>> Becky Clark: Good morning. Welcome to the 2018
National Book Festival. We're so glad to
see you here today. My name is Becky Brasington
Clark, and I'm the director of publishing at the
Library of Congress. Before we get started,
we're going to take a moment to ask you to silence the
device of your choice, whether it's your watch or
your phone or your iPad, anything that makes a noise,
just take a second and flip it to whatever mode makes it
stop, that would be great. You're going to have
a fantastic day today. You're going to have the
opportunity to hear from some of the authors of your
favorite books or books that you don't know are going
to become your favorite books. And it's just a pleasure to open
the genre fiction stage this morning with Brad Meltzer. But speaking of favorite books,
did you know that the Library of Congress is partnering
with PBS to promote The Great
American Read? This multiplatform outreach
campaign is designed to get the country reading
and talking about books. Don't miss the fall kickoff with Meredith Vieira premiering
Tuesday, September 11th on PBS stations nationwide. And make sure to visit The
Great American Read website on PBS.gov before October
18th so you can cast your vote for America's best-loved book. Now Brad Meltzer is certainly
one of America's most popular, successful, and multifaceted
contemporary authors. He's not only written 11
best-selling thrillers, but he's also found great
success as an author of nonfiction books,
advice books, children's books,
and comic books. But don't let Brad's
incredible success make you feel inadequate. He has a wonderful quote on
his website that speaks both to his humility and
his humanity. And it reads, "We
are all ordinary. We are all boring. We are all spectacular. We are all shy. We are all bold. We are all heroes. We are all helpless. It just depends on the day." Please join me in
extending a warm welcome to best-selling author and
super nice person Brad Meltzer. [ Applause ] >> Brad Meltzer: So let me
identify this crowd right now. If you are here, you have
chosen to come here as opposed to go see Dave Eggers, as
opposed to go see John le Carré, as opposed to see Andy Prowell. I mean, what are you doing here? [ Laughter ] Right? Plus, it's
10:00 in the morning. These are the diehards, right? Afterwards, it's people who
are, like, the bored in the city and it maybe rains
and they come in. This is the best crowd in the
world, as far as I'm concerned. This is it, right? [ Applause ] And I want to recognize
one person who couldn't be here today. I have a high school friend
who lives in Washington, D.C., my friend Jamie Axelrod
[phonetic]. And Jamie and I went to
high school together. We met in -- you know,
we were in ninth grade. I had hair. [ Laughter ] One of my oldest friends
in the whole world. She was in our wedding party,
and she is right now sitting in Dave Eggers's room. And so her husband and
daughters are here, and I just publicly
want to embarrass her. And so thank you for
letting me do that. And I told her, you have to go! It's Dave Eggers, go! And she did. And I was like, what
are you going for? [ Laughter ] And that's Jewish guilt, by
the way, that I just did on, like, another level, right? And that Jewish joke does
not work in Ohio does here. I'm just telling you. So I want to tell
you a little bit about how I got here,
truly got here today. Because this is really my life. We were honoring First Lady
Barbara Bush two days ago in Kennebunkport. And we got to Kennebunkport,
my wife and I, we got to go and honor this amazing woman who
has given so much to literacy and has become a dear friend of
mine over the years and a reader of mine, and just
one of the really -- just gave her whole
life, post-White House and in the White House, to that
most amazing art of all, right? To at least one of the
most powerful thing of all, books and ideas. An honor to go do that. And we were there
with David Rubenstein and with Cokie Roberts, and
we did this great thing. And then we got to -- we
knew we were coming here. And this is where
I want to mention and make my biggest thank
you is we knew we were coming to the Library of Congress and
to the National Book Festival. And so I was like --
it was like asking -- kind of, like, an Uber when
you ask David Rubenstein, can I come on your
private plane? And he was -- just like an
Uber was like, sure, jump in. And so we flew here
on the private jet, which is always how I fly. [ Laughter ] All authors, we always
fly like that. And we get here. We're just having
this amazing day. When we were in Kennebunkport,
I got to read my new book to former President
George H.W. Bush. One of the most amazing, rewarding experiences
in my life. We fly on the private jet,
we land in Washington. We go to our friends' house
and we're staying with them. And it's, like, 1:00 in
the morning at this point because we're catching up the
whole day and telling them about everything that happened. And we go downstairs to their
basement in Virginia, you know, the little room in the basement,
and the toilet's broken. And at 1:00 in the morning,
my wife and I have our hands in the toilet -- because you
can't wake up your friends and tell them that your
their toilet's broken, you got to fix it yourself. And I realized, this is my life. [ Laughter ] This is the perfect
metaphor for everything I am. I am proud here. And I mentioned Mr. Rubenstein,
and I have to say a thank you to him for hosting
us here today. And more important, thank you
to the Library of Congress and to all of our friends, to
the librarian Carla Hayden, to my friend Sara Duke,
and all the hard -- just so many people in
those blue shirts today, please thank them
