Author Reception at Northern California Independent Booksellers' Association Spring Gathering, April 10.

Photo taken by my first visitor, Carolyn, from A Great Good Place for Books, Montclair.

Photo taken by my first visitor, Carolyn, from A Great Good Place for Books, Montclair.

For the first time, and hopefully not the last, I was on the other side of the table signing books as part of the author reception at the NCIBA Spring Gathering on Sunday. So much fun to share my love of story and history with fellow booksellers. Only in a group of booksellers (and historians) would you get two people walk up consecutively, point to my necklace and say, "Oh isn't that Cernunnos from the Gundestrup Cauldron?"

Setting up

Setting up

My necklace of the horned god taken from the Gundestrup cauldron

My necklace of the horned god taken from the Gundestrup cauldron

Visiting Wade Thomas Elementary, San Anselmo, Old Mill School, Mill Valley and Bel Aire Elementary, Tiburon

Reading to 4th and 5th graders in Old Mill School library, Mill Valley.

Reading to 4th and 5th graders in Old Mill School library, Mill Valley.

Talking to 4th and 5th graders in Old Mill School library, Mill Valley

Talking to 4th and 5th graders in Old Mill School library, Mill Valley

So fortunate to have had a wonderful week talking about The Lost Celt to some of the most attentive and enthusistic kids in Marin County.  

Favourite moments include: lines of kids waiting to try on my reproduction of the Snettisham torc…it's only brass, but it's still really heavy; kids sharing their love of Romans, Celts and ancient myths and having a young girl come up to me saying, "I'm just like you." She loves books about soldiers and yet she still likes "girl" things like ballet and fluffy animals. She seemed hugely relieved to share this, so I think I touched a chord. It worries me that in this "selfie, social media" age, girls might be forced into stereotypes and emphasizing looks more than ever.

One of two assemblies to 3rd, 4th and 5th graders at Bel Aire School, Tiburon.

One of two assemblies to 3rd, 4th and 5th graders at Bel Aire School, Tiburon.

A. E. Conran Interviewed as part of the Swanky Seventeens Debut Author Club

It was such a privilege to be interviewed by, and chat on the phone to, Bree Barton, a Swanky Seventeens debut author whose own YA novel, Black Rose, comes out in Fall 2017 with Katherine Tegen/Harper Collins. Bree is just a delight and I have no doubt her book will be equally fabulous.

Checkout the interview here. We talked in depth about the inspirations, themes and issues of war in The Lost Celt. 

Evening at Urban Promise Academy: March 16

Could there have been a better first school to visit, post-launch, with The Lost Celt than the Urban Promise Academy, Fruitvale, Oakland? Their school motto is "Developing Scholars, Warriors and Artists," so my character felt completely at home. I had a wonderful evening talking, and then whispering, about The Lost Celt. Yes, I'd lost my voice by the end of the evening, thanks to a cold at the weekend, but the UPA Jaguars just listened extra hard. Thank you!