From the LA Times Book Festival

First up, the Awards were handed out late Friday night and no doubt the mystery world will want to catch up with Kem Nunn’s TIJUANA STRAITS, which took the mystery/thriller prize. All the other winners are listed here, while Mark Sarvas liveblogged the event as it happened.

Then there are the reports, including Tod Goldberg’s hilarious “Top Ten Things He Learned on the first day.” And I agree — no matter how large the festival is, you always run into the same, oh, 50-100 people or so. I think it’s an official law now.

Sarvas returned with more liveblogging, which can be found here, here,  here and here.

Tod Goldberg’s short story panel went off rather well (with Aimee Bender groupies cheering in the crowd) but unlike those weird folks who couldn’t take it, I would have LOVED to listen to this conversation:

*The best part of the Festival, for me at least, is the opportunity the

catch up with old friends who live far and wide. So if you were the

pleasant looking family sitting aside me, Wendy, Scott Phillips and

Victor Gischler while we discussed, alternately, serial killers, people

Scott knows who aren’t the BTK killer but whom Scott thought might be,

urinating in sinks, Trixie Belden, the price of real estate in

Oklahoma, how Wendy puts up with the fact that I’m liable, at any time,

to say some tasteless shit, who does the better Michael Silverblatt

imitation (Scott is a strong #2) and how if Victor liked writing his

novel Pistol Poets, he might really like reading Straight Man by

Richard Russo, and serial killers who might be Scott, I apologize.

It’s like college conversations, but cooler!

UPDATE: When it rains, it pours, and Aldo Calcagno has delivered a herculean pictorial report of the festival. Scroll down…and then keep scrolling. Wow. (Thanks, Clair!)