when you see them. It takes so much hard
work to put them on. So let's hear it for everyone
at the Library of Congress. [ Applause ] And what I want to talk about is of course this book,
The Escape Artist. And The Escape Artist,
for me is -- this is my 20th year
of writing books. 20 years. If you were
there the from the start and you read The Tenth Justice
when it came out, you are old. [ Laughter ] You are an old person. And if you're laughing,
you are old. And [laughs] for
me, this book -- at 20 years, I know how
to do a thriller, right? If you give me the plot and
I got the first chapter, I know at this point, I've
done enough of these books that I know how to build the
boat as I'm sailing the boat. I'll figure it out as I go. But I was like, you
know, it's 20 years. And the question is, it's
not just can you do it again, but can you get better? How to get better 20
years into something? And you don't really
even have to -- like, listen, I could
just write the book. I know how to do it. I'm going to do it again. But I was like, don't do it. And I took a hard look. Because I knew the 20th
anniversary was coming. It was like my own
little midlife crisis. And I said, take a look
at the other books, and which ones were
actually the best ones? And every time I
come out with a book, I do think it's the best
one I've ever written. Why would I put it
out if I didn't? But you have to have
some humility and realize they can't
all be the very best one. All right, you can look
at your work and say, all of them are great, or you
can again, have a little bit of a soul and realize,
I can get better. And I took this hard look
at myself and realized that the books that I identified
as the best ones, for me, were those ones that
had that character. That character. So I'm like, don't
start the book until you fully have
the characters. Forget the plot. You're getting too
heavy on plot. Let's just try and
find the characters. And the truth is, this book
started when I was with the USO. Every year for a while -- now
they skip a couple years -- but the USO brings six thriller
writers to go to the Middle East to entertain our troops. And the best part
of it is, you know, they bring the Dallas
Cowboy Cheerleaders, they bring the MMA fighters. And my friend was like, can
you tape the audible sigh when you walk in the room -- [ Laughter ] -- and they realize that
-- and this truly -- after the Dallas Cowboy
Cheerleaders that Brad and the literary people walk in? And that was literally how it -- it was literally the Dallas
Cowboy Cheerleaders and then us. And I thought it was
going to be a disaster. But what I loved is obviously -- listen, they love
the country singers. That's who gets the big crowds. But it's all the people
-- and they're smaller -- come up afterwards, and they
say, listen, we love when, you know, the country
singer comes and we love the cheerleaders,
too. But I'm a reader, and you're the
first person who's here for me. And that's how you find
your fellow nerds, right? That's how you know your people. It's people who come
at 10:00 in the morning to come to this room, right? Let's be friends. Like, you know immediately
anyone who comes out today you appreciate
has this love of books that you have. And so I'm there, and
I found out when I was in the Middle East
when I was in Kuwait about this place called
Dover Air Force Base. And most of us know Dover. We certainly know
the images of it. Those flag-covered coffins
that come off the planes as our fallen soldiers
are laid to rest. I believe John McCain's
body we were looking up right before here
went through Dover. They do the work on some
of the most amazing cases. When the Space Shuttle went
down, the bodies went to Dover. When the Pentagon
flight on 9/11 went down, the bodies went to Dover. Dover's also the place where all
of our spies across the country, when they die, and they're on secret missions,
their bodies go, too. And no one knows
their real names, but the people at Dover do. And that means that Dover
is a place that's filled with secrets and mysteries. And I realized right there, this is a place I
need to write about. And the honest truth was,
it was a transaction to me. I've written about the
White House and Congress, and I've written about
the Supreme Court, even the Library of Congress. And I thought, I'm
going to go in, I'm going to meet some really
nice people, and we're going to talk, and I'm going
to write my book. And it is a basic transaction. And sometimes you
make friends, right? Like, my friend Sara who
has a love of comics here at the Library of Congress. There are people you remember
and you know and you talk about. But for the most part,
it's a lot of just research and you do the writing. But what I wasn't
prepared for is when I got to Dover how utterly
humbled I was. Because when I got there, I
saw the work that they had put into our fallen soldiers. Spending 12 hours to rewire
someone's jaw with modeling clay to out so a family could
get one last good look at their fallen son. Building, rebuilding
someone's hand from scratch because a mother
specifically says she wants to hold her son's
hand one last time. We are a country right now
that is starving for heroes. I realized right there
these are our real heroes. These are the best of the
best of us working on the best of the best of us, and I knew
I had to write about them. And that's where I
got my main character, Zig [assumed spelling]. And I had the plot of the book. You know, anytime I do research,
I go to people that I meet and I kind of give
them the plot. And I said, here's
the plot I want. I want to have a body
that comes through and has a hidden message on it. And they were telling
me there, oh -- you know, I think they've seen
