Literary Groupie

Another month, another book festival

I have a lil’ crush on San Antonio

I am in a terrible reading slump. In the first half of April, I’ve had multiple days of zero pages of reading which is partially due to attention span (the scorpion was extremely distracting) and partially due to the fact that I am having a life again. I would like to say I’m chill and equanimous about it, but of course I’m not. My head screams, “so many books, so little time!!!” at me 5 times a day, minimum.

Last weekend, I did go to another book event, this one in San Antonio, Texas, and I feel like this is at least Books-By-Osmosis?? It was a fantastic book festival, full of great authors, easy to navigate, manageable crowds. Probably the best I’ve been to thus far. I saw Justin Torres, winner of the National Book Award for Blackouts, and Hanif Abdurraqib (about to take a restraining order out on me after seeing him in 3 cities in under a month) talking about There’s Always This Year with poet Naomi Shihab Nye, and Creep author Myriam Gurba in conversation with Roger Reeves (Dark Days) discussing cultural criticism.

The absolute highlight for me though with seeing R. Eric Thomas (Here for It; Congratulations, the Best is Over!) chatting with Jenny Lawson (Let’s Pretend This Never Happened; Furiously Happy). I was Extremely Serious about seeing R. Eric Thomas, because I am extremely obsessed with his writing and online persona. He makes me laugh so much, but in that way where you think “oh, this is very true and honest and I relate deeply, but also isn’t life absurd, hahahahaha”. Because I read his books and listen to him on podcasts and subscribe to his newsletter and follow him on Instagram, I am definitely just shy of a remake of the show Swarm.

R. Eric Thomas and Jenny Lawson being effortlessly delightful

On the day of the Book Festival, my friend Traci (who also moderated a great panel!) asked if there were any sessions we might want to go to together, and I was like, “R. Eric Thomas, and also I know you know him and it is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT that I get seats to this talk or the earth might stop rotating.” This last part is probably not true, but it felt true and that is the important part. Because Traci is a good person (or possibly because I sounded dangerously deranged) and she does know R. Eric, she got us into the reserved front row. She is a goddess, full stop, and I apologize for taking that seat and then, honestly forgetting about her existence as R. Eric and Jenny conversed.

Despite the fact that Traci had assured me of our seating arrangement, I still showed up at the session 20 minutes early and was the first person in the door, throwing elbows like I was in a roller derby. I parked myself front and center, and guys, I could *see* R. Eric, stage-left just kind of snapping photos and waiting to get started and my initial urge was to literally rush up to this stranger shouting, “oh, hello, hi, how are you? Did you know I know Rosamond? Oh! And also, Traci! And I loved your trip to Italy? I also love gelato and many cups of espresso?” It was like I briefly left my body and turned into one of those women who use Internet clues to show up at a wedding that Taylor Swift is attending. (Except that the Book Festival told me exactly where R. Eric would be. I am not aware of the scale of semantics when it comes to stalkers, but I still gave myself pause.) Don’t worry, my mind reentered my body, and I realized in the knick of time (my butt was hovering over my seat) that I needed to sit down and gush *on the inside*. Truly, a harrowing moment of fandom, the likes of which I have never encountered. Having saved myself from being thrown out by security, I spent the next hour in utter delight, listening to these two generous, creative, hilarious souls.

The San Antonio Book Festival earns high marks from me (and that’s not just the R. Eric Thomas of it talking). It’s a great location - easy to access from the River Walk. The line-up was spectacular (I was so tapped out from processing greatness that I didn’t even make it to my last allotted session with Lauren Groff!). It’s free! The schedule is easy to use and will self-populate on your google calendar. And you can stay at The Hotel Emma, in Pearl, which I can’t recommend enough as a place of lodging and dining. (Not to brag, but I worked out with the coaching staff of the Denver Nuggets while I was there.) And! The San Antonio airport is only about a 10 minute drive from Pearl and downtown. In all, a wonderful place to meet your heroes and not read!