The festival kicked off for the 65 invited authors with a welcome party, hosted by the South Dakota Humanities Council.
The council is wonderful about bringing their authors together to celebrate us and allow us to meet and get to know one another a bit.
This year’s celebration was held at Good Roots Farm & Garden, a family farm of three generations that has evolved into a successful wedding and event space.
With its 96-year old barn as the reception setting surrounded by serene gardens and a beckoning fire pit, it was the perfect setting on a gorgeous night.
The farm is owned by Julie and Bill Ross. Bill was the chef du jour for the author reception, turning out endless trays of stone fired pizzas from ovens he build himself.
He takes great pride in all he and his wife have created at Good Roots,and was happy to share the farm’s history and the life he and Julie have built there.
As the evening progressed, introductions were made and conversations filled the air.
For my part, I recognized a few of the authors I had seen in online promotions for the festival. One of those was Hector Curriel.
Originally from Lima, Peru, Hector is a actually a fine artist, cartoonist and book illustrator. Yet as of this year he has added author to his list of artisitc accomplishments, with the publication of his book, American Ace: Joe Foss, Fighter Pilot.
It’s a graphic novel packed with 130 pages of dramatic black-and-white illustrations of the extraordinary life of famed Ace fighter pilot, South Dakota governor, and TV host Joe Foss.
Hector became fascinated with Foss’s story while working on a public art project at the Sioux Falls Regional Airport. That fascination resulted in creating a book and his invitation to the Festival of Books.
As the evening played out, a few speeches were given, which required the authors to come into the barn and find a seat.
I had the great good fortune to pull up a chair across from author, Faith Sullivan. This spry and sassy lady was born and raised in Minnesota and is married to the love of her life, Dan Sullivan, himself a drama critic.
Faith didn’t start writing books until she was in her 40’s, having given her early life to marriage and raising three children. However, she made up for lost time by penning 11 novels, which have earned her the title of One of Minnesota’s best loved writers.
As we chatted I learned that Faith has slowed in turning out her books due to taking care of her husband as he faces the challenges of Alzheimers. But in her indominable spirit she acknowledges that she will turn 89 on October 1st and has much life yet to live and books to write. When we parted ways, we hugged, not only as fellow authors but as new-found friends.
The evening wound down with shared conversations about our author presentations and festival activities. Before leaving, I managed to get a quick photo with New York Times bestselling author Marc Cameron’ and his lovely wife, Vicki.
Marc is reknown for penning his Jericho Quinn Thriller Series, as well as being chosen to author five Tom Clancy/Jack Ryan novels, following Clancy’s passing in 2013.
The Camerons live in Alaska and we enjoyed conversation about life in the state known as “The Last Frontier.”
it was a great way to start off the festival. Now, on to polishing my first presentation and setting up my author’s table.