enough bodies that come through. I was like, maybe someone had a
tattoo or something they found. And I said, I just want
some kind of hidden message. And they said, oh,
we got a story. There was one time that -- if you are on a plane and
your plane is going down, and you know about it with
it enough advance notice, depending on your height,
you can actually take a sheet of paper, write a
note, swallow the note, and when the plane crashes, the liquids in your stomach
will actually protect the note. And I'm like, that's the
craziest story I've ever heard. They said, but it's not
a story, it happened. And I said, what are
you talking about? And they explained to me
that it really happened. It was a body that came in, and
the stomach when they opened it up had a secret note in it. And my first thought is, of
course, who would even think as your plane is going
down to eat a note? It's like, only Batman
thinks of that, right? I mean, who -- and so it
has to be, in my head, someone in the military,
of course. But I was also thinking that
when you think about that, you know, it made me
wonder, of course who it was. And they wouldn't
tell me who it was, and I respect the
privacy of that. But what I realized when I
looked back on that note, what that note is, is it's
looking for what we all look for every day: connection,
right? We all want to love
and be loved. And I know when my parents
passed away, one of the gifts that I got is I got
to say goodbye. And that's what that note was. It was someone trying
to say goodbye. Someone reaching out,
reaching out in the universe. In that moment, when that
note was found saying that when we reach out,
we all will be heard. I love that story. And I love what it tells
me about the universe. It also guarantees that the
next time you're on a plane and you hit turbulence, you are
going to think of me, right? [ Laughter ] Address your notes
to me so I know. They should come right to me. I want them. I don't want it to be in doubt. I want to know. Just write, "Dear Brad". They'll get it. It'll come to me. Forwarded messages. And you will think about me. You will. I promise you. The moment that plane
goes like that, you're like, Meltzer, dammit. [ Laughter ] And I got the plot. There's the plot. Easy as pie, right? The book opens up, I have
Zig who's my mortician at Dover, and a body comes in. The body is a woman who
he used to actually -- when she was a little girl, was in Girl Scouts
with his daughter. It's this character Nola. I love my character Nola. She's this mysterious figure. I had this great idea for her. And the body comes inside into
Dover, he opens up the stomach, and he sees a secret
note inside. And the note says,
"Nola, you were right. Keep running." And he realizes that this body
on the table isn't Nola at all. Nola's not dead, Nola's
alive, and she's on the run. She's the escape artist. And I just ruined chapter one
of the book for you, right? [ Laughter ] There's chapter one. But I can start it there. That's it. I know what I'm doing. Give me that, I'll
figure out the rest. I can go. I'll call
my friends -- like, I'll call Matt
[assumed spelling] and I'll call other
friends and, you know, when I get to stuck parts. We'll figure it out. But what I did is I
said, don't do it. Don't start this book. Learn something after 20 years. Don't start this book
until you have Nola. Don't make her up
as you go along. It will be far better when
you have the character. And around that time, we were
doing a TV show called Lost History, and we were
searching for the 9/11 flag. And we were actually here in Virginia filming
the very first episode. And it was out of Fort
Belvoir in Virginia. And they're giving me a
tour of their museum there. They have this beautiful
Army Museum. And at the museum,
they have all this art from the military on the walls. And they have a whole
collection, I mean, a massive collection of all
this military art painted by top military figures,
painted in the field. I'm like, why does the
government have all this art? They have art by Adolf Hitler. Like, why does the
government have all this art? And they explained to me
-- and this is true -- that since World War I, the US government has had an
actual painter on staff -- a painter -- who is painting
disasters as they happen. So whether it's storming
the beaches of Normandy, whether it's Vietnam,
whether it's 9/11. The person who got through on
9/11 -- got through security -- was actually our
painter, our war painter. And I said, you're telling me that while everyone else is
racing in with guns blazing, we have someone who's
racing in with nothing but paintbrushes
in their pockets? I'm like, that's the craziest
person I've ever heard of. I'm like, I got to meet him. I want to meet him. And they said to me, you
mean, you want to meet her. Her. Her. And I was like,
yeah, exactly right, yeah. And I knew in that moment, the moment they said the
word her, I said, I got Nola. I know who she is now. This woman who races
into disaster. And we all know anyone who
races into disaster is running from their own disaster
in their lives. I do a lot of comic books, and I was doing a book called
Justice League of America. And if you do a book called
Justice League of America, you're the nerdiest
person on the earth. [ Laughter ] And I was doing it, and
I was so happy doing it. And I had a dinner with the
artist of the book, Gene Ha, who is a beautiful,
elegant artist, just one of the best artist in
comics as far as I'm concerned. We did this issue together. And he came to Florida where
I live, and we went to dinner. And at the end of dinner, she
said to me, Brad, you know, when I spend time with you
