The Gig Life: A Quiet Kind of Courage Book Launch 14/03/2013

Preamble:

Let's run through the checklist:

Nervous? Check

All-Stars and tie? Check

Curiosity? Check

Excitement to meet the author of such a beautifully titled book? Check

Off we go to meet my beautiful compadre, Varsha then.

Amble (whatever that means):

Varsha and I attended the launch of Anthony Schneider's first literary novel, A Quiet Kind of Courage. The event was held at the very charming Love Books in Melville on Thursday evening, 14 March. I commend Kate Rogan and the team at Love Books for putting together such a warm and intimate affair and for the delicious finger food and wine. A bigger crowd than expected turned out but that only made it all the better.

I got to meet some very interesting people who work in the literary field like the wonderful staff who work at Penguin Books SA and a fellow literature junkie and blogger, Amy Moonsamy. She is doing some cool things over at My Solo Book Club. Pop in and say hello. I even met an astronomer! Such a pleasure to run into you, Sarah Buchner. I also bumped into Nhlanhla Khumalo who runs a great initiative that addresses hunger and poverty in general, The Sparkle Foundation. Show them some love. Then there's Anthony Schneider, of course. The reason we were all gathered there.

Anthony Schneider is a gracious fellow -- he's laid back and has a witty humorous streak. He was born in South Africa but was educated in the U.S. Although A Quiet Kind of Courage is his first literary novel he has been published in two fiction anthologies, magazines and literary publications such as Bold Type, The Globe and Mail in Toronto, Details, McSweeneys and Conjunctions. When he's not writing Anthony is an email and online marketing guru.

Anthony discussed how his novel came to life an how inefficient the writing process of a first novel was. He even imparted some made-up writing tips for us aspiring writers.

It was a very enjoyable evening of meeting people and sharing stories.

Read Varsha's write up of the evening for Books Live.

Thank you to all the wonderful people who made this possible.