EIBF round-up, only a month late

I'm clearly  very behind on this, but for the last six years, August has been the best, most exciting/tiring month of the calendar and I wanted to do a little post of my 2013 highlights. Obviously there were some more stressful/challenging moments but they pale next to the good bits, and are hardly worth mentioning! I adore working at the best book festival in the world (totally not biaised) and I'm sure I'll have forgotten some things but it really is quite marvellous and I wanted to share some of the (many) reasons why:

See?! Awesome!

When Meg Rosoff remembered me and wrote a lovely message in my copy of Picture Me Gone (which is excellent by the way, and OhMyGosh am I excited for the film of How I Live Now?) When a customer and I shared a giggle after hearing a colleague confuse Sandi Toksvig and Ruby Wax over the radio. Relatedly, when Sandi Toksvig met the Gruffalo and the totally wonderful Chris Scott caught the moment on camera and Twitter went crazy. ENORMOUS glasses of wine at The Huxley. Seriously, they were like fishbowls. Literary Death Match judged by Neil Gaiman, Craig Silvey and Dawn O'Porter. More Awesome. I probably don't need to say anymore but to further sway it there was lots of live drawing, including The Tattoo Fox. Which brings me to... The Tattoo Fox. This was a runaway hit in the bookshops, and it was really quite miraculous that we had a book at all, considering it didn't exist 6 weeks prior to the festival's opening. Hot off the press indeed. The family of customers who were just so excited about being at a festival all about books: "It's a festival of books! Books!" The discovery of Flying Eye Books, who have quickly moved to my top five imprints. The beautiful ghost story that Kate Mosse read at the Faber Social Unbound event. Barroux. Lovely, lovely Barroux. He was the Illustrator-in-Residence this year, and he's all French and dreamy, and does beautiful brush and ink illustrations. How literally everyone buying books after Judith Kerr's event said how lovely it all was, and how privileged they felt to have seen her. Delightful customers who queued for hours to have Neil Gaiman sign their books and were still laughing and joking with me even when we had to move the queue. Twice. Arranging That's Not My Noun and Dirty Bertie books by colour when things got a bit too much for me. Gorgeous bird book sculptures by the mysterious Edinburgh Sculptor, including a beautiful Crow tribute to the late, great Iain (M.) Banks. Kate O'Hearn's amazing costume and her amour-clad monsters and warriors. The customer who at 5.15pm on the final public day came in and asked "So what is all this?" And last, but very much not least, Nick Barley dressed as Batman alone in the middle of the square, gazing into the mid-distance with a perfectly billowing cloak.

Here's to next year!