now, I know so much more about you than just seeing you. And I'm like, wait, we've been
working together for, you know, over a year now,
what do you mean? And I realized in that moment, he then rattles off all
these physical things I do. And not the obvious ones, but
all these things that I do that I never realize
I'm ever doing. He sees the world as an
artist differently than I do. My friend, Chip Kidd,
the graphic designer, who did my first and second
book covers, he sees the world as a graphic designer
differently than the rest of us do. The rest of us see a big,
red stop sign, right? We see it every single day. Chip Kidd sees the
greatest representation of graphic design ever created,
something that can be read in any language by any
level of education, and everyone knows
what it means. He sees the world
differently than we do. And I said, that's what
Nola is as an artist: she sees the world
differently than they do. Nola sees the way your belt
buckle is facing, the little pin on it, so she knows
whether you're right-handed or left-handed because
of the way you pull it. Nola sees that when you walk
past a reflective surface that you always check
your reflection. You're vain. Nola sees that you have crow's
feet, but only on this side because you're a hunter
and that's your aiming eye. Nola sees -- what she
sees are your weaknesses, and she finds them instantly. And I knew my character
right there. I had Zig, this mortician
who surrounds himself with death every day, his own
disasters in his own life. I had Nola running from disasters every
day in her own life. And then I had this detail. In 1898, a man named John
Albert Wilkie was put in charge of the US Secret Service. He was actually a magician. He was a friend of
Harry Houdini, and he loved doing
magic tricks himself. It is the only time in history
that a magician was in control of the Secret Service. I freaking love that
idea, right? For almost a decade, I was
holding onto that nugget. I'm like, I'm using that. That is going somewhere. And I didn't know
where to put it, right? You can put it in any book and
say, look, I have knowledge, I threw it in my chapter 24. But that's not how a
good book is written. You don't just show up -- you
know, it's not an encyclopedia. It has to make sense
thematically. It has to fit into your
story, it has to, you know, make the whole story flesh out. And finally, I had it
because I found out this, is that Harry Houdini had
his own Secret Service. His Secret Service was made
up of family and friends. And when Harry Houdini -- we all
know, the great escape artist -- would go to town and he would
come to, let's say, Washington, D.C., his Secret Service
would come here days earlier and they would scout the place. And they would scout the local
jails and the local police. They would see what kind
of handcuffs they're using, figure out what kind of
locks are on the jail cells. And Harry Houdini would come
to town and say, I'm here, lock me up in your jails,
put me on your handcuffs, and I will escape them all. How? Because he had the key. Because his Secret Service
figured it all out for him. I was like, I need to get my
own Secret Service, right? I want one. And it's great idea. But I also found out this: Harry
Houdini was obsessed with death. He never got over the death
of his mom, one of the cores of who he was was exactly that. And we all know that he was
the great escape artist. That was half of
his act, though. It wasn't his whole act. We all think of --
you know, they put him in the water torture
and, bah-bah, I'm out, you know, ta-dah. But that was only
half of his act. The other half of his act was he
was obsessed with spiritualism. Back then, after World War I,
we lost so many young people in the war, so many
young men in the war, that there were spiritualists --
what we'd consider people just who were doing séances
and fortunetellers -- who were telling people,
it sounds so silly now -- but it was just rampant
back then, it was like another religion. They would say, if
you're looking for your son, I can
speak to him. He's sending me a message. I have a message for you,
and for 5 more dollars, I'll tell you what
that message is. And you laugh, but we had Miss
Cleo not too long ago, right? In Florida, I say
proudly, my home state. Naturally. Where else are we going
to have Miss Cleo? But Harry Houdini hated that. He hated that those
spiritualists were taking advantage of families' love of
their fallen sons and daughters. How could you do that? So he used to debunk them. Bring them up on
stage, figure them out, show them what frauds they were. But Harry Houdini was
so obsessed with it also that he gave all of his
Secret Service but also all of his close family and
friends secret passwords, secret codewords
that if they died, they could have a code
word in the séance that only you and he would know. So if you came back to life,
he would know it's really you. And what I love about that
is that Harry Houdini's like, I don't believe any of this
nonsense, it's all fake. But in case I'm wrong... [ Laughter ] Right? So he gives his friend
Matt, here's your code word. You and I know this codeword. If you come back after death, you say the codeword,
I know it's you. No one's pulling my leg. But the word, the
secret codeword that Harry Houdini
supposedly gave to his mother, the woman whose death
he never got over, was this simple word: forgive. Forgive. One of the most
powerful words in the universe. And I had Zig, again this
mortician surrounded by death who has the holes in his life. I had Nola, this artist,
who runs into disaster because of the holes
in her life. I had Harry Houdini filled
with holes in his life that will never be filled. And all of us, every person
