I was lucky enough to do a 'Meet The Author' at my local library. The talk was about how I translated my debut novel, The Decision They Made, into Italian - La Decisione Presa. It was an intimate morning tea at 10:30am on Friday 24 June 2022.
A short video of me speaking in Italian at the library talk.
As I am Australian-born of Italian heritage, I do speak Italian, although I understand it better than I can speak it. However, I used Google Translate to translate my speech into Italian and muddled my way through. Actually, I decided to adlib once I started speaking because I felt the translation of my speech was a bit forced. I think I nailed it better by not following the script. The audience was delighted that I made the effort to speak Italian, even though I stumbled a few times.
This library talk was postponed three times due to COVID restrictions and I was pleased to finally have it go ahead in late June. A small group of people attended and they were interested in what I had to say. They stayed back and chatted with me when I finished the talk, which was a nice surprise. I enjoyed hearing the stories of the Italians who attended, their stories were similar to my parents' journey to Australia.
Would I recommend authors do an author talk? Definitely. Not only did I meet people interested in my stories, I also sold some books. This, for a self-published author, is a great way to have your name out there. It is one of the best ways to market yourself and your stories. So, if you have stories and books you want to find readers for, then contact your local library, get to know the librarians and book a library talk. You may get a small group like I did, but whatever the size of the group who come to see you, the experience of public speaking is great. I will happily do another talk once my next book is published.
Happy reading
Maria P Frino
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