Authors Coalition teams up with Best Selling Author Television at the UCLA/LA Times Festival of Books 2008!

What an event! Hello, this is Rey Ybarra, host and producer of Best Selling Author Television. We have just wrapped our on location production at the wonderful Authors Coalition Exhibit booth produced by the founder of the Authors Coalition, Carolyn Howard-Johnson. (in the middle in the yellow shirt).

This was our first year hosting and producing programming from this years event. Randy and I (I am in the blue shirt, Randy D, our director is in the red shirt) interviewed some great authors and members of this outstanding group.

This photo says it all! Carolyn Howard-Johnson is an award winning author and is the founder of this group of writers here in Southern California. She runs a first rate organization and is a consummate professional. I was in total awe of how she organized everything and I am honored to have been part of this great project.

The energy and networking along with the authors who participated during both days we filmed was truly incredible. Even though it was very hot both days, I had a blast meeting new authors and interviewing each of them!

That's me with author of Gender and Religion Barbara Crandall. She is a doctor at UCLA and has overcome a lot of gender discrimination working in a male dominated field. I enjoyed my time with her and she has a great story to tell!

One interesting gentleman I interviewed on the spot is David Jones, author of Two Brothers. He is a military historian par excellence and I not only enjoyed his energy and personality but the book cover is one of the best I have ever seen! Way to go David.

Anna Maria Prezio is another author who has wonderful energy! She is a Feng-Shui expert and is really in tune with people and their energy. In her line of work she has to be. It was a pleasure meeting you Anna.

Christine Alexanians, author of "It's Spring. It Snows" was truly a very deep interview about the Armenian holocaust. Indeed, one of her grandparents was in a concentration camp and Christine is doing her best to let people know about this tragedy through her book of poems.

"Wai-nani, High Chiefess of Hawai'i, Her Epic Journey" author Linda Ballou stopped by to discuss with me her novel. I was impressed with Linda's passion and expertise in this subject matter. I was also taken by the beautiful book cover which gave me a feeling of wonder! Great job Linda!

Celebrated illustrator Lon Levin came by to talk to us about his new book coming out. Without giving the whole story, his book is a new spin on the theme every child is afraid of, the monster under the bed, but with a twist. Lon was a lot of fun to speak to. He has that California laid back energy.

Good friend Pattie Kokinos , author of the best seller Angel Park, spoke to us about her new projects and website. A tireless advocate of education, Pattie gave up a wonderful teaching position to pursue the challenges of public education and now devotes an incredible amount of her time and resources toward changing the broken education system!

Author George Hassanzabeh, who wrote the book Iran: Harsh Arm of Islam spoke to me about this important topic of Islamic Fundamentalism. He is a passionate writer educating us in the west about the dangers posed to all of us in the free world!

Finishing up with the interviewing is Carolyn Howard-Johnson and myself. I am amazed at her passion, energy and commitment! She is truly one of a kind. I was in awe of how she networks and is so totally immersed when speaking with those that stopped by the Authors Coalition exhibit booth.

Oops, I almost forgot this one! author "Speak With Passion, Speak With Power"Pamela Kelley and I had a wonderful interview together. You can tell who is going to go far in their chosen field. And Pamela is one the most dynamic interviews I have done! Great job Pamela.


I want to thank everyone who participated in the program at the Authors Coalition Exhibit booth at this years UCLA/LA Times Festival of Books! A special thanks to Carolyn. Please stay tuned for our programming we are editing for our Best Selling Author Television program.

I will be sending out more messages shortly about your interviews.

Sincerely,

Rey Ybarra, host and producer of Best Selling Author Television.