Friday, March 8, 2013

Event Recap + Giveaway: Tahereh Mafi Blogger Forum & Book Signing


Mr. JB Roperos fixing up the registration booth.
Last Saturday, March 2nd' 2013, Geraldine and I attended National Book Store's Blogger Forum for Tahereh Mafi's Book Signing. Me being insanely OCD about punctuality decided to pick Geraldine up at 8:30 AM to go to a mall that opens at 11:00 AM. HAHAHAHAHA. Both an awesome and insanely dumb idea. Awesome because we were the very first two to arrive at the forum, dumb because the mall opens at 11 AM and we. Had. Nothing. To. Do. We ended up sweating, I mean, perspiring excessively due to the Philippine heat. The blogger forum was actually held in Greenbelt while the book signing itself was held in Glorietta so we had to walk. A lot. But yeah, it was worth it. Now, get ready for an influx of pictures:
A display of Tahereh Mafi's books.
Chillin' with other book bloggers while waiting for Tahereh Mafi.
There were around 20+ bloggers in attendance.
And the lovely lady wearing the green shirt and grey jacket is Kate from The Bookaholic Blurbs and the other lovely lady sitting down is Lyra from Defiantly Deviant. *waves*
Mr. Chad Dee introducing Tahereh Mafi.
Tahereh Mafi answering some questions and being adorable.
I actually fangirled internally because she remembered me from Twitter! YESSS. And she mentioned Kate and Kai as well. During the Q&A portion of the forum, we literally grilled Tahereh Mafi. There were uncomfortably hilarious questions that just had all of us squirming in our seats. Here are just a few things we learned:
  • Tahereh Mafi has the coolest mom ever. (Yes, Mrs. Mafi, we're Team Handsome too!)
  • Kenji was based on her brother which makes it really weird whenever people ask her if Juliette's ever going to get it on with him.
  • She's writing another novella coming out this December. There is no specific character it's going to be about yet but I did recommend Warner's dad.
  • It was really easy for her to write the way she did in Shatter Me.
  • Her future novels will be most likely in the Paranormal genre.
  • SHE HAS THE AWESOMEST EYELASHES EVER. She even let Geraldine and I touch them!! Eeeeep!!
And that's it, we're going back to the pictures now:
OMG. WHO'S THAT BEHIND YOU?!
It's Ransom Riggs!! Who has now decided to join in on the put-Tahereh-Mafi-on-the-hot-seat fun.
BOOK SIGNING TIME!! *flails*

We, apparently, had a lot of extra time so we managed to get all our books signed!! Wheeee!

Geraldine and I actually gave Tahereh Mafi a paperbag filled with things we thought she's like and she was really gracious and sweet when we handed it over to her. I won't elaborate on the things we gave her but we hope that she cherishes them. *smiles* Oh, and CUPCAKES.

Tahereh Mafi defacing our copies of Unravel Me. (She's totes using my Sharpie. LOL)
She signed a lot of books for Ge and I. The two of us are preparing for the apocalypse and we need signed copies of Tahereh's books. LOL

Tahereh Mafi talking to one of her fans. (That's Alyana from Read, Breathe Read.)
Tahereh Mafi showing her mini-cake to Ransom Riggs.
Tahereh and Ransom tasting their very first dried mango. Picture first though!
Tahereh: "Tastes like a Fruit Roll-Up!! :D"
*insert a dirty joke here*
The picture above was one of my favorite moments of the blogger forum. Ge, me, Tahereh, Ransom and other bloggers spent the time telling each other really dirty and corny jokes! It was a ton of fun. (Picture from National Book Store. Thanks, JB! :D)

Geraldine and I holding our winnings. We both won P500 worth of GC during a raffle draw. Funnily enough, numbers 1, 2 and 3 were called out. Haha!
Me, Ransom Riggs, Tahereh Mafi and Geraldine in a group photo!! Whoot!
Unfortunately, Geraldine and I were not able to stay for the group picture with the other blogger. Boo. But it was great seeing them all again! :) I actually went to the book signing itself afterwards to check out to crowd and here's what I saw:

YUP. You see right! Over 200+ people went out of their houses to meet Tahereh Mafi! It was epic. But then her books are epic so it doesn't really come as a shock. And Ransom Riggs also signed some books for readers as well! I lent him my silver Sharpie. It probably ran out of ink. Haha! I actually went and got a picture with Tahereh again (after she defaced my book again):

Well, that's how the event went. Geraldine and I had SO much fun in the forum and we are so honored to have been invited. Thank you so much to Mr. JB Roperos and National Book Store for inviting us and for making the event happen. You all rock! Whoot!

