Maureen Johnson - The Name of the Star Launch Party

"How many of you have always dreamed of being killed by Jack The Ripper?"  The host/organizer of The Name of the Star Launch Party asked us as we waited for Maureen Johnson to appear.  Maybe I haven't necessarily dreamed of being killed by him, but I sure have always been intrigued by the famous historical killer.  So, when I saw that Books of Wonder was hosting this event, I had to go. 

Photo by Rachel Scroggins.

Maureen was the keynote speaker at the Book Blogger Convention in 2010 and had the audience roaring with laughter.  Her launch party was no different. She articulates her feelings and observations with a large dose of humour.  Her first words to her (very) large audience were "Holy crap there are a lot of you."  She went on to detail how she thought of the story.  When she was in London conducting research for 13 Little Blue Envelopes, her guide kept mentioning hauntings and ghosts.  In Maureen's mind, if everything was really haunted in England, the government would have a system with paperwork to handle all the ghosts.  She thought, "What if Jack The Ripper was a ghost?  That might be really bad."   

Photo by Rachel Scroggins.

Maureen discovered that not much is truly known about Jack The Ripper and most of what we know was made up by the media in order to sell newspapers. Johnson noted, "Sensationalism of media hasn't changed."  The actual file that Scotland Yard has for the Whitechapel murders is quite small.  Files were stolen on Jack The Ripper or they had gotten rid of them.  A lot of what is actually known today is conjecture and it is not known how many people he really killed.  Maureen posed the question, "Why are people so fascinated with murders that took place over 100 years ago?"  That would take up a whole other post for me to personally answer.  What about you?

Maureen then showed us her YA Saves t-shirts and mentioned the notorious woman who wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal against YA. "If you're here," Maureen said "you're a punk."  I'm sure that statement has elevated her to hero status in many eyes.  To get your own YA Saves t-shirt, visit DFTBA.com (Don't Forget To Be Awesome).  100% of the proceeds of the sale of these shirts go to Reading is Fundamental.  The evening ended with t-shirt giveaways, signing books, cupcakes and wine. 

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