I attended Patapsco Literary Festival in Historic Old Town Ellicott City yesterday!
For months, a friend from my gaming group who works in Ellicott City has told me I should visit and that I’d love the bookstore there. But I always balked, since it takes more than an hour-and-a-half to get there from my house. And with working full-time and church plus gaming on Sundays, Saturdays are the only days when it would be feasible – but that’s also my day to get household chores done, work on my website, and sleep late.
But then my friend Jill told me about the book festival coming up. And yes, I wanted to do some work on my website. And my home is a mess. But what better reason to see Ellicott City? On top of the urging from Jill, as it happens, Ellicott City was my very first home – it’s listed on my birth certificate as where my mother lived.
I did still sleep late. So I wasn’t there for very much of the Literary Festival. But I got to hear two sessions. And there were no crowds – which is better than the National Book Festival, which took most of the day and because of crowds, I only got to hear two sessions anyway. And I enjoyed it so much, next year I will try go again, but not sleep late this time.
The first session I attended was “Beyond the Margins: Literary Careers Outside of Authorship,” featuring translator Mojdeh Bahar, illustrator Phyllis Saroff (pictured above). The moderator had insightful questions about how translating poetry is like making art, and illustration is a form of translation. I purchased a book, Song of the Ground Jay: Poems by Iranian Women, translated by Mojdeh Bahar. I’m going to look for science picture books illustrated by Phyllis Saroff on the library vendor website. (It’s a smaller publisher, but she says they’ve gotten good reviews from School Library Journal, and I could see the excellence in her work.)
Edited to add: When I got to the library and checked our catalog, it turns out we have almost all of the books she’s illustrated! The only exception I could find is the most recent one, Return of the Terns: How Scientists Are Saving Island Birds, so I’m going to put it in an order.
The second session I attended featured Alma Katsu, being interviewed by Jill’s friend Becky. Alma was fascinating to listen to. In the past, she worked for the CIA, including papers about deep fake technology – before the explosion of the public using AI, and how it can be used for nefarious purposes. She has several historical horror novels out, her first one being about the Donner Party being followed by a sinister force. She has another that sounds interesting about the Japanese interment, based on her husband’s family’s experience. I am not a horror fan, so I opted to buy the spy novel she had available, Red London. Though she and the moderator both said her books are lighter on the horror, so I will probably try one if I like the spy novel (as I expect to). She said her spy novels are different in that they are not set during World War II, and they feature the experience of women, as she met many interesting women when she worked for the CIA.
So despite the over three hours in the car on a wet day (but at least no thunderstorms), I was glad I took the time to go. Main Street at Ellicott City is lovely, and it struck me that my parents were probably familiar with the very same buildings. I loved it that there was no chain store in sight, and each shop had plenty of character. I bought a couple other books, too. And, yes, it cost me more than ordering from Amazon, but it came with such a lovely experience.