Leigh Bardugo's event in Rotterdam

October 31st, Leigh Bardugo came to Rotterdam in the Netherlands, as part of the #magicandmayhem tour. It was actually the launch party of Six of Crows in Dutch, which is pretty cool. At the beginning, we were given bags with Six of Crows goodies like bookmarks, a poster, that sort of things.

Then Leigh arrived and was interviewed. She said Ketterdam was an analogue for the Netherlands, because both were little countries with a lot of influence. It was her first time on the Netherlands, her hotel was in Utrecht and she thought it looked like a fairy tale. She would have liked to visit this country sooner, but because she had to write a book a year… it wasn’t possible. For the Dutch language part of Six of Crows, her college roommate and best friend helped her (her parents live in Belgium) and so did David J. Peterson, who did the Dothraki for Game of Thrones (how cool is that??).

Her favourite characters in the Grisha trilogy are Genya, Sturmhond and Zenya. It isn’t the same think to love a character and love writing them; it was the case for Matthias, for example. If she had to choose one of her characters to live with on a desert island, it would be Tolya. At first, Nikolai was supposed to die in the book (everyone was shocked in the audience). Which character would die in the books were decided early on, and not “Um, who will die today?”

When she writes, she uses MacFreedom (I’m not familiar with Apple so maybe I wrote it wrong) to turn off the Internet. She usually writes in cafes with other friends and they’re taking each other’s phone to be sure they won’t be distracted. Playing music helps to get in the character’s head, reading also help of course. She started to write a lot of books, but never got to finish them. At first, she thought she wouldn’t be able to write Shadow and Bone. She got a contract in a month and was very lucky.

She doesn’t plan to write a book set in Shu Han (inspired by Chinese culture), but will write a book about Nikolai. There is a two years gap between Ruin and Rising and Six of Crows. When she started to write Shadow and Bone, she had a rough idea of how the world worked and then put it all together in the draft. Apparently, the food hotspot mentioned in Six of Crows is disgusting (that’s what the Dutch said^^). Sometimes, when she drafts, she writes “Write something profound” and then has to find out what to write when she edits.

If she was a Grisha, she would want to be a Heartrender. According the quizzes on her website, she would be Nina. Wylan doesn’t have a point of view in Six of Crows because it didn’t fit in the story, but we’ll hear from him in Crooked Kingdom.

Leigh is an only child and talked to herself while walking in circle in her backyard, telling herself stories. At 11-12, she was more into stories because she started at a new school. Sometimes she goes on the street, put her earphones and does the dialogue, this way people won’t think she’s crazy when she talks all alone.

She plans to write an urban fantasy next and will have a short story in Stephanie Perkins’ upcoming anthology, Summer days and summer nights.

After that, there was a lottery and my boyfriend won a hardcover copy pf Six of Crows (I wrote it right this time, V). Then games were organized, Leigh and two other fans got to compete. The question had to do with:

1)      YA in the Netherlands

2)      Leigh

3)      The Grisha Trilogy

Then there was cake and it was the coolest I have ever seen!

After that, we got to sign our books and take pictures with Leigh.

It was an amazing night and I’m glad I got to meet her; it was my first book event ever!

Have you ever been to a book event? Have you seen Leigh for the #magicandmayhem tour? Let me know ;)