Wednesday, July 20, 2011

The Ted Hipple Special Collection

Oh, what I morning I've had! I just spent it at the University of South Florida's Special Collections Library. This is a place where you're buzzed to get in and surveillance cameras monitor every room. This is where the precious, the rare, the prized are stored. And now, my books as well! (I know, seems like over-kill for my little novels, but they now sit among rare company.)

Here's what happened. I received an email from Prof. Joan Kaywell wondering if I'd donated some signed books. A fellow bookaholic, she took her devotion a step farther than anyone I know. To honor a dear mentor who passed away, she founded the Ted Hipple Special Collection of Autographed Young Adult Literature at USF. The collection now has more than 2,000 autographed books, and not just books, but advanced reading copies, out of print editions, foreign translations and even manuscripts, all signed by the authors. Suzanne Collin's signed Hunger Games ARC is there. Judy Bloom, Meg Cabot. It's a who's who in YA lit and I'm there too!

How cool is that?

More later,
Tammar

1 comment:

Amy Parker said...

How exciting for you. I can't even imagine being in the midst of so many incredible books and knowing that your work is included. That is some heady stuff! This was my first time perusing your posts and I loved what I saw. Stumbled here when I heard you are speaking at the FWA meeting August 6th. I will definitely have to read Kindred between now and then. Looking forward to hearing you speak.