Nudi Gill Goes to the National Book Festival
By Bonnie Kelso
On August 12, 2023, the Walter E. Convention Center in downtown Washington, D.C. hosted the National Book Festival! Before the doors officially opened, I found people lined up as neat as a library stack all the way around the corner, tote bags slung over their shoulders ready to be filled with exquisite treats, like bookish children on a Halloween night. I was giddy with excitement, not only because I was about to access an enormous space filled with books, authors, illustrators, bookshop owners, publishers, and a crowd of over 2,000 of most enthusiastic literary fans you can imagine, but because my debut picture book was representing my home state of Nevada.
You can imagine my delight when Kathleen Kuo, who is a program manager with Nevada Humanities, called me several months before telling me that my picture book, Nudi Gill: Poison Powerhouse of the Sea had been selected by Nevada Humanities for the Library of Congress’ Nevada Center for the Book program. As she explained the entire program to me, which included attending the National Book Festival, participating in a few author interviews, and visiting several local libraries, my jaw dropped even further. It was as if she was reading my summer wish list. She had a couple of other fun things planned for me like a Humanities at Play session where we talk about sea creatures while we play a beautiful underwater-themed video game and writing this blog post.
What I discovered during my four local library visits was that KIDS LOVE NUDI GILL! Seriously, they laughed at all the right parts, danced their special nudibranch dances, and asked a million questions. After the book reading, I helped them design their own undiscovered nudibranchs. This turned out to be a creative way to calm them down after the presentation.
Now back to the National Book Festival! From the moment I arrived to the breakdown of our booth, people were lined up to talk books with us. I got to share the booth with Kathleen Kuo and Zeb Hogan, co-author with Stefan Lovgren of Chasing Giants: In Search of the World’s Largest Freshwater Fish, also selected to represent Nevada at the festival. To make the event even more engaging, guests were given a map that they could have stamped by each of the states like a passport. It was a great way to start a conversation about the books. Prose and Politics hosted a bookstore, and I’m proud to say that Nudi Gill sold out just after lunch. I signed copies, was interviewed by a kid reporter, and donated a copy of my book to a start-up library in North Carolina. After a full day of talking with visitors, I started losing my voice! It all went by so fast; I only got to see a few presentations. The good news is that you and I can still watch many of them on the event website where they uploaded recordings. I did manage to stop by all of the state booths and picked up some of the fun book swag! I brought home a bag of colorful bookmarks, stickers, candy, and happy memories.
It was so satisfying to see so many people in one place who are passionate about books. It was even more exciting to talk to young kids who love reading. Some even said they wanted to write and illustrate their own books someday. This made my heart sing, since I was one of those kids almost half a century ago. No matter how our world evolves, I believe there will always be space for the joy of reading a good book.
Bonnie Kelso is an author illustrator from Las Vegas, Nevada. Environmental conservation is very important to her, and her stories often include subtle messaging. Her sweet, silly, and sometimes sassy characters engage children so they don't even realize that they are learning stuff. Bonnie studied art at the Rhode Island School of Design. She is the Illustrator Coordinator for Nevada SCBWI and winner of the 2021 Karen Cushman Award. Bonnie is represented by Liz Nealon @GreatDogLit. To learn more about Bonnie Kelso and her work visit bonniekelso.com.
National Book Festival photos by Bonnie Kelso and Beth Nelson.
Library photos courtesy of Bridget Lera.
Double Down blogger photo courtesy of Bonnie Kelso.