I saw these lists popping up on a few blogs and couldn’t resist taking stock of my own close encounters with bestselling authors.  As I started making notes I wondered how I was going to list them.  Favorites first?  Pulitzer Prize winners lead the way?  The authors I’ve met more than once?  Best selling?  Locals first?  Too many choices!  So, I decided to stick with the authors I have photos of and to be as random as possible in the order I list these wordsmiths 🙂

Taylor Stevens.  I met Taylor in 2012 at Bouchercon before I’d read her book.  I had a second chance to dine with her in 2013.  I’ve read and loved both of her series.

Thrity Umrigar is a bestselling author and she’s local.  You can read how she ended up in Cleveland from her home in India.

Eloisa James was a fun evening.  I love Shakespeare so hearing a Shakespeare professor wax poetic about romance was a treat.

Susan Elizabeth Phillips is one of my all-time romance faves and I was able to meet her and others when Avon KissCon came to Cleveland in 2016.

Anthony Doerr grew up in the Cleveland area and way before he won his Pulitzer Prize he visited to talk about his book Four Season in Rome (which I loved).

Paula McLain is another bestselling local and she was was a great speaker.  She was actually in Solon last year at a fun event put on by the library.

Ian Rankin made his way to Cleveland from Scotland for just one night (thank you Cuyahoga County Public Library!)  I could have listened to him talk all night.  I love his books.

Harlan Coben is one of my all-time favorites and I’ve read all of his books.  Jason and I met him in Houston years and years ago and last year when he came to Cleveland I took my mom.

Kristan Higgins is another favorite and it was a treat to hear her speak last year.  It was an emotional time for me and she made it better 🙂

Bernie Kosar is a Cleveland legend and, yes, he wrote a book and came to our local Friends of the Library event. He spent and hour charming the crowd before talking to the almost 200 people who were able to get tickets.

Beth Hoffman is one of the warmest people you will ever meet.  This is me meeting her for the fist time in 2010 and I also met her again on tour for her second book.

There are more on my list, but I am tired 🙂  Here are some of the other big names I’ve met, but have no picture proof (or I’m too lazy to find them right now): Diana Gabaldon, Mitch Albom, Tracy Chevalier, Mary Doria Russell, Carl Hiaasen, Emilie Richards, Les Roberts…

Who on my list have you also met?