SLA - Guest Post by Author Teresa Flavin

Here is a guest post by Templar Author Teresa Flavin after her recent trip to the SLA conference

Last weekend I ended my winter hibernation and got on a train south to do something for the very first time: attend a School Libraries Group conference. It was my first time speaking about my writing to an adult-only group, let alone a conference of librarians. This might have been daunting except that I was able to mingle, share a meal and be on a quiz team with the friendliest librarians you could wish for.

There was a terrific buzz about the conference centre and it was infectious. Many librarians told me how much they enjoy meeting authors and what a great time they have at the SLG Conference.

Johnny O’Brien and I were the Sunday morning speakers on a panel chaired by Templar Publishing’s Helen Boyle. Any pre-speech nerves I had evaporated when I recognised familiar faces in the audience – although I did ‘encourage’ Johnny to speak first so I could see how it’s done properly!

Johnny is a really engaging and interesting speaker. I got so engrossed listening to him talk about the inspirations for his Jack Christie books that I almost forgot that I was there to speak about mine. Luckily, I love speaking about the story and inspirations behind The Blackhope Enigma; and for the first time, I spoke a bit about the forthcoming sequel, The Crimson Shard.

One of the nicest parts about speaking to audiences who love books is meeting them when I sign their copies afterwards – and the school librarians were no exception. It’s especially thrilling when people tell me they’ve connected with something I said, or they know a child who will love my books. A number of librarians mentioned that they would be giving The Blackhope Enigma copies as school prizes, which makes me very happy.

Thanks to all the lovely SLG conferees who made me so welcome!