in this room here today, we all have holes in our
lives, different sizes, different shapes, caused by,
you know, all different things. Whether it's the passing of
a loved one, the betrayal of a friend, something
that's lost to us. Addiction, abuse,
whatever it might be, we have holes in our lives. We have holes that
we're thrown down into. But we must get out. We have to climb out. And the best way always, the
first step out of that hole is to forgive; especially,
to forgive yourself. And that's the escape artist. That's what it was to me. I'll tell you one last thing, and then I love answering
questions because that always takes into
different worlds and universes. But when I look back I can say,
OK, what do I learn by that? Now I'm at 20 years
and, you know, what do you take
back away from that? Do you say, OK, I got it,
you know, I wrote this book, and I'm proud of
it, and here we are? But I have to take
something else from it. I'll tell you my magic
trick to explain it. And that is, you know, I started
writing here in Washington, D.C. this is where I wrote The
Tenth Justice when I was here. And right before The Tenth
Justice was published, my first actual book that
I ever wrote was a book about college life. It got me 24 rejection letters. There were only 20 publishers. I got 24 rejection
letters, right? Which means some
people wrote me twice to make sure I got the point. But I can tell you -- and
I rarely tell this story. But the first 22 rejection
letters came quickly. Number 23 and 24 were actually
supposed to -- we thought -- were going to be
acceptance letters. My editor had told me
that the last two people, 23 and 24, love your book. They really love
your first book. And I went to New York
and I met with them. I had these big meetings
with publishers. It was a big deal to me. And then she said to
me, wait by the phone. Because it was back in the day
when you waited by the phone. And I was living right here
in the city on L Street. And I'm waiting by the phone,
and I'm waiting truly for her to tell me -- I was in college
debt and law school debt at that point to pay off. In so much debt that I'm waiting
to pick up the phone and for her to tell me the deal and
the offer and the money that we're going to
get for this book so I can start paying
my debt off. I'm waiting to pick up the phone
and tell me the victory we're about to have that they
both love this book so much. And the phone rings,
and I picked up the phone, I'll never forget. She said, sorry, kiddo. And my stomach just
bottomed out right there. I was devastated. It was gone. That was 23 and 24. They passed. And to this day -- we all
have our rituals in our lives. We don't think we do, but we
do, even if it's what you eat for breakfast, we
all have our rituals. And I'm going to tell you
my ritual, my magic trick. It's that since that day
every single day that I sit down to write -- every day
that I sit down to write -- I re-create that exact
moment perfectly in my head. I picture the exact
phone I was holding. It was one of those
clear, see through ones where you could see the
wires running through it. If you're laughing at that,
you're old, too, right? That was, like, high
tech at the time, right? Oh, it's see-through. We can see how it works, right? On my left, there was a
Formica desk that everyone has when they're in college. On my right was a box spring
and a mattress; no headboard, just exactly what you have. That was the decor. I picture the terrace
that I was looking over, the concrete parking lot,
and this fire station that has these three
doors, one, two, three. I picture them in my head
and I count them every day, just like I did this morning. One, two, three. And then I close and I
say those words to myself. Sorry, kiddo. For 20 years, I've
been saying that. Because I never, ever
want to believe I made it. At the moment I think I
made it, I'm finished. And I always want to
be as hungry as I was when I was 24 years
old living in the city. I never, ever want to take
what I have for granted because the moment
I do, I'm done. I always want to be that hungry. I want to sit down every day
like I'm a 24-year-old kid in debt, and I want
to write this book because it's the only thing
that's going to save me if I can tell this story. And for 20 years, I've
never missed a working day. Sorry, kiddo. Sorry, kiddo. Sorry, kiddo. I am the escape artist, right? And that's what we
all need to be. Not to escape and run away,
but all of us have those things in our lives that we've been
doing for years and years. Ask yourself, challenge
yourself, how do you get better? Look back at who you
were and change it up. You'll never regret it. And don't beat yourself
up for what you do when you get in your ruts. Forgive. Forgive,
starting with yourself. And you, too, will
be the escape artist. So that is the book. I'd love to talk more. We'll talk about
the kids' books, we'll talk about anything
you want to ask about. I see there's microphones here,
but you can also raise your hand and yell it out and I'll
repeat the question, I promise. But you can ask about anything. You can ask about the TV shows,
the comics, the kids' books. I know there are some people
who -- I can see kids here, and I love that you
brought your child to hear about the gruesome
detail of death. [ Laughter ] You are indeed the greatest
parents of all time in the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia area. OK, here comes some
first brave souls. >> You're almost as good a
speaker as you are a writer. Thank you very much
for being here. >> Brad Meltzer:
I appreciate that. That's a good question. You can go sit down now. [ Laughter ] >> I wanted to ask you
about your kids' books. >> Brad Meltzer: Yes, please. >> What's the age
