Thursday, May 13, 2010


DAVID LEVITHAN TAKES FESTIVAL AUDIENCE BY STORM
The ASB Theatre is packed to the gunwhales, 90% of the audience being students. Getting this number into the theatre is a major exercise, the kids are in no hurry, and so the session is late getting underway. In fact kids are wandering in for up to 25 minutes after the session started. This would never happen at a theatre or opera production and I don’t believe it should happen here either.
Back to David Levithan. What a star. A good looking, cool dude he moved skilfully around, he quickly had the student audience in the palm of his hand, the adults too actually. He set the place alight. In fact afterwards the line of teenagers wanting to get their books signed stretched for almost a hundred metres. He may well be the author who achieves the greatest sales at the Festival.
What a joy to see these teenagers being turned on by an author and his books.
He spoke about his books and then read from two of them including his latest Will Grayson Will Grayson. An  outstanding author, skilled entertainer and born salesman!

David Levithan lives in NYC and it is interesting to see in the author notes in the programme that he works as an editor at Scholastic US.


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