Authors, readers share love of books at local fair

Authors from across Missouri and Arkansas flocked to the Poplar Bluff Municipal Library on Saturday to make connections and meet readers.

The Eighth Annual Author Fair allowed the public to meet authors of all genres, purchase their latest books and even get the authors’ signatures. The event also welcomed three guest speakers: Michele Webb, author of “Dexter Fittin In”, publisher Gaëlle Freer and Katherine Gilbert of Drury University. Several of the authors are native to Missouri and have a passion of creating worlds in text form, according to organizers. They spoke about their books and the genres they relate to.

Brad Barton, author of “The Enchanted Bell Tower” series, heard of the author event from a friend at church and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to join. Barton’s series is of four books, the fourth one being released in June of this year. The series takes place in Dexter, where Barton’s wife is from and where they were both married.

Barton explained the first book of the series took him 15 years to finish and once he dialed into the creativity, the rest of the series flowed smoothly with an unlimited number in the series. Barton has been published for two years and is now a full-time writer.

“These books are about two kids who go into the stories of the Bible, and we all know there are so many stories in the Bible,” said Barton. “I actually came up with the concept of the illustration on the books. I told the artist what I had envisioned and that I wanted bright colors and bold black. The colors actually started off with the relation of each Bible story, yellow as an earthy tone representing creation, red representing the Christmas story, and blue representing water.”

The colors seemed to be visually drawing as all ages made their way to speak with Barton.

Aaron Fox of Columbia heard about the event and without looking at a map, he agreed to go. Four hours later, he arrived and was grateful for doing so. Fox is a journalist with a degree from the University of Missouri, and said he did not know he would end up writing for children.

The inspiration for his books came from a nickname. He was always called a “ninja sloth” because he was slow and steady in his life until he was excited to do something. From that moment, he thought that name would create a good book for children and ran with it.

“The Ninja Sloth” is a two-book series so far. Fox has another publication titled “How Truman Found His Roar.” This book was inspired by Mizzou’s mascot Truman the Tiger.

“This book has been a huge success in Columbia, not so much in Kansas though, simply because of the rivalry,” Fox said.

Period romance author Megan Walker also discussed her publications. Walker was inspired by Jane Austin and modernized her work with today’s world. Walker also said Jane Austin was paid per word she wrote, which is why the language of the book is more difficult to understand.

Walker has a total of four books, the fourth one being released this year. She used a fellow artist to help illustrate her first two books and collaborated to depict the perfect book cover. The other two books were illustrated by Walker’s publicist, but gives the depiction of what’s inside the cover.

The event was an overall success, agreed authors and visitors. The library looks forward to hosting the Author Fair again next year with more authors and expanded imaginations.

The library is currently exhibiting an Underground Railroad quilt by Corretta Bishop and “Small Town Miniatures” by Belinda Bailey.