that you're targeting? >> Brad Meltzer: Yeah. So let's talk about it. So for those who don't know --
and thank you for asking that, sir, because it lets me
shill like nobody's business. So for those who don't
know, I also do kids' books. When my sons and daughter
were born, I was just tired of them looking at reality
TV show stars and people who were famous for
being famous. And I said, you know what,
I have so many better heroes that we can give them. And we started with
I am Amelia Earhart and I am Abraham Lincoln. We did I am Rosa Parks, Albert
Einstein, Jackie Robinson. Because my son loves sports. And I was like, don't look
at this athlete, you know, who all that person does
is score a lot of points. It doesn't change
the world in any way. Meet Jackie Robinson. This is how you change
the world. This is what a leader
looks like. We did George Washington. We did Lucille Ball -- I did for
my daughter because I wanted her to have a female entertainment
hero who wasn't just famous for being thin and pretty. That Lucille Ball stood for
the idea that it's not just OK to be different, it's
spectacular to be different. The only thing that connects
us in this room completely that is true for all of us
is we are all different. It is something that
we just frown on today, but it is the most
celebrated thing that we should hold
up is our difference. And I love that I am
Lucille Ball stood for that. We did Helen Keller,
I am Dr. King. We did I am Jane Goodall,
also for my daughter because she loves our dog. And I wanted to show her what
your love of something can do. Jane Goodall used
her love of animals to just have breakthroughs
in science and make us look and study animals in a way
that has changed since. And we did for my youngest
son, who's our creative one, I did I am Jim Henson. Because I can tell you when I was five years old
watching Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers that
they taught me that you could use
your creativity to put good into this world. And when we did I am Jim Henson, that's all I hope I'm doing here
today is using my creativity to try and put good
into this world. And I love that we
get to do that book, got to work with Jim Henson's
family to put that book out. And we've done Harriet
Tubman, we've done Gandhi -- which again, we need
right now, right? Just think about how much
were slaughtering each other every day. Hate, hate hating each other. Whatever your side is,
you hate the other. And we need to actually
find peace. We need to actually
be able to calm down and communicate in
a peaceful way. That's what inspired Dr.
King, and there's a reason. And it actually leads
me to the two newest -- this one comes out in 11 days. This is I am Neil Armstrong. And I brought -- and we're going
to have -- this is a democracy. I also brought the one after
that, I am Sonja Sotomayor. So yeah, that's right. Let's see Sonja Sotomayor
do this. [ Laughter ] Wait, she's doing this today? Crap. We actually have
the same publisher. And the publisher was
like, we're coming out with kids' books about
her at the exact same time? And they're like, Brad,
can you wait one month for her book to come out? And I'm like, no. And then we're like, well,
we'll wait, thank you very much. And we're going to
have a show of hands. I'm going to read
from one of the books. It's either the one Neil
Armstrong you can raise your hand -- not yet! Or you raise your hand
for Sonja Sotomayor. So are you ready to vote? Are you ready to vote? >> Yes! >> Brad Meltzer:
It's a democracy. We're in Washington, D.C.
Raise your hand if you want to hear from Neil Armstrong. OK, woo hoo. Sonja Sotomayor? >> Woo! >> Brad Meltzer: I knew it! That's why I brought that one. OK, here we go. And I'll tell you that what
the fun of this book is when you have a person
who's alive -- like, if I screw up Neil
Armstrong or George Washington or Abraham Lincoln,
they don't care. [ Laughter ] They're not coming to my house. If you screw up Sonja
Sotomayor -- there's a scene in here when she
gets into a fight in the Bronx. Do not screw up Sonja Sotomayor. But her office was so nice. They were so nice in
helping us get this right, and embarrassing
me with the details that I got wrong, of course. So this is -- I'm
going to read from one of my favorite parts
of the book. And I also by the way, this
book is also the best use of Jewish guilt ever because
someone in my family -- what we call in my family
Jewban, it's a Jewish Cuban. So she's Latina, and she's
like, if you don't do a book, I'm going to murder you because
I have my little Latina niece and nephew. So this is it. It says, "In my life, I was
the aji, the hot pepper, the one who wouldn't slow down. Because of where I was from,
because I was poor and Latina, some people didn't
think I would go far. But there were others who
helped my dreams come to life. They gave me opportunities
and reminded me to keep going. Those are the people
you need to listen to. Pay attention to the
ones who believe in you. The more you learn,
the farther you'll go. Education is a rocket ship. It can take you anywhere. But no matter how high you fly,
never forget where you started." And here's the final
page of the book. It says, "Whether it's
in English, Spanish, or any other language, our
dreams are often the same: a loving family, kind friends,
a safe place to call home, and the chance to
reach our potential. The world outside your
window is a starting point, but there's so much
more beyond that. Read, study, do right by people. No matter where you're
born, there's no limit to what you can accomplish. I am Sonja Sotomayor. I am proud that with
opportunity comes justice." And there's the end of the book. I just ruined the
