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Southwest Florida Reading Festival in Fort Myers: Cat astronauts, 'Last Romantics' and more

Charles Runnells
The News-Press
Drew Brockington's "CatStronauts" graphic-novel series follows the adventures of cat astronauts Major Meowser, Blanket, Waffles and Pom Pom.

Drew Brockington only recently blasted off into the wide world of reading festivals. But he’s quickly learned that everyone wants to talk to him about the same thing.

Cats, of course.

And more specifically: Cats in space.

That’s what happens when you create a graphic-novel series about an elite team of cat astronauts called the “CatStronauts.” All the kids want to tell you about their own little Neil Armstrongs.

“Right away, they start telling me about their cats,” Brockington says and laughs. “They’re like, ‘Oh, our cat could go into space like that.’ And I’m like, ‘OK…’”

Brockington, of course, is more than happy to talk about cats at Saturday’s Southwest Florida Reading Festival. He’ll be one of 19 authors attending the 20th annual event, including novelists Peter Swanson, Karen White and Lauren Willig; children’s author Jackson Pearce; and audiobook narrator Johnny Heller.

Tara Conklin

Seattle novelist Tara Conklin will be there, too, hot off the success of her brand-new New York Times bestseller “The Last Romantics” It’s Conklin’s follow-up to her previous bestseller, “The House Girl,” so she’s starting to get used to attending reading festivals.

“They’re great fun!” she says. “You get to meet other writers as well as readers.”

Writing is mostly a solitary activity, Conklin explains. So it’s good to get out of the house and interact with real people for a change.

“That once a month shower happens,” she says and laughs. “And I put on clothes other than pajamas.”

An estimated 10,000 readers attend the Southwest Florida Reading Festival every year, says fest coordinator Melissa Baker. And organizers want to give them something special for the downtown Fort Myers event’s 20th anniversary.

Fans get to meet some of their favorite authors every year at the Southwest Florida Reading Festival.

Saturday’s fest will feature 19 authors — four more than last year’s 15. And this time, First Street will be blocked off in front of Fort Myers Regional Library to make room for food trucks and food vendors. That way, Baker says, people can grab some barbecue, Jamaican food, ice cream, cupcakes and other food — and then they can get back to the authors.

“We certainly want to make it special and significant,” Baker says about the 20th anniversary fest. “And we’ll have more of a festive atmosphere with the food trucks.”

The free festival takes place 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and features book signings, meet-and-greets, author talks, readings, kids activities and more. This is the second year the event has taken place at the library instead of its usual Centennial Park and Harborside Event Center, due to construction and renovation at Harborside.

This year's Southwest Florida Reading Festival features 19 different authors. You can meet them, buy their books and get them signed, too.

The Lee County Library System organizes the popular event every year to celebrate reading and shine a spotlight on the library’s many services. “It’s to share the joy of reading and just celebrate literacy,” Baker says.

Conklin and Brockington are happy to celebrate along with their fans. And they’re willing to answer questions people have about everything from their writing processes to the inspirations behind their popular books.

The idea for Conklin’s “The Last Romantics,” for example, originated with a tragedy in the Conklin family. She won’t go into specifics about what happened, though — and for a good reason. “It’s a total spoiler!” she says.

That family tragedy happened about 15 years ago.

“This event prompted a lot of questions in my head about love and family and obligation and success and betrayal and grief,” she says. “And all of these questions planted themselves in the back of my brain and they percolated there for about a decade. And then I sat down to explore them with a fictional family that I called The Skinners.”

Another inspiration: Growing up with two sisters and then, later, becoming the mother of three kids. “Watching their sibling dynamic is eternally fascinating to me,” Conklin says.

Drew Brockington's "CatStronauts" graphic-novel series follows the adventures of cat astronauts Major Meowser, Blanket, Waffles and Pom Pom.

Minneapolis author Brockington got the idea for his CatStronauts after drawing a cat astronaut in his sketch book. His graphic novels follow the adventures of space cats Major Meowser, Waffles, Blanket and Pom Pom.

“For me, it was just a fun, cute drawing in my sketchbook and a way I can use all these bad cat puns,” Brockington says. “That’s why I like it!

“It’s a fun name to say and a fun idea. Cats are so graceful on the planet. So what would they look like in zero gravity?”

It wasn’t until later, when he Googled the term “catstronaut,” that he discovered cat astronauts were already a popular meme. “There’s this whole subculture!” Brockington says.

His “CatStronaut” series taps into that subculture and offers even more, he says. “I always tell people, if you like space, adventure, bad jokes or cats, you might enjoy these books."

If you don't like cats, that's OK, too. There are 18 other authors to choose from Saturday.

Here’s a complete list of this year’s Reading Fest authors:

  • Drew Brockington
  • Tara Conklin
  • Jessica Day George
  • Johnny Heller
  • Joan Holub
  • Maureen Johnson
  • Hilde Lysiak
  • Thomas Mullen
  • Lisa Patton
  • Jackson Pearce
  • Ashley Poston
  • Lori Roy
  • B.A. Shapiro
  • Peter Swanson
  • Kiki Swinson
  • Anthony J. Tata
  • Wendy Wax
  • Karen White
  • Lauren Willig

Learn more about the authors and their books at readfest.org/authors.

Connect with this reporter: Charles Runnells (Facebook), @charlesrunnells (Twitter), @crunnells1 (Instagram)

 

If you go

What: 20th annual Southwest Florida Reading Festival

When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday

Where: Fort Myers Regional Library, 2450 First St., downtown Fort Myers

Admission: Free

Info: readfest.org

 
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