Tuesday evening I had the pleasure of attending a Barnes & Noble author event for noted historian and New York Times bestselling historical fiction author Alison Weir, where she gave a talk on Eleanor of Aquitaine and read from her new novel Captive Queen: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine, with a Q&A and signing meet & greet at the end. She had so many fans there and was very friendly in person, standing at the entrance of the room as people filed in and signing copies early for her excited readers, even though authors are generally supposed to wait until the end for the official signing session (I’ve attended many B&N events and usually the author waits in a back room to be announced before even appearing).
Her talk on Eleanor was fascinating:
Here she reads a few passages from Captive Queen:
Q&A Session (people asked some really great questions! I enjoyed hearing what she had to say about Showtime’s The Tudors):
I bought a copy of Captive Queen and had it signed as well as my copies of Innocent Traitor: A Novel of Lady Jane Grey and The Lady Elizabeth, and I also had a galley copy of Captive Queen autographed for part of my blogoversary 6-book giveaway package.
Her next nonfiction book will focus on Mary Boleyn. During the Q&A session, I asked if she knew who her next historical fiction subject will be (I had searched her website and could not find the answer on there or elsewhere on the web). She said she does know her next leading character, and that it will have something to do with the princes in the tower. That got a lot of excitement out of the room! She also revealed that there is definitely a sequel in the future for The Lady Elizabeth, since the book covered Elizabeth’s early life and her rise to the throne and did not cover her later reign. All in all one of the best author signings I’ve attended!
I really need to start attending author signings, but so many authors I read are already "beyond the living".
Sounds like tons of fun!
What a wonderful event. Author signings can tell you so much about the individual. Most come across as friendly, it is part of their PR campaign. but, the extra effort that some make shows what nice people they are, We have very few "big name" authors come to this area. When they do, I usually find out about it after the fact when I see the article on their visit in the paper.Glad you had a great time.
I am jealous! So awesome. Now that I have moved the bookstore I used to go to for author events is a little far away (unless they get someone real awesome and then I will make the trek anyway). I'm within range of Boston now, so I will have to keep my eye out there now too.Loved the Q&A, very interesting about the Princes in the Tower, can't wait!
Thank you for sharing your experience at the B&N booksigning with Alison Weir. I too was thereand I've been waiting many years to meet her more importantly hearone of her book talks. Thank you for sharing your videosas well! Much appreciated.