Thanks to all of you who attended the first ever Novelty: Danvers Literary Festival. The authors were funny, engaging and very generous with their time.   Moderator, Leane Ellis did a great job introducing the panelists and asked insightful questions. Many of the authors talked about the writing process. Characterization was a hot topic with the Mystery Panel featuring Katherine Hall Page, Peter Abrahams and Dana Cameron.  The Romance Panel with Kristan Higgins and Kathryn Smith tackled what it’s like to write “those scenes” in a novel.  Margaret Ronald, Leanna Renee Hieber and N.K. Jemisin from the fantasy panel talked about the worlds they created for their novels.  Deanna Raybourn, inspired budding writers in the audience with her story about the long road to getting published while Nancy Thayer and Samantha Wilde showed that as mother and daughter,  they are great springboards for each other’s writing, but their styles are very different.

The Festival came to a close with a presentation by Michael Palmer on Wednesday evening. Mr. Palmer told the audience that he never intended to be a writer. The real-life story that inspired his first book (that has never been published in English) left the audience wanting more.

Thanks to all of the authors who made the event such a success.