It's fun to attend a reading at a bookstore. Trying to navigate the reading rules that everybody seems to know, but nobody discusses? Not so much.
To help you learn the bylaws of a bookstore reading etiquette, we consulted an expert: Kate Gavino, author of Last Night's Readings: Illustrated Encounters with Extraordinary Authors.
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The book is a collection of doodled portraits of authors, as well as quotes from their readings. Last Night's Reading got its beginnings as a Tumblr blog back in 2013. Since the project began, Gavino has attended and documented countless literary events.
Simply put: Kate knows a thing or two about bookstore reading protocol.
"Since I started Last Night's Reading in 2013, I've attended almost 400 book readings and literary events," says Gavino. "During that time, I've absorbed the ins and outs of bookstore reading etiquette.
"For the most part, readings attract a polite crowd, but occasionally I witness behavior that ranges from bad to abhorrent. To help others learn, I've illustrated some key etiquette guidelines, using everyone's favorite literary curmudgeon [Jonathan Franzen] as both a good and bad example."
Check out her tips below. And just remember: don't be THAT person.
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Kate Gavino is the author and illustrator of Last Night's Reading, on sale from Penguin Books on October 27