Meeting the Authors: Sarah Addison Allen

My mom and I went to see Sarah Addison Allen at Malaprop’s for her First Frost book launch. We’ve seen her several times before and we always enjoy hearing her speak and meeting her. She is just the cutest, sweetest thing you’ve ever met.

We got there 30-45 minutes early and the space was filling up fast. Malaprop’s always passes around wine and maybe some cheese, but at Ms. Allen’s events, we always get something a little extra. I don’t know whether to thank the staff or the author for that but we sure appreciate it! This time, we got cute little pink and white cupcakes, vintage-looking apple napkins, and bowls of bright red apples in crystal-looking bowls. How cute is that?

When Ms. Allen arrived, she was just as cute and sweet as ever. She spoke about how we all have “befores and afters” in our lives. Her big “before and after” is cancer but another big one is Garden Spells. She reflected on that for a bit and then read us her speech for that first tour. It was about her great-aunt and it was called, “Unmentionables.” She had us in stitches! She then graciously answered several audience questions and then the book signing started.

When my mom and I got to the front of the line, Ms. Allen complimented us on our scarves, then paused, really looked at us, and asked, “Were you at my signing last year?” We were shocked! She remembered us! We are both quiet and try our best to fly under the radar, so it was impressive that she remembered us! I guess there aren’t that many curly-headed mother/daughter duos who show up at all her signings. 🙂 We told her how much we enjoyed her work and she graciously thanked us and handed us our swag and our signed books.

It looks like she only has one tour stop left, but if you ever get the chance to meet this delightful author, you should go! And you definitely need to read her books if you haven’t already.