Top Ten Authors I’d Love to Meet—And Some I’ve Met

October 2, 2018 Top Ten Tuesday 24

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature/meme now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. The meme was originally the brainchild of The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is Top Ten Authors I’d Love to Meet.

 

I’ve been really fortunate to meet a number of authors over the years, especially in the years since I’ve been blogging. So I thought that rather than simply list who I’d like to meet, I’d also mention some of the authors I’ve most enjoyed meeting.

I haven’t really ranked most of these lists, just jotted them down as the names occurred to me…

 

Authors I’d Love to Meet, But Can’t

(because they’re dead)

Truth to tell, some of the authors I would most like to meet are dead. But I still wish I could meet them… or could have met them when they were still alive, if our lifespans overlapped at all.

  • William Shakespeare
  • J.R.R. Tolkien
  • Dorothy L. Sayers
  • Madeleine L’Engle
  • Elizabeth Goudge
  • Jane Austen
  • Lousia May Alcott
  • Emily Dickinson
  • Ngaio Marsh
  • L. M. Montgomery

 

Authors I Hope to Meet Someday

  • Robin McKinley
  • J. K. Rowling
  • Patrick Rothfuss
  • Mercedes Lackey
  • Jim C. Hines
  • Marissa Meyer
  • Charles Finch
  • Julia Quinn
  • Lisa Kleypas
  • Nora Roberts
  • Katherine Kurtz
  • Nancy Atherton

And, well, pretty much any author I enjoy, who is still alive!

 

Authors I’ve Had the Pleasure of Meeting

  • Anne McCaffrey (back in the late 1970s)
  • Laurie R. King
  • Tamora Pierce
  • Susanna Kearsley
  • Deborah Harkness
  • Susan Cooper
  • Naomi Novik
  • Mary Robinette Kowal
  • Deanna Raybourn
  • Jamie Ford
  • Mary Behre
  • V. V. Wedding
  • Sherryl Woods
  • Graeme Base
  • Alleyne Dickens (she’s not published yet, but she will be—she’s good!)

 

Which authors would you most like to meet?

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24 Responses to “Top Ten Authors I’d Love to Meet—And Some I’ve Met”

  1. Angela

    I would love to meet J.K. Rowling! I’m planning on going to my first book event soon and hope to meet one of my favorite authors, Kate Morton!

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      Oh, how exciting! I hope you have a wonderful time. I’ve not yet read her books, but I’m hoping to read The Forgotten Garden this fall.

  2. Sophia @ Bookwyrming Thoughts

    J.K. Rowling, despite issues and controversies surrounding her, is an author I would love to meet one day! Honestly I would have a break down because I’d be in shock that I’m meeting a super important author. ?

    I would love to meet Julie Kagawa as well since I enjoyed reading most of her books and I think her Iron Fey series was one of the books that got me into YA in the first place.
    Sophia @ Bookwyrming Thoughts recently posted…Why Should You Have a Test Blog? (Let’s Call It Your Blogging Laboratory)My Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I’m not sure I’d actually be able to say anything if I met Rowling; I’d be too tongue-tied. But I’d still love to meet her. Kagawa would be interesting, too. I need to reread The Iron King so I can read the rest of the series.

  3. Greg

    Tolkien and Austen…well everyone on your first list there actually! I think Mercedes Lackey would be a neat person to talk to. And ooh you’ve met some interesting ones too! Anne McCaffrey back in the day huh? Neat!
    Greg recently posted…The Gods of a Game of ThronesMy Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      McCaffrey was the first author I ever met! And it was so cool to hear her talk (not to mention hear how some of the names were supposed to be pronounced.)

  4. Rita @ View From the Books

    I’m so jealous of your list of authors you’ve met in person! I’ve only met one, lol!

    But from all your lists, the ones that stand out to me are Tolkein head & shoulders above the rest for the most creative world-building ever, then also Emily Dickinson for her perspective on love and life way back then… and Nora Roberts to find out how she is able to turn out so many books, and so many of them are still worth a read– IMHO– better than James Patterson who leaves much of his work to co-authors, and Danielle Steele who just recycles the same plot over & over. (I used to read both of these authors so I can fairly make this comment).

