[Book Event] Meeting Erin Morgenstern @ Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord, NH

This afternoon, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit one of my favorite local bookshops, Gibson’s Bookstore, to see Erin Morgenstern! Erin is the author of The Night Circus and The Starless Sea.

Per usual, it was such a great event.

Let’s dive in!

Meeting Erin Morgenstern @ Gibson’s Bookstore

I arrived a bit early, but the shop was already buzzing!

As soon as I walked in, I heard the voice of a gal I follow on Instagram, but haven’t met in person yet. When I went up to the registers to snag a copy of Erin’s latest book, I got Kelso’s lane and risked being a total loser and said, “I’m gonna be wicked creepy right now… I follow you on Instagram!” Immediately after that, I wanted to say, “It’s nice to meet you in person!” but per usual, my awkwardness made me black out a bit. I hope I said that too, but I can’t be sure. She was super nice about it though and we chatted for a bit while she rung me up.

Check out Kelso’s wonderful book-filled account at @biblio_reckah!

I was worried they would sell out of the books, so a minute later, I went back and got a second book for my friend, Amber, who was on her way. I’m obsessed with the cover of this one!

After snagging the books, I headed over to the crowd to find a place to stand, as all the seats were already taken. Amber arrived shortly after that and we caught up while we waited for the event to begin.

The interview between Gibson’s bookseller and super-fan, Ryan, and Erin Morgenstern was wonderful! Ryan asked so many great questions, and Erin’s answers were awesome. I loved her humor and how she kept the audience totally engaged and laughing!

Erin discussed writing The Night Circus and what the journey was like to get that one published, then how intense it was to have people ask when the next book would be available. She joked about her writing process overall, and how she used to only write during NaNoWriMo.

She also discussed her jewelry and how she both owns and has written pieces from Blood Milk Jewels into her work! Man, oh man, I shouldn’t have looked up that site… I would LOVE to own some of these pieces!

One thing that I really loved was that Erin talked about how her two books are set in the same world, similar to how all of Stephen King’s books are set in the same world.

She also discussed her love of video games and how some of the best storytelling she is seeing lately are the stories in video games! I love that!

Erin also read a bit from her book, which made me want to dive into it ASAP! I cannot wait until I can get to this one.

Of course, there was also a Q&A session at the end, but I was getting a bit dizzy from standing/being tired from the concert I was at last night/the heat, so Amber and I headed to the side of the shop where the signing would happen so we could chat a bit and listen to the rest of the Q&A.

While waiting, we got to see the lovely display they put together of the books that Erin had read and recommended from 2019, along with one coming out this year!

While in line for the signing, we got to chat with Kelso again for a minute about what we’re currently reading before she had to get back to work.

When it was my turn, I passed by phone off to Ryan who had offered to take photos of the interaction (thanks so much, Ryan!!). I didn’t say much to Erin herself, but I think I said “Thank you” about 6 times… I have got to work on speaking to authors! She did comment that she liked my shirt, which was a gray tee with a little teacup that say “Tea Shirt” on it. This shirt was actually a gift from Amber!

I had my copy of The Night Circus signed:

And I had also snagged a copy of The Starless Sea that had been pre-signed. I love this idea! While the books were signed, you could still choose to wait in line to have your name added if you wanted. I just left this one as is, as I had the other book signed along with my name.

If you’re in the Concord area, swing by to snag a signed copy of The Starless Sea! If you’re out of the area, check out their shop online to see if they still have some available to be shipped!

Thanks for reading!
What an event! Visiting Gibson’s is always a treat! I really need to get around to doing a feature post of this bookshop soon!

I’m so grateful that I live only twenty minutes from Gibson’s! They always have such great events! Some of the author events that I have attended there so far include:

• Meeting Joe Hill
• Meeting Diane Les Becquets
• Meeting Katherine Arden

And of course, a shout-out to Erin Morgenstern for taking the time to speak with all of us at this wonderful event, and a thanks to Gibson’s Bookstore for hosting!