Sara Ryan

At the Small Press Expo, everything is unique, even the chairs.

It was a great, crowded show, and it kept me mostly away from the Internet. When I finally did get back online, all kinds of folks let me know I’d been BoingBoinged, which was excellent to see. And in an uncanny coincidence, Mr. Rushkoff was [...]

I was glancing at some post about the cultural impact of viral videos — only I read it as feral videos. Am I inadvertently predicting the next Internet trend?
In other news: leaving for the Small Press Expo tomorrow! With the usual array of comics, novels, stickers, buttons, sundries.
We’re flying into Baltimore and will try to [...]

Had I not finished Minders of Make-Believe: idealists, entrepreneurs, and the shaping of American children’s literature mere days before attending KidLit 08: Bridging the Worlds of Books and Blogs, I would’ve experienced the conference differently. I’m sure I would’ve enjoyed the sessions and the people I met just as much, but I wouldn’t have seen [...]

Hey everybody. For your information, there are a couple of places I am going to be soon.
Saturday, 9/27: Portland KidLit. Hurray for conveniently located conferences!
And next weekend, 10/4-10/5, considerably less convenient, but very exciting, since it will be my first time attending: the Small Press Expo!
In both cases I will as usual have books and [...]

When I get home from a trip and go through the accumulated mail, usually it is not that exciting. Bills, catalogs, credit card offers…wait.
What’s this?
It’s from Literary Arts?
Oh. My.
The Rules for Hearts is a finalist for an Oregon Book Award! And I’m in great company in the YA category:

Night of the Howling Dogs by [...]

Anaheim, here I come! As usual, my conference will be a mix of librarial and authorial. Two highlights:
Saturday June 28th, from 1:30-3:30 pm: I’m on a panel — “Teens at Your Branch Library: From Trauma to Triumph?” at the Anaheim Marriott, Platinum 3/4 (Spoiler: Yes to triumph.)
Sunday June 29th, from 9-10 am: I’m one of [...]

I was burned out on the notion of writing a con report until I thought of doing haikus.
Then the whole gang got into it. Here are some of mine:
Loud fight with girlfriend
turns into performance art
when you’re cosplaying.
Warren Ellis said
He wanted to have me killed
Most effective blurb.
We’re webcomics fans
We’re not used to paying for
Anything we read.
He [...]

Hey didn’t we just do this? Yes we did. (Relatively speaking.) Here we go…
Cannot believe how many people managed to cram into Cosmic Monkey for the trophy awards & Comic Art Battle. I was happy to meet Matt Silady and Kirsten Baldock (comics writer, librarian, and bartender — I knew we’d get along) and Jason [...]

Photos from TBF Live! 2008 a few weeks back, courtesy of the fabulous Sarah Hodges. Thanks, Sarah!

Anna and Emi, handlers extraordinaire! Note that Emi does not actually have someone else’s head growing out of her shoulder.

Me and Sarah, also a handler extraordinaire and official Adult!

Me and Anna.

At one of my sessions. It delights me that [...]

Convention season, that is. I just went through my calendar for the rest of the year (!) and put in the dates of the shows I’m planning to attend.
Stumptown (April 26-27, Portland, OR)
Emerald City (May 10-11, Seattle, WA)
American Library Association (June 26-July 2, Anaheim, CA)
San Diego Comic-Con (July 24-27, in, you guessed it, San Diego, [...]