Exclusive Events

 

 

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

 

Book Launch Party July 20, 2010

  

 

On a hot, muggy summer’s day, a novel about shivering and werewolves and Minnesota freezing temperatures was released to the masses. Linger is one of the most highly anticipated releases of Scholastic’s summer season. Its predecessor—Shiver—was on the New York Times Bestseller List for thirty-two weeks straight.

 

 

Upon arrival at the launch party, the crowd had gathered in the upstairs Starbucks cafe and a general sense of excitement buzzed in the air. Complementing the “party” theme, refreshments were available for the attendees. At the time, there was standing room only. It was a mostly female attendance, although a few teenage boys hung in the back with their reluctant dads. 

 

Maggie Stiefvater, an unassuming woman in her late twenties appeared out of nowhere, looking much like an excited reader herself. After a brief introduction by the event coordinator, Maggie took the microphone with an ecstatic, if nervous, smile.

 

 

It greatly surprised the audience how easygoing and vivacious her oration was. While many authors choose to have themselves perceived as highly educated and mysterious, Maggie Stiefvater was an intelligent speaker with witty anecdotes on her writing process, how she got published, and her first book tour overseas in England.

 

As she spoke about Linger, emo werewolf boys that play guitar, and copious kissing scenes in Shiver, the members of the audience were given raffle tickets and trivia sheets for the prize giveaways. Nearly every other head was bent in concentration, furiously scribbling their answers as Maggie told a story about her favorite book.

 

A Yamaha acoustic guitar was given away as the grand prize for the trivia contest, scenes from Shiver painstakingly drawn in Sharpie over the wooden instrument.

 

After the hilarious stories of publication, her dreams of the future and a fantastic Linger cake, Maggie signed copies of her books for two hours. She was tickled pink at the amount of people in attendance and took time to speak to each person in the signing line, thanking them gratefully for coming.

 

 

 

The release day for Linger was moved up a week by the publisher, originally the day of her launch party. However this didn’t put a dent in the festivities of the launch, and was happily attended by easily over one hundred people.

 

It was certainly a fantastic experience to hear the anecdotes, trials, and tribulations of a New York Times Bestselling author, especially one as in tune with young readers as Maggie Stiefvater.