Authors: Sarah Porter, Laini Taylor, Renee Ahdieh, Sabaa Tahir, and Roshani Chokshi
Above is a picture from the magical panel titled, Just Like Old Times.
Topics ranged from random facts about the authors, to what myths, legends, or pieces of history their books are based off of, to their favorite weird or messed-up fairy tales, to how to correctly show the motivations of women in fairy tales that were written by men. Because of these topics the panel could get very dark and feminist at times, but the authors would make it light again with little jokes or stories about themselves.
The tale of Cinderella is a great example of this mesh of topics. It was brought up a lot because of the conflicting nature of her story, some people view her as weak, just waiting around for her prince charming. But others, many of these authors included, see her as brave and a survivor. Laini Taylor mentioned that Cinderella also shows that it is possible to escape captivity without physical dominance over the captors. All these authors enjoy empowering women by rewriting fairy tales in a way that the women can become saviors.
I loved the fact that the authors knew each other and were friends. It was really cool to see my favorite authors actually interacting, something that you imagine happens but normally don’t have proof of existence. Renee Ahdieh and Sabaa Tahir became best friends when Sabaa was telling scary stories about Jinn one night at an author event.
Other fun facts:
Roshani Chokshi: has a fake tooth that doesn’t show up under black lights
Sarah Porter: has a very early memory of riding a tiger at a zoo that nobody believes
Sabaa Tahir: college apartment was haunted, posters and flags would flutter with no wind, drawers would open and close
Laini Taylor: was held at gunpoint as a child on a navy vessel until her dad came
Favorite Quote:
When talking about what to keep from fairy tales and myths: Renee Ahdieh said, “Keep what you love, then make it your own. You have to love what you are writing about to write a good story.”