Here are my signed books:
My lovely copy of Shatter Me.

My defaced copy of Unravel Me.
And something that Team Warner will appreciate *winks*:
You know what's happenin'. ;)
And here is a very special video message from Tahereh Mafi and Ransom Riggs to their Filipino and other fans as well! Get ready to be inspired:


Aren't they just hilariously adorable? Hee! And last but not the least...


Win a signed copy of Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi!! :D *EPIC FLAIL* Thank you so much, Tahereh for signing the book!

This is an INTERNATIONAL giveaway and all you need to do is fill out the form and you're entered! Good luck, everyone!!


Thanks so much, guys! Watch out for another recap post about my adventure during the Ransom Riggs book signing and press forum. Whoot!! Oh and check out other bloggers' recap posts too:

18 comments:

  1. Love this post! I hope I get the time to read the first book, though. :( You guys are awesome, I am so happy seeing and meeting Filipino bloggers because I don't know that many.

    More power to your blog! :)

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    1. Aww! Thank you! :D I hope that you get to read Shatter Me too! It's a great book. Were you at the book signing? We absolutely love meeting other Filipino book bloggers because it's always great meeting new people.

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  2. Oh my.. Thank you sooo much for this giveaway, and making it international! I've always wanted to read Shatter Me, and now with the whole cover change (which totally bugs me, even though I prefer this new cover :P)
    Also, I'm so jealous that you got to meet her! AND Ransom Riggs!

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    1. I actually like the cover, there's something so mysterious about the eye and it's also very symbolistic. But I also like the old cover too, Harper did a great job with the covers. :) HAHA! It was such a pleasure meeting Tahereh and Ransom! They're both such great people. I do hope that you get the chance to meet them as well. Good luck, Brittney! :D

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  3. How did you know there was a forum? And I was at the signing. I was the girl who asked her which cover she preferred more.

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    1. We were contacted by someone from National Book Store. :) Oh, really! She was really while answering the questions. Actually, she's nice period. Hahaha! Well, I hope that you had a great time! :D

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    2. Lucky you. :) Would you like to see my point of view for the signing?

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    3. Yeah, definitely! :D Leave me link and I'll check it out!

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    4. (Sorry for the late reply) Here you go! It's in two parts.

      One:http://thetraceryofink.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-tahereh-mafi-signing-part-1.html

      Two:http://thetraceryofink.blogspot.com/2013/03/my-experience-of-tahereh-mafi-signing.html

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    5. Cute post! :) Very thorough. It's great that you got #11, at least you didn't have to wait long.

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    6. I know! Friends are great. :)

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  4. OMG! This is hilarious! HAHAHAH! Touching her lashes was really creepy LOL and look at me staring at her all the time! AM creepier! HAHAHA Awesome post Louisse! <3 Miss you!

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    1. Thanks, Kate! :D You know me, always the funny one. Haha! It's okay, we can be creepy together. Her lashes are so worth being creepy for. *stalker smile* I MISS YOU TOO, lady!! I can't wait to see you again. <3

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  5. Aw, so lucky to be invited to the forum! I'm so sad I didn't go, because this is the first time that I know of that there's a book signing, and it would be awesome to meet fellow bloggers from the same country :)

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    1. It wad great going to the forum. :) Bummer that you didn't get to go to the book signing, I'm sure that there will be more in the future. We sometimes have blogger meet-ups too. So there's always that because it IS great meeting other bloggers and fellow readers. :D

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  6. This event looks like it was all kinds of awesome! Tahereh seems like such a nice, down to earth person =D

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    1. It was all kinds of awesome! Tahereh is literally the nicest person EVER. I hope you get to meet her too! :D

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