ending, by the way. [ Applause ] That is the first time
anyone's heard the book. This is actually,
like, a proof copy. It's not even bound. You can, like, pull it apart. But I felt like I knew what
you we're going to vote for. Like, I'm from D.C. I'm like,
there's no way they're going to be suckers and take the
book they can get in ten days. Like, this isn't coming
out until November. And plus, it's D.C., man. Supreme Court. OK, other questions, yes? >> What's the age? >> Brad Meltzer: Oh, sorry, I never answered
your question, right. [ Laughter ] Oh, screw your question. [ Laughter ] The age. So we are --
everyone is buying them as baby gifts now, which
is fascinating to me. They're building libraries of
real heroes for their kids, their grandkids, their
nieces and nephews. But our sweet spot is
actually 5 to 9 years old. If your kid's an early
reader, it's 4 to 9. But 5 to 9 is our sweet spot. But thanks to everyone who's
bought all the baby gifts. It's amazing. All these people now come to me
in line and they'll be pregnant or they'll say, my
granddaughter's pregnant, and they'll say, you can't
tell anyone the name, and they whisper it to me. So I know everyone's
baby's first names before, like, the husbands do. [ Laughter ] It's fantastic. Yes? >> So I'm also a college student
and I want to be a writer, and I'm particularly interested
mysteries and thrillers. So I was wondering if you
had any advice for, like, balancing college life
or post-college life and being a writer
at the same time? >> Brad Meltzer: Yeah. The question is, is how do
I publish my book, Brad? [ Laughter ] No. So it's a good question,
is after college if you want to pursue a lifestyle as a
writer, what kind of best path, any advice, is that right? And I can tell you --
I'll tell you mine. That's the only story I have. And the beautiful part of
writing is there are no rules. Everything that anyone tells
you about how to write, there's someone that
does the exact opposite. There's people who plot their
books and do it by outline form, there's people who
say, I'm going to see where the day takes me. And both work. It's best for you. And so the short
answer is you have to find what works best for you. But for me, I couldn't
afford to go wait tables and then write my,
you know, dream novel. I had no money. I had to figure out
how to pay for it. So I wound up just
getting a job. I worked here in D.C.
I worked at a law firm, I was in law school,
I worked at night. I just always gave
every single night -- I would come home from
work, I would eat dinner, and my rule was is by 8:00, no matter what, I
had to be writing. I wrote from 8:00 to
11:00 every night. I took off Friday nights always, and then I wrote
all day Saturday, all day Sunday, the whole days. And I did that for a year. And that's how you
build a novel. A novel is like a sand castle that you build a grain
of sand at a time. You put the first grain
down, you got nothing. Chapter one. The second grain
down, you got nothing. But you sit there for a year. You write a page
every day for a year, you will have a novel
by the end. It may not be good,
it may not be great, but you're going
to have a novel. So keep going, keep
going, keep going. The answer is, is
I had 24 people who told me to give it up. It doesn't mean they're
right and I was wrong. Or I can look back and say,
you know, I was right and wrong and ha-ha on them,
look what happened. Life is subjective. Keep going. Don't let anyone
no, just keep going. And I can't wait
until you're up here and we get to cheer for you. [ Laughter ] Yes, sir? >> What's your writing
process like? Do you do it in the
mornings, you work at a desk? >> Brad Meltzer: Yeah. In terms of process, you know,
for me, I treat it like a job. I think I write better
at night, but I have kids and I don't want to miss them. So I'm usually sitting
down by 9:00, 9:30, futzing around on the Internet. And then I tend to be by 10:00
at least try to be writing. I write straight
through until 2:30. I don't take lunch until 2:30. Because the moment I take
lunch, I just get tired and I kind of lose it. So I want to just starve myself
into, you know, going as long as I can and getting that
long block of writing. And then sometimes
I can come back. When I was in my 20s, I would
aim for eight pages a day. When I was in my 30s, I aimed
for about six pages a day. When I hit my 40s, I was like, four pages a day
will be awesome. And now I'm like, I'm writing
the best two pages every day that anyone has ever
seen, or if I can. So the truth is, is I sit down and I read what I wrote the
day before and then I take off from there and then
start writing again. And I can see my
friend Hank is nodding. I'm sure many of us do the same. >> Thanks. I like your haircut, by the way. >> Brad Meltzer: I was
going to say, I like yours. Tip your barbar. >> Hi, Brad Meltzer. So my question is, I
discovered you in middle school through your Ted Talks. Well, also through the
History Channel and also through your Ted Talks. And you mention in your Ted
Talks anyone can enjoy history. The person -- you mentioned
if you do a lemonade stand, that person can make history. And so the idea of --
I love history, too. And so the idea of
constantly loving history and embracing yourself
in it is so simple, but also some students
hate history. So how do you, like, balance the
fact that history can be amazing but it's also kind
of hard and complex? >> Brad Meltzer: Yeah,
no, great question. Because I would fail those
students who hate a history. [ Laughter ] But the real answer is, is anyone who hates history
just hasn't found the story they love. It's like a good book. When people say, I don't like
