Bookworms Carnival: Local Authors

Welcome to the end-of-June edition of the Bookworms Carnival! For this carnival, bloggers were invited to submit posts about their local authors, and they came through with flying colors. Let's work our way across the United States (since unfortunately I had no submissions from outside the U.S. this time) from east to west.

Boston, Massachussetts: On the Boston Bibliophile, Marie reports on her recent book club meeting with Boston-based author Scott Pomfret who wrote about his life as a gay Boston Catholic in the memoir she recently reviewed, Since My Last Confession.

Philadelphia, PA: The Betty and Boo Chronicles wrote a thank you note to Carolyn Haywood for her 111th birthday, reminiscing about the personal note she got from Ms. Haywood as a little girl, in response to a fan letter.

Rhode Island: Jess at Barney's Book Blog reviews November 22, 1963, historical nonfiction about the assassination of JFK by Rhode Island author Adam Braver.

Washington DC: S. Krishna submitted a review of Meredith Cole's mystery novel, Posed For Murder.

Chicago: Rebecca Reid blogs about Carl Sandberg's first poetry collection, Chicago Poems and its relevance to the Chicago of today.

Salt Lake City, Utah: Natasha of Maw Books Blog has challenged herself to read every local author in existence, and she's well on her way! She has tagged all her Utah author posts, to make them easier to find. Here are some of the highlights:

--She just posted a review of Shannon Hale's new book, The Actor and the Housewife.

--Here's the story of the day Natasha's husband met author James Dashner on the train . . . and how they eventually became friends.

--A review of Carolyn Jessop's Escape . . . and the day Natasha's neighborhood book club (many of whom knew Carolyn when she used to live there) dressed up as characters from the book.

--A review of Emily Wing Smith's The Way He Lived, which was recommended to Natasha in an interview with another local author, Sara Zarr.

Washington state: Michele at A Reader's Respite has a post spotlighting Debbie Macomber, including a picture taken in the town one of Debbie's novels was set.

Portland, OR: Rodney Koeneke reviews poetry readings. Most recently, he writes about a reading by locals David Abel and Beverly Dahlen.

Here's my Beverly Cleary Tour of Portland.

I interviewed YA author Christine Fletcher, who is a local veterinarian as well as the author of Tallulah Falls and Ten Cents a Dance.

One day last fall, my kids and I happened upon Bart King and Eric Kimmel giving out free milk and reading Halloween stories at A Children's Place, one of our local bookstores. (By the way I just bought yet another copy of King's book, The Big Book of Boy Stuff, for a young friend's birthday gift).

And, I just interviewed author Miriam Gershow, who used to live in Portland but now is a couple of hours away in Eugene. Her debut novel is The Local News.

California: Fizzy Thoughts takes us on a literary tour of San Luis Obispo county (home of Jay Asher of Thirteen Reasons Why fame, among other authors--and my parents!--and the setting for several Christopher Moore books).

Laura, of I'm Booking It, lives in the Silicon Valley, California, and has contributed her review of The Wednesday Sisters. She says, "I picked up the book at a local bookstore event, largely because it was set nearby."

Laura also has a review of The Writing on my Forehead, by Nafisa Haji. She says, "The author is here in Northern California, and the themes are very relevant in immigrant-heavy Silicon Valley.

Hawaii: Dreamybee had a heartwarming chance encounter with author John Orr at the beach.

Have you had an encounter with a local author? Are you more likely to give an unknown author a try if they're from your hometown? Do you notice where authors call home?

To submit a post for an upcoming Bookworms Carnival:

Edition 33 Theme: Whatcha Reading? – Your latest review or your favorite
Deadline for submission: July 10 2009
To submit a post, email: bookwormscarnival at gmail dot com

Edition 34 Theme: YA Fantasy
Hosted by: Bella at A Bibliophile
Deadline for submission: July 24, 2009
To submit a post, email: bellalee.mc at gmail dot com