European Tour – A Book Fair
May 18. Thursday.
Late morning I walked across the very long bridge across the railroad tracks in Tourin to the book fair. I don’t know if any of you have been to a big book fair, but it is an assault to the senses— in a good way, if you like books.
It is absolutely amazing to me how many book publishers there are even in a small country like Italy. And then, when you think about each publisher publishing many books, and think about how many books there are in the world. Wow! The competition out there for people reading and buying books is just incredible. It makes one’s own books seem very insignificant. But then again, how many of those books change lives?
The book fair itself was so huge that it was impossible to cover the entire warehouse full of book publishers. Anyway, Monica had set up her Errekappa Edizioni table very tastefully and in a really good location for a small publisher, and there were so many people there, but most people seemed to gravitate to the bigger publishers with the best locations and fanciest displays, so they got most of the attention. But there on the table all set up in a row were Three Principles Italian books by Jack Pransky, George Pransky, Michael Neill, and also Simona and Chiara.
After a very quick lunch that Chiara and I ate on the steps of the main building surrounded by teenagers who had been brought there by their school—kids are the same all over the world—in mid afternoon it was time for our presentation.
I believe something like 30 people attended; just about all the seats seemed to be filled, then there were a few people who stood along the sidelines, and I read part of the chapter from Somebody Should Have Told Us! called “We’re only stuck as we think we are,” about a dilemma experienced by a mother and her teenage son, and then I gave a little talk about the Three Principles. Chiara translated, and then she was able to spend a few moments at the end talking about her own book, which is a novel based on the Principles, which, so far as not been translated into English. She read me the end of it and I really liked it. People did seem very attentive, and a few books were sold. I signed about five of them for people. So, it didn’t amount to much but it was a fun experience.
I was too exhausted to make a late author dinner that Monica put together, so I ate very early and walked back across the long bridge to my hotel to pack.
Then I realized I forgot to give Monica back the English version books of Somebody… and Parenting from the Heart I had borrowed from her for the presentation, so I decided to run back over the long bridge to bring them to her. But the book fair was just closing, and they wouldn’t let me back in! After pleading with Italian-speaking guards, some of whom were very insistent that I could not get in, two kind ones finally let me in it two different gates and I ran to the Monica booth, and she had already gone. So I slid the books under the cloth-covered table, and trucked back across long bridge back to my hotel. I had my good music with me, so I didn’t mind at all. Besides I had eaten so much in Italy that I needed to work a little of it off anyway.
Comments
European Tour – A Book Fair — No Comments