News from Heidi

The organizers of One Book One Bloomington have opened voting  and The Girl Who Fell From the Sky is in the running.  It's great company: Let the Great World Spin, Crescent, and The Help.  Crossing my fingers!

I love the folks of Laguna Beach. I love Laguna Beach Books. I love St. Mary's Episcopal Church. It was through a partnership between the bookstore and the church that Laguna Reads was born. I was incredibly honored to learn that The Girl Who Fell From the Sky was the inaugural pick. I had no idea what to expect in terms of turnout or engagement with the story. I did know though that the book was selling well at the bookstore and hit the #1 spot on the bookstore's bestseller list one week --ahead of Jonathan Franzen (Oprah's Pick)! (Okay, it was just one bookstore, but still! Whoo hoo!)
I couldn't have asked for a better evening. I only hope that the audience had half as much as I did. The community was so warm and engaging -- and it seemed that they really did love The Girl . . . -- it was a very magical night for me sitting at the front of the sanctuary reading excerpts and talking about the book to a group of some 5 dozen people. Thank you Jane Hanauer and Danielle Bauter of Laguna Beach Books. Thank you Jan Fisher of St. Mary's Episcopal Church. Thank you everyone in Laguna Beach who came out (and especially my friend Susan G. who introduced me to the bookstore)! What a wonderful night!

Leave a comment below (and let me know how many tickets you need) and you just may win tickets to the Beverly Hills Literary Escape Cafe Conversation on Sunday, Oct. 24 at 10am. You don't want to miss this really wonderful event!  (Be sure to leave your email address too so I can reach you if you are a winner!)

Today I'm celebrating the awesome news that The Girl Who Fell From the Sky is a Booklist Top 10 Debut Novel 2010!  Yay!

I am beaming. Gushing. Incredibly over-excited and proud. The Girl Who Fell From the Sky is now in Danish: Pigen der faldt ned fra himlen (Forlaget Punktum). This is an incredibly wonderful day. Denmark what do you think?

I visited Portland Community College--Cascade Campus in May at the invitation of the Women's Center. What a wonderful audience it was--and this was a great question. Check out the video: What do you do when you get discouraged as a writer? (mp4 file)

You can also watch the movie here--I've embedded below.

 

And if you want to make sure you don't miss any of the future or past podcasts and videocasts, why not subscribe? It's easy.  Just click here.  Or download the episodes on itunes for free.

 

My very dear friend Brooke and her husband hosted a fantastic book party for me in May in Austin. As awesome as the party was--the biggest treat was this introduction by one of Brooke's youngest. She wrote, rehearsed, and delivered this intro with panache! Best Introduction Ever (mp4 file) Thank you Mattie!

You can also watch the movie here--I've embedded below.

 

And if you want to make sure you don't miss any of the future or past podcasts and videocasts, why not subscribe? It's easy.  Just click here.  Or download the episodes on itunes for free.

 

In May, I did a reading at Word Bookstore in Brooklyn, NY, with the wonderfully talented Michele Young-Stone, author of The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors. This is the Q & A that followed the reading.

Word Bookstore Q & A with Heidi Durrow & Michele Young Stone (mp4 file).

You can also watch the movie here--I've embedded below.

(You can also check out the Leonard Lopate interview that aired that morning and coaxed a good number of the wonderful people there to come to the reading despite the storm that evening).

Q & A with Heidi Durrow & Michele Young-Stone from Heidi Durrow on Vimeo.

 

And if you want to make sure you don't miss any of the future or past podcasts and videocasts, why not subscribe? It's easy.  Just click here.  Or download the episodes on itunes for free.

 

I'm honored to appear at Literary Women in Long Beach, CA, along with Jayne Anne Phillips, Elaine Showalter, Tatjana Soli, Jennifer Haigh, Linda Gordon, and Rae Armantrout. The purpose of Literary Women: The Long Beach Festival of Authors is to celebrate women authors, to encourage new writers and to expose the works of contemporary women authors to an audience of readers with a wide range of literary interests. I hope you will join us!