Chicago 90-Second Newbery this Saturday—and I’m at Bookies this Thursday!
March 4, 2024
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It’ll be a busy week! This weekend is the Chicago screening of the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival. We’ve been doing this for 13 years now! It’ll be at 2 pm this Saturday, March 9th at the Harold Washington Library Center (400 S State St.), with co-host Mary Winn Heider (author of The Stupendous Switcheroo and more). Get your FREE tickets here.
Want a sneak preview? Every year I make a 90-Second Newbery movie with Lucy, Ingrid, and all their neighborhood friends. This year’s is based on Katherine Paterson’s 1978 Newbery Medal winner Bridge to Terabithia. We all remember how, in the original book, Jess’s free-spirited friend Leslie dies by falling from a swinging rope. This movie tells the story from the point of view of the whimsical monsters who inhabit the imaginary land of Terabithia. Apparently Leslie isn’t the only kid who has met a grisly end there, and the monsters are frustrated at how kids keep dying in their fantasy realm. Will Terabithia be shut down by federal inspectors? Fantastic and hilarious performances from everyone here!
(Liked the movie? Want to see more stuff like this? Come to this Saturday’s 90-Second Newbery Film Festival screening.)
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But that’s not all I’m up to: this Thursday, I’ll be appearing at Bookies Chicago (10324 S. Western Avenue) with award-winning horror author Cynthia Pelayo to talk about my latest novel Bride of the Tornado (named one of the Chicago Tribune‘s “Top 10 Books of 2023”) and Cynthia’s many scary and excellent books. That’s Thursday, March 7 at 6 pm! See you there.
Finally, last week I was at Seattle’s Emerald City Comic Con. It was a blast! (Thanks to my friends Joe and Madeleine for putting me up at their house, and to Joe in particular for driving me all the way from Portland to Seattle . . . it’s a long story.) At the con, I appeared on the “It’s Getting Dark” panel with fellow horror novelists Caitlin Starling, Claire Legrand, Autumn Krause, and Peter V. Brett. So many folks came! I was pleased to get to talk with these great authors, and everyone at ECCC was wonderful.
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While I was there, I had the chance to browse the art booths, and on the recommendation of my friend Anne-Line, I stopped by the booth of Natalie Andrewson. I thought her art was amazing, so I bought a print! And she was a peach.
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Overall, a great weekend. Now I’m looking forward to an intense week here in Chicago. Hopefully I’ll see you at Bookie’s this Thursday, and/or at the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival this Saturday!