#tulsa library

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick

This evening, Hardesty Regional Library hosted author Ransom Riggs, who graced Tulsa with his presence while promoting his book Hollow City. I haven't read it yet, but it's the sequel to Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, which is one of my current favorite books.

Anyway.

I'd never been to this library before, but thankfully I found it without any trouble, got my copy of the book, and sat down to what turned out to be an amazing evening.

First of all, Riggs was super-fun to listen to.  He was friendly, affable, and extremely willing to answer any questions any one had.

I should mention that both Miss Peregrine's and Hollow City are based around "vernacular photography," which is fancy-talk for other people's old pictures.  Riggs has collected, well, peculiar pictures for years (Check out his book Talking Pictures for more of those), and wound up with a set of spooky pictures of kids.  Then he wrote a story around them.  

Highlights reel of questions and his answers (somewhat paraphrased):

Q: What made you decide to write books, since you went to film school? A: I started writing when I was young, and after I graduated I was making short films and not paying my rent and writing [for various blogs] was a way to keep myself going.  Basically I just said yes to everything until I could afford to say no to a few things.  I was really tired for a few years.

Q (from a seven year old boy): Are there any female wights [villians in Miss Peregrine's and Hollow City]? A: Yes.  You just haven't met them yet.  Or have you?  They can be anybody.

Q: Is it true that there's going to be a movie, and that Tim Burton's involved? A: Yes!  It's supposed to start filming this year and be out next year.  I've been a Tim Burton fan since Edward Scissorhands, and they called me and told me that a movie was in the works, and then that Tim Burton would be directing, I lost my mind. Follow-up Q: Are you writing your own screenplay? A: They've got a lovely woman named Jane Goldman to work on it, and she did X-Men, Woman in Black, and with her and Burton working together it's going to be just wonderful. After the Q&A, Riggs signed a lot of books.  While in line to get mine signed, I struck up a conversation with a few people in front of me.  See, it turns out that four teachers from Will Rogers College High School (students graduate from high school with an Associate's degree, how cool!) came to the book signing, and were giving their students extra credit for attending.  The two students I got to talk to were 9th grade girls. "So have you read the books?" I asked.  Their teacher laughed. "Well, no," they admitted. "Just here for the extra credit?" This time I got sheepish grins; "Yeah.  But we're gonna read it soon!" "That's cool.  Do you guys read a lot?" The girls look at each other, giggling.  "I do, but she doesn't," said one of them. "Do you have a favorite book?" "Oh, no, I've read too many to choose!"

After a little deliberation, the girls both had answers for me: Outlander, for the girl who said she read a lot, and The Gatekeepers series for the other girl. Their teacher actually assigned Miss Peregrine's to one of his other classes, and said he likes to assign contemporary books along with classics, so that his students are exposed to a wide variety of genres.  I thought that was really cool. Tulsa was Riggs' sixth city to visit on this tour, and if he was exhausted and bored, he didn't show it.  I'll leave you with two final photos: Riggs signing a book for another Will Rogers teacher, and Riggs making a goofy face with a fan.