Friends of the Lebanon Public Library held a “sequel” to its Oregon Author Fair at the Lebanon Senior Center on Feb. 22, featuring 42 authors from throughout the state, nine of whom were from Lebanon.
The second chapter of the fair included improvements from the inaugural event held last year, including food trucks, smaller booth spaces to allow room for more authors, featured speakers, and book bingo, a game that required visitors to get author signatures on their “card” for a chance to win books.
“It’s like an ice breaker to get them to talk to authors and find genres,” said Vandy Roadifer, president of Friends.
Through donations, Friends was also able to advertise the event in order to draw in more visitors. Finding authors, on the other hand, was easy, Roadifer said; they even had a wait list nearly as long as those who made the vendor list.
Lebanon authors Danita Cahill, Gloria Gardner, Hans Schallig, Jennifer Moody, L.N. Reagan, Nan C. Ballard, Payne Craven, Sabrina Lozier and Tim Maddox brought a variety of genres to the fair with their works in romance, nonfiction, children’s books, short stories and a range of fiction.
Maddox was selling his anthology of short stories and his first book, “Forest Flight,” but he used the fair as an opportunity to debut a sneak peek at his first novel, “The Tale of Snow White and Red Rose.” His version of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale is expected to be released this month, just in time for Disney’s remake of “Snow White.”
The story follows sisters Snow White and Red Rose, who in some versions are considered twins. They provide shelter for a bear during winter, but the creature goes into the woods every day in search of something. Meanwhile, the girls also help a dwarf who gets himself into jams, but he’s ungrateful to them. One day, the dwarf catches them near his treasure and he’s not pleased about it, so he tries to get the bear to kill the girls. Instead, the bear kills the dwarf, which breaks a curse the dwarf had put on him. The bear, it turns out, is a prince.
Maddox said he expanded on the fairy tale with some of his own ideas, including the addition of a brother to the prince.
The author self-publishes his book, which can be purchased on Amazon or through his website, tim-maddox-books.square.site/books.
Tina Tate, of Albany, stopped by Maddox’s table while her nephew, Jake Tyler, 12, of Lebanon, checked out another author.
“He’s an avid reader, so I told him that today for my little treat, that him and I would go to the fair,” she said. “We enjoy the book sales together.”
After visiting every author table, the pair had in mind which books they both wanted to buy.
“I think it’s been really fun so far,” Jake said about the excursion.
A graphic illustrator out of Portland, Jonno Heyne, said this is his second time showcasing his books at the Author Fair.
“Last year was just so much fun that it was well worth the trip,” Heyne said.
Some of his large, off-beat titles – such as “You Made a Poo” and “My Mom is Dating a Monster” – catch the attention of passersby, enticing people of all ages to stop.
The poo book is currently the most popular, Heyne said. It follows the path of “number twos” through the wastewater treatment system, teaching readers how the end product is returned to the environment.
“It’s mostly dads (who) come over and are drawn to that. I think they want to read it themselves and use their children as an excuse,” Heyne said with a laugh.
Some of his other stories explore the relationship between a stepfather and stepdaughter, and a scout troop that encounters a bear in the woods. Other books of his, which can be found on his website, lawndartbooks.com, are intended for adults.
“Lebanon has a real good relationship with its library, and you can kinda tell that people come here and they bring their kids here,” he said. “So it’s great as a children’s author to come to a place like this and connect with families like this.”
