Glenbard South Author Fest

Iqra Baggia, Scoop-Editor

Every year, the Glenbard South library has partnered with Anderson’s Bookshop to bring Author Fest to the school.

Author Fest has been a one day event where authors present their latest Young Adult novels to a group of Glenbard South students. This year, five authors came to visit: Aaron Starmer, Spontaneous; Ellen Hopkins, Rumble and Impulse; Anne Greenwood Brown, Girl Last Seen; Joy Preble, It Wasn’t Always Like This and The Sweet Dead Life; and finally Jeff Zentner, The Serpent King.

Starmer kicked the Fest off first and second period with his humorous story about how he came up with the idea of his novel about high school seniors spontaneously combusting in class and the metaphor behind it all.

Hopkins was next with her dark and twisty tales about the real life people that she based her novels on.

Greenwood Brown who coauthored Girl Last Seen, told her audience about the sad seed of an idea that grew into the suspenseful novel.

Preble gave her audience life lessons that she connected back to her books.

And lastly, Zentner proved to the group of Glenbard South English students that one could have both a day job and create fictional worlds. All-in-all, for book lovers, meeting these authors was an experience.