Guest Post: Leigh Bardugo Book Signing in Los Altos,Ca

Leigh Bardugo Book Signing in Los Altos

Before Ashley had invited me to the book signing in Los Altos I had never even heard of Leigh Bardugo.  As a reader who tends to stay more to the Sci-fi side of Sci-fi/fantasy it may be understandable why.  I can assure you that after personally viewing her interview at the event I was completely convinced to read her work.  Leigh has a very intellectually witty personality filled with enthusiasm and an incredible devotion to her fans.  

I remember standing in line just to enter the event thinking how similar it was to line at most theme parks.  Which quickly made me realize how important of an author Leigh must be,  especially considering Los Altos was a small town.  My favorite part of her interview consisted of her being asked what would be her personal weapon of choosing since her characters each had a select weapon that related to their respective personalities.  She responded by telling a short tale about her hearing two girls screaming outside of her home in the night.  Fearing the worst she grabbed her baseball bat to see if she could save the day only to find the girls were drunk and upset after a night of partying .  She said that after that experience a baseball bat would be her personal weapon of choice and she would name the bat Gandalf.  Somehow picturing Leigh wielding Gandalf the Bat in an angry rage brings me utter joy. In all honestly Leigh quickly gained a warm part of my heart with all of her humor.  

Leigh seemed incredibly happy to show off her dark humor and that led me to believe that she was simply being herself.  It’s funny how everyone burst out laughing when she brought up a gruesome scene from her book Six of Crows.  It sounds awful I know but when she revealed her thought process while writing that section of the book it made everyone snicker and cheer.  Her bubbly personality kept me quite entranced and entertained the entire duration of her interview.  I’d say I only wish it had lasted longer so I could have heard more fun insights into her work such as this.

I could tell during the questioning period that Leigh Bardugo truly cared about each and every one of her fans.  Giving the best possible answer and supporting new writers in the crowd.  She took every moment of time she possibly could to give any details in her answers she could possibly think of.  One thing she insisted on is that she didn’t write her amazing stories in one go but simply wrote them out and revised them many times until they felt perfect.  Questions relating to how she wrote such incredible and unique work came up often so I heard this answer in various forms many times.  Leigh certainly was humble and even modest about her success as an author which in many ways only drew me to appreciate her success that much more.

Talking to Leigh Bardugo face to face while getting one of Ashley’s books signed felt like having a conversation with a long lost friend.  I was greeted with a warm smile and out of curiousity I questioned her about what movie trailers she had written for.  She happily responded and made me chuckle.  I greatly desired to know how she got her start in writing so it was interesting to hear.  Along with the book signing we selected a free card of a random Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom character.  Which only added to the fun and made for a pleasant surprise to see which characters everyone received.  

Overall I would give this book signing a 5/5 and it will be an experience I will remember for a long time.  Also on a side note Leigh gained a new fan and I’ve actually begun reading some of her books.  Hopefully she will release another work of fiction soon so I can get the opportunity to hear more of her wonderful insight into her work at one of her future book signings.  I would also like to personally thank Ashley for inviting me to this event because I wouldn’t have known what I was missing unless I had gone.

~Joshua

* Sidenote Ashley, Walt and Will are traveling to Seattle to the Fierce Reads Tour stop this Monday 10/10*