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      The benefit of living within a 2-hour drive of DC, mainly! Several of them I met (briefly) at the annual National Book Festival, which I’ve gone to several times. And my nearest city gets some good authors, too: Susanna Kearsley has come 3 times, Deanna Raybourn and Jamie Ford once each. Margot Lee Shetterly spoke at the local university, and her talk was amazing, but I didn’t get to actually meet her, so I didn’t include her on the list.

      I completely agree with your reasons for wanting to meet Tolkien, Dickinson, and Roberts. 🙂

  5. Nicole @ BookWyrmKnits

    Oooh, I didn’t think of adding Madeline L’Engle to my list! Shame on me! She was one of the authors who had the most impact on my youth. Jim Hines also is an author who I’d enjoy meeting but didn’t think about when I was writing my list.

    You have met a lot of authors! That’s really cool. I’ve only met a couple (but I also haven’t made the effort to meet many).
    Nicole @ BookWyrmKnits recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday ~ Authors I’d Love To MeetMy Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      L’Engle had a huge impact on my worldview, from the Wrinkle in Time trilogy (as it was in my youth) to her memoirs (the Crosswicks journals) and her Christian nonfiction, like Walking on Water.) I would so love to have gotten to know the woman herself.

      I respect Jim Hines not only as an author, but as a white male who stands up for the equal rights and dignity of all people, and for the need for diverse voices to be be heard. I follow his blog and his Facebook; he’s a man I would be proud to call friend, if I knew him personally.

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I think she would love the freedom that women have now, to have careers, to be independent (and single) if they choose. But I think she would be appalled at the state of our politics, and appalled also at our lack of respect for each other and for the earth.

  7. Astilbe

    Ooh, you have some good authors on your lists. Honestly, I’d love to meet all of them, too, although I think I’d start with L. M. Montgomery. I recently learned that she struggled with depression for many years when she was alive. It would be interesting to talk about that experience with her and show her all of the treatments we now have for that illness.

    If she reads this blog, good luck to Alleyne Dickens. I hope your publishing journey goes well.

    Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thanks for stopping by earlier.
    Astilbe recently posted…Loner by Hildur Sif ThorarensenMy Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      That’s a good point about L. M. Montgomery. I knew she suffered from depression, and it would indeed be interesting to talk with her about how she dealt with it, and how it affected her writing. It rarely comes across in the books. Grief, yes; there’s grief at Matthew’s passing, and in later books for other characters. But while Anne’s emotions are volatile, particularly early on, only at one point does she really seem to be depressed, rather than simply sad… and even then, there’s a very good reason. (I’m avoiding spoilers here, but it’s in Anne’s House of Dreams; those who have read the book will know which period I’m referring to.

      I’ll pass along your good wishes to Alleyne. 🙂

  10. Northwoman

    You’ve met some I really like. Yes Naomi Novik! I’d add Robin Hobb, Devon MOnk, Pierce Brown, Barb Hendee, Elizabeth Hunter, Jill Shalvis, Nora Roberts, all I would like to meet. And who wouldn’t want to meet JK Rowling? Anne – Books of My Heart

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I still haven’t read Robin Hobb, though I keep intending to. Or Pierce Brown or Elizabeth Hunter. And I’ve never even heard of Monk and Hendee. So many good authors out there I still need to read!

  11. Mara @ Across the Books

    Wow such a great list! Most of the authors I would most love to meet are dead haha, such as William Shakespeare and Jane Austen! I really envy the people who lived in that time period and had the honour of meeting them. Studying English literature at university just makes me realise how amazing older authors are, but modern authors are amazing in their own right and I’d love to meet the ones you had the opportunity to meet already 😀

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      Of course, most of the people who knew the classic authors when they were living had no idea of the stature those authors would take on over the years! Some were popular, well-known, and respected (and some weren’t!), but I doubt even their friends thought their books would still be sold and read so long after their deaths. Even Shakespeare, that towering genius; I don’t think anyone in Shakespeare’s day could have imagined that 400+ years later, we would still revere, study, and perform his plays, or that they would still have so much to say to us. It’s fun to wonder who in our time will have that kind of staying power.