A lot has changed since last year's book fair. Neither one of us lives at home anymore and thus I no longer live close to Helsinki. Because of this and considering that the book fair was our tradition, I decided already a long time ago that I would skip the event this year. So I arranged other plans for this weekend and did just that. But I did have four moles at the event to tell me some inside details.

Firstly and most excitingly the guest of honor was Dan Brown, whose autograph I assigned one of my trustworthy moles to fight for (though it is not actually for me but my father who received Brown's newest novel as a gift). In retrospect I must say it would've been cool to be there with such a world class visitor present.

I have also been informed that the fair has put much effort into presenting Harry Potter and the newest addition to the family, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which has recently (finally!) been translated into Finnish. I can feel the excitement of all the Finnish fans who have waited this long to read the play! Though I must say that had I any acquaintances who did not understand English or who would largely prefer Finnish, I would have read (acted??) out the play for them translating it myself (I know, I will make a good bedtime story reader for my kids one day :D).

And as always, the fair is the mecca of books, bookstores, publishers, authors, comics, and about everything else that has anything to do with literature. And lets not forget all the lectures and speeches that often represent a colorful array of different topics and cover so many genres that everyone is bound to find something of interest.

Also, a sneaky plus is that at the time of the book fair Messukeskus also hosts the annual Food and Wine Fair. So in between book fandom there is no need to go hungry, just march on upstairs and start strolling and tasting samples. I was a little jealous when I saw that Goodio, the brand of my favorite (and Finnish!) raw chocolate, has a station there and is serving free samples of EVERY flavor. :D

Next year I would love to visit the Turku book fair as I am now living in the city. But while we wait for that, there is still time to head over to the Helsinki fair tomorrow! And have a great Halloween next week!

-Anna