The Day We (Mostly) Met a Famous Person

#22. Meet Someone Famous

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The National Book Festival is sponsored by the Library of Congress on the National Mall every year. It is basically book nerd paradise. Famous writers from all different genres give speeches, read from their books, and have book signings.

There are few- possibly zero- living writers who could top my first experience at this read-a-palooza. I stood in line in the rain for two hours to get a book signed by Tim O'Brien, author of my favorite book for the past 11 years, The Things They Carried (for those of you who don't understand how hard it is for me to have the same favorite book for 11 years, please read this book immediately). ONE person was in front of me in line when his agent came around and said he had to go speak, but would sign books off the side of the stage afterwards. Which led to not just a book signing but a solid five minutes of chit-chat with Tim O'Brien as he smoked a cigarette.

THAT is meeting someone famous.

What happened to us this Saturday was not quite as intimate. But still cool.

My personal favorite author of this year's festival was R.L. Stine. We considered standing in line to get a book signed by him, until we saw what that line looked like. Also, all of my treasured Goosebumps books are in my parents attic, so getting some random R.L. Stine book signed wouldn't have been the same.

Enter, Colson Whitehead.

Ronnie had actually just finished reading his book, Zone One, like a week before. So after we ditched the R.L. Stine idea, Ronnie expressed interested in getting that book signed. We heard him speak first. He was very funny and witty, and Ronnie said he might have understood the book more if he had understood the guy's personality better first.

We arrived a little early for Colson's signing, and the line was pretty short. Then miraculously he also arrived early, and we barely had to wait at all.

I was on paparazzi duty. Ronnie to his credit did manage to form full sentences. I think he said, "Its a real pleasure. I really loved the book."

This next picture I love because, in case you didn't believe us that this guy is famous, here's a picture of him next to his picture on the back cover of the book:

#KodakMoment.

Then, as if Colson Whitehead knew that we would be debating whether getting a book signed by a marginally well-known author counted as meeting someone famous, he decided to sign as follows:

"Great to meet you." You can't make this stuff up. This is my life.

Of course, only Ronnie technically got to introduce himself. And Colson Whitehead wasn't "famous" to me until that day. So just to seal the deal a little more, this happened:

While trying to get a good shot of R.L. Stine (black shirt, glasses, middle of the shot) I was inadvertently standing two feet away from JEWEL. She apparently wrote a book of some sort. 

I'm disappointed we didn't catch her looking. But...who would have ever expected to get R.L. Stine and Jewel together in the same photo?

So maybe it's not "meeting..." but its certainly a great addition to my epic 25th year. And isn't that the whole point?