who needs a reason?

to take a day off to wander through a beautiful city and then sit and listen to a writer? not me. though i did indeed have one. my beloved niece has never mentioned an author to me before about a month ago. this got me excited. doesn't take much i know, only speaking books with my 14 year old niece. but not only an author but an australian author. wow! now i haven't read any of morris gleitzman's books yet, but hearing this i had to search him out and it just so happened that he would be one of the speakers at the melbourne writers festival. timing, never one of my strong points, seemed to be right on target.

so off i went to the bmw edge, along with a zillion school kids, to listen to gleitzman's tales of felix and zelda and why he wrote his trilogy of four. and as the good auntie that i am, lined up with said zillion school kids to get the fourth book signed for the niece.