Sarah Beth Durst's Blog, page 56

Touring Princeton

Princeton calls its campus tour the "Orange Key Tour," and it's filled with stories:

- Students used to steal the clapper from the bell on top of Nassau Hall to prevent the start of school. The clapper was later removed after a few too many students fell off the roof. (I find myself wondering how many is "too many"...)

- In a fit of spite, an architect (a Yale graduate) added a gargoyle of the Yale mascot (a bulldog) to the University Chapel. (This one is doubtful because the gargoyle is actually on a gutter -- not the best homage to Yale.)

- The half-buried cannon in Cannon Green was once the treasured prize of an inter-college rivalry. After it was stolen (and stolen back) multiple times, Princeton students half buried it to protect it.

- On the night of the first snowfall each winter, Princeton sophomores used to disrobe and run the Nude Olympics. (Oh, wait, that one's true.....)

You can always spot the tours on campus because the guide walks backwards.

One of my closest friends, Rick, was an Orange Key Tour guide, and on his final tour of our senior year, some of my other dearest friends streaked his tour in East Pyne Courtyard. (I'm not going to name names. You know who you are. Don't worry, though -- your butts do not appear in my book.)

But what does appear is a lot of the Princeton campus.

While I was writing Enchanted Ivy, I used the virtual Orange Key Tour as an initial guide, and then I took two trips to Princeton with my camera and notebook to fill in the details. (Yes, I know I lived there for four years and should know the campus backward and forward, but you see a place differently when you look at it through a character's eyes.) I traced every step that Lily takes.

So I thought that I'd do my own version of the Orange Key Tour here on this blog and show you some of the places that either appear in or inspired my new novel... Please join me tomorrow for the start of the Enchanted Ivy Campus Tour!

8 days until Enchanted Ivy!

Upcoming Enchanted Ivy Events

You know, I actually did a little dance when I flipped my calendar to October. And that's not just because I fully intend to wear fairy wings for Halloween, though that's admittedly part of it. (I have no idea how I went through my entire childhood without owning a pair of wings. Really a massive oversight. Must be corrected. As soon as I can figure out where to purchase said wings... Suggestions?)

The real reason for my dance will be obvious to anyone who has been reading this blog for a while:

October is the release month for Enchanted Ivy!!! Just 9 days left until pub date!!!

I have some book events coming up that I'm really excited about. Details are below, as well as on the Appearances page of my website. If you're in the area, I hope you'll come!

First event is this Thursday at one of my all-time favorite bookstores: Books of Wonder in NYC. I'll be appearing with Cinda Williams Chima (author of The Exiled Queen) and Yvonne Woon (author of Dead Beautiful). Here's the lovely poster:


Upcoming Appearances:

Books of Wonder
Thursday, October 7th from 6-8pm
Fantasy for Teens Reading/Signing with Cinda Williams Chima, Yvonne Woon, and Sarah Beth Durst
18 West 18th Street, New York, NY

Bay Shore-Brightwaters Public Library
Tuesday, October 26th at 7:30pm &
Tuesday, November 9th at 7:30pm
2-Part Author Visit & Writing Workshop
One South County Road, Brightwaters, NY

World Fantasy Convention 2010
October 28th-31st (Thursday to Sunday)
Hyatt Regency Columbus, 350 North High Street, Columbus, OH

New York Public Library
Wednesday, November 3rd from 6-7:30pm
Teen Author Reading Night with Rachel Cohn, David Levithan, Sarah Beth Durst, Barry Lyga, Lena Roy, Kieran Scott, and Scott Westerfeld
Jefferson Market Branch, 425 6th Ave (at 10th St), New York, NY

Book Revue
Sunday, November 7th at 2pm
Reading/Signing/Book Launch Party (with cake!!!)
313 New York Avenue, Huntington NY

In My Mailbox: Enchanted Ivy and Ice!

Look what my editor sent me!!! Finished copies of Enchanted Ivy and the paperback of Ice, both of which are coming out on October 12th.


I'm so thrilled with how these turned out and I'm so grateful to the publishing magicians at Simon & Schuster who turned my manuscripts into these beautiful books.

You can't really tell from the photo, but the Enchanted Ivy cover is all shimmery!!!!!

I'm a very lucky Sarah.

15 days until Enchanted Ivy -- and the paperback of Ice too!

Drink, Slay, Love

I have BIG news!

You know that Top Sekrit Project that I've been talking about? Well, it's not top secret anymore! Here's the announcement in Publishers Marketplace:

Children's: Young Adult
Sarah Beth Durst's DRINK, SLAY, LOVE, about a vampire girl who develops a conscience after she is stabbed through the heart by a unicorn's horn, to Karen Wojtyla at Margaret K. McElderry Books, in a two-book deal, by Andrea Somberg at Harvey Klinger (world).

Words cannot express how excited I am a...

Enchanted Ivy Excerpt

Got a present for you. Close your eyes...

Cancel that. Forgot you can't read with your eyes closed. Okay, eyes open but imagine yourself unwrapping a box. Inside the box is... a new puppy!!!

Okay, no, just kidding. It's Chapter One of my new novel Enchanted Ivy!

"Almost there," Grandpa said.

Pressing her nose against the car window, Lily frowned at the strip malls, gas stations, and industrial parks as they rolled by. "Really?" she said. She'd expected to see something a bit more...

Danke Schoen

Sprechen sie deutsch?

I don't. Or really, any other language besides English, though I do know how to say "turtle" and "squid" in sign language. A full semester of it in college and that's all that stuck. Anyway, I am filled with this desire in learn German because I just found out that... (and here is where you can insert a drumroll, if you like)... a publisher in Germany has licensed the German language rights to both Ice and Enchanted Ivy! There are going to be German editions of my...

Kirkus Review of Enchanted Ivy

Kirkus, Kirkus, KIRKUS!!!

Kirkus is one of the big trade publications that review books. It has a reputation for tough reviews. It also has a name that's fun to say loudly while bouncing on your desk chair after receiving the news that KIRKUS LIKED ENCHANTED IVY!!!

Here is the full review:

"Blithe and flighty at the beginning, the protagonist and plot quickly darken and deepen in this fantasy and magical coming-of-age story set at Princeton. During Reunion weekend, a mysterious group of...

Working on my Project

While attempting to work on my latest writing project, I wandered over to Laini Taylor's blog, where I found this video by Levni Yilmaz. It is genius and must be viewed by all humans. That is all.

Choosing the Right Place

Junior year of high school, my parents told me that I could only apply to five colleges. This was entirely for my own good. Left to my own devices, I would have applied to five hundred colleges. (I was a wee bit anxious about the whole thing.)

This limitation didn't stop my obsessing, of course. I needed to pick the "right" five.

My dad and I visited a total of 22 colleges during my junior and senior year of high school. We even video-taped our visits (though most of the time, we'd forget ...

College Obsession

Junior and senior year of high school, I obsessed about college. I swear I did not have a single conversation over those two years that did not touch on the topic of college in some way. Of course, this was not helped by the fact that when one is that age, everyone begins every conversation by asking, "So where are you applying?" And as soon as you can answer that, they begin asking, "So where are you going to go?" And as soon as you can answer that, they ask, "So what's your major?"...