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?
Stacy's Books 
You’ve met some fabulous authors!
When I started making the list, even I was surprised, lol. Our library system does a great job of bringing big time authors our way.
This is nice, thanks for sharing such an information about great authors.
Love this, Stacy! No, I haven’t met any of the authors that you show here, but there are several that I’d love to meet or listen to at an event. If there ever are any in-person events again. I guess there will be eventually and virtual is not bad. Sigh.
I just can’t get into the virtual events. It’s not the same 😦 One day I hope we can once again get close enough to strangers to tell them how wonderful they are!
Fun list! I would love to hear Anthony Doerr talk about books. I loved All the Light We Cannot See and I have About Grace in my stacks.
The only author that I’ve met that is on your list is Mary Doria Russell. I met her in 1998 at a small book gathering in Cleveland. She had just published The Sparrow, which is one of my all-time favorite books. She is a delight and very funny!
The Sparrow is one of my absolute favorites! When I joined my book club 3 or 4 years ago and it was my turn to choose a selection of books I included The Sparrow and told them I loved it (as had the book group I read it with first). Well, they all picked it and NO ONE loved it. For some reason they let me stay anyway and I’m much safer in my choices these days 😉
I’ve met Mary two or three times and she’s always a delight.
Stacy, my mom recommended the book to her book group and had the same problem. I think there was only one person in the group who loved it as much as I did. Definitely not everyone’s favorite. I really like MDR’s books, although I have yet to read Doc and Epitaph. How wonderful that you’ve met her more than just once!