, we hauled all of our books to the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in  St. Paul for Rain Taxi Review's annual Twin Cities Book Festival.

This year was a little different as the festival wasn't held downtown at MCTC, but that just meant more space and WAY better parking. The weather ended up being pretty dreary, but the atmosphere inside was full of energy and excitement. Between the people stopping by our booth to buy books and the children in the children's pavilion across from us running around with painted faces and masks, it was a fun--and busy--day. Here are some of the pictures we managed to take throughout the day:

The sea of people browsing

Heartland Fall Forum - in Pictures

The end of last week was the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association's regional trade show, Heartland Fall Forum, and as it was right here in our backyard. This year was the first year that MIBA partnered with the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association (GLIBA) to hold one trade show for the twelve-state region, making it a pretty huge event.

We spent all day Friday in the exhibit hall, talking to booksellers, librarians, fellow publishers, and even the occasional student. It was a great day, and we enjoyed every minute of it. The Midwest is truly full of passionate book lovers, and we're happy to be a part of it.

So, without further ado, here are some of the pictures we took of the exhibit floor and our table.

Our table

Books, More Books, and a Twin Cities Book Festival!

This year's Twin Cities Book Festival was once again held at MCTC and the place was packed from when the doors opened at 10 am to when they closed at 5 pm. And just like previous years, this book fest did not disappoint. It was certainly the place to be in a weekend packed with other great literary events such as the launch party for Paper Darts' first book, John Jodzio's Get In If You Want To Live, Milkweed Editions' Book Lovers Ball, and FallCon 2011 with the Midwest Comic Book Association.
The Twin Cities Book Festival, like usual, offered something for everyone. Most of my day was spent upstairs in the wonderfully creative Children's Pavilion with author Penny Noyce. We set up a Lexicon Villages Event and had a blast with the kids. It was great watching them get into the activities whether they were feeding Emily the thesaurus/llama synonyms, creating flower sentences out of word petals, making tangrams of Lost in Lexicon images, and measuring EVERYTHING they could get their hands on with our non-standard measuring units of erasers, paperclips, and pennies.

Catch us at the Twin Cities Book Festival

A new world of entertainment awaits you at the Twin Cities Book Festival in Minneapolis! We hope you’ll stop by to visit with Scarletta Press & author Pendred Noyce!

 

Rain Taxi Review of Books will proudly sponsor the 11th Annual Twin Cities Book Festival this coming Saturday, October 15, at the Minneapolis Community and Technical College in downtown Minneapolis from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

The book festival is open to the public, and hosts a wide array of publishers, bookstores, and other industry members for a day of children’s activities, used book fairs, spectacular authors, and panel discussions.

 

This year, Pendred Noyce has been invited to host a Lexicon Villages event at the festival’s children’s pavilion. The Lexicon Villages will be a featured event that children and adults of all ages can dive into from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. You’ll travel from village to village, and puzzle over fun and engaging concepts together as the land of Lexicon comes to life. Don't be surprised if you walk away with a keepsake from Lexicon!

 

Lost in Lexicon is a literary fantasy for kids age 9-12. It tells the tale of two cousins on a journey through a magical land full of mixed up words and numbers, with a quest to return the lost children of Lexicon to their homes. It is the first in a four-part adventure series. Lost in Lexicon has won numerous awards, to include a Mom's Choice Gold Award, a Parents’ Choice Recommended award, a ForeWord Book of the Year Awards Honorable Mention, and an IBPA Ben Franklin for Interior Design.

 
And DON’T FORGET to stop by the Scarletta Press table in the main exhibit hall to purchase both new and old books at a discounted price. If you can’t make it to the book festival (although we hope you can!), Scarletta Press books are also available from your local bookstores, and from many large outlets as well. Check out our website to find out about all our books!

 
Author Biography

Pendred Noyce is a doctor, education reformer, and writer. Penny has practiced internal medicine, supervised medical residents, and become a leader in Massachusetts mathematics and science education reform. She serves on a number of nonprofit boards, including that of the Noyce Foundation, and she chairs the boards of Maine’s Libra Foundation and the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy. Lost in Lexicon: An Adventure in Words and Numbers is Penny's first full novel and is the first in a four-part adventure series.

For more information on Lost in Lexicon: An Adventure in Words and Numbers, please visit www.lostinlexicon.com.

MIBA & Beyond: Book Trade Shows and What They Do

As many of you faithful literature lovers may know, especially you booksellers, the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association (MIBA) Trade Show happened last Thursday and Friday, September 22-23, at The Depot in downtown Minneapolis. And what a great show, and a great venue it was! Claire Kirch, of Publisher's Weekly, reported on the conference, describing the venue as upstaging "everything and everybody at the Midwest Independent Booksellers' annual Conference..." And at Scarletta Press, we'd have to agree: This year's show was in a top-notch location, and brought some top-notch booksellers over to the Scarletta Press table!
Scarletta Press has been strongly emphasizing their new children's line, Junior Bookwormz, since early February of this year. The cornerstone books: The Lexicon Adventure Series by Pendred Noyce. The first book in the series, Lost in Lexicon: An Adventure in Words and Numbers, debuted on August 9, and has been making a splash in every aspect. The book itself has won over 8 awards, including an IBPA Ben Franklin for 1-2 Color Interior Design, and Honorable Mention from ForeWord Reviews' BOTYAs for Juvenile Fiction, and a Parents' Choice Recommended. ForeWord calls it "...an adventure story for the digital generation...," and School Library Journal says "...readers will be rewarded with a good adventure, affecting lyrical passages, and thought-provoking questions..." With all this buzz, we thought: Let's give Penny Noyce and her books the main focus at the MIBA conference this year.

Invitation to Moderate

Scarletta Publisher Ian Graham Leask will be at the Rain Taxi Twin Cities Book Festival on October 16 moderating a panel. You can find him and several authors in the Hennepin Room at 2:30 PM for The Great Midwest: Regional Writing panel.  (Don't forget to also check out Scarletta Press near the KFAI table!)

"Join us as authors from outside the Twin Cities talk about writing in and about the region of Minnesota and the Midwest. Moderated by Ian Graham Leask, producer and host of KFAI’s Write On Radio!  

Charlene Ann Baumbich uses humor to teach readers and listeners how to appreciate the little things. She’s the author of over a dozen books, including her newest, Divine Appointments. Though she resides in Illinois, many of her books are set in Winona, MN—find out why! 

Patrick Hicks teaches creative writing at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, and is the author of several poetry collections (most recently This London) and the editor of a brand-new anthology of South Dakota poetry, A Harvest of Words. He has recently returned to the Midwest after living in Europe. 

Mark Munger is the owner of Cloquet River Press and the author of several books, including The Legacy, Ordinary Lives, River Stories, and most recently, Mr. Environment: The Willard Munger Story. He lives in northern Minnesota. 

Kent Nerburn is the author of the loudly acclaimed Neither Wolf nor Dog and its sequel, the Minnesota Book Award winner The Wolf at Twilight, among many other books that encourage millions to “seek the unseen in life.” He lives near the Canadian border in northern Minnesota."