to read, it's like, no, no, you just haven't
found your story. Let's find it together. My friend John Meacham yesterday
said this beautiful idea about history is he said, you
know, history is how we learn so much about ourselves, but
not by looking down on it and hating it, and not by
looking up at it and thinking that it's perfect in every way,
some kind of concrete statue that we must admire and revere. The best way to look at history
is dead in the eye, right? And that's what it is. To me, you show me that kid who
doesn't like it, and let's find out the story that they love. Tell me their story,
and I'll tell you who their hero will be, right? You tell me who you are
and -- when you were a kid, and I'll tell you who you are. You tell me who you want to be, and I'll tell you
who your hero is. And you just got to find
the right story for them. So don't give up on them. Stick with them. >> Thank you. >> Brad Meltzer: And if
they continue that way, totally give up on them. [ Laughter ] >> I'll never give up on them. >> Brad Meltzer: OK, good. Thank you. We've got a couple more minutes,
but I want to get all -- these last two questions. Yes? >> Who do you read
for pleasure and why? >> Brad Meltzer: Yeah. Who do I read for pleasure? You know, sometimes -- my favorite author is actually
this guy named Brad Meltzer. [ Laughter ] And sometimes I just put
on his TV show and I sit with his books, and
I go, oh, Meltzer, you've done it again [laughs]. The reality is -- and
the funny part is -- actually, that's true. I do do that. I mean, again our
TV show is called -- it's not even Lost History. It's called Brad
Meltzer's Lost History. It's called Brad
Meltzer's Decoded, right? Those are the greatest
titles of all time. I was like, I said to my wife
the other day, I'm like, honey, what are we having for Brad
Meltzer's dinner tonight? Because yesterday we had
Brad Meltzer's chicken and tonight I'd like to
have Brad Meltzer's pasta. And she was like, you can go
sleep on Brad Meltzer's couch. [ Laughter ] And that's not even a joke. So I can tell you that
for me, what do I read? I read a lot of nonfiction, just because of the
nature of work now. And I absorb it. I mean, I'm just trying
to think right now, OK, what were the last books
that I've been reading? And they were -- I
can't say who it is because we don't have
the clearance on it yet, but they were the biographies
of the hero that we're doing at the end of 2019,
just consuming them. On the fiction side, I don't
read thrillers anymore. I almost never read thrillers because all I'm doing
is taking them apart. I'm like a mechanic
in a rental car. I'm just trying to figure out
what's wrong with it, right? And it's ruining
the ride for me. And, you know, even when I watch
a movie, if it's a thriller in any way -- I was
watching the movie Looper, which is a great movie,
Rian Johnson's movie. And I'm sitting there with
my wife, and we're, like, a half hour into it,
and I'm like, I got it. And she's like, do not
ruin this ending for me. Do not ruin this ending. And the movie finishes,
and she turns to me, she's like, were you right? And I go, my way
is so much better. [ Laughter ] And that's all I do in a
thriller is I'm just trying to figure out the tricks. I enjoy it for about
50 pages to 100 pages, and then I'm just
taking it apart. But what I do read
nonstop and what I have in my bag right now
are comic books. That's what I'm always reading. Whether it's Brian Michael
Bendis or Jason Aaron or Neil Gaiman or anyone
else that's out there. That's what I consume on
truly almost a daily basis. And for me that's
-- it's what I love. And again, I think, you know, local writer Tom King is
doing the best Batman stories that we've seen in a decade. And they're still amazing
because they're not about fighting crime
or anything else, but they're about that great
thing that every book has, or at least that I
think is a good book -- but they say something
about us, right? That idea that Batman is Batman because of the death
of his parents. And every day that
Batman goes out to fight, he knows he's going to fail. He knows he's going
out to stop crime. He's got to stop, but
he's always going to fail. He's never going to stop crime. There's going to be
another crime tomorrow. And every day he goes out,
he knows he's going to fail, but the next day he's got
to try and do it again. Or Superman. To me, the most important part
of the story is not Superman; the most important part
of the story's Clark Kent. Because we're all Clark Kent. We all know what it's like
to be boring and ordinary and wish we could do something
incredibly beyond ourselves. Those are the stories I
love, and that's what I read. OK, she's telling
me two minutes. And we got last question. We're going to land
the plane on time. >> What are your taboos, if any? What would you never
write about? >> Brad Meltzer: What
when I never about? I mean, gosh, wow. I want to give you
a real answer. Yeah, run that up. We'll do it real quick. What would I never write about? Nothing. I'm just
that much of a -- I mean, to me, there's
nothing that couldn't -- you know, I think that --
the only thing I won't write about is something
I don't care about. As long as I care about
it, I'll write about it. And I feel like it can bring --
you know, to me I have that -- the X factor in every book is, does the writer love
what they're doing? And if they do, it
will show on the page. Yeah. Last question. This better be good. The whole room is
waiting on you. No pressure. Just make sure this is
the best question, yes. >> In reference to
your new book, where did you acquire the
knowledge to write realistically from a perspective of a woman? >> Brad Meltzer:
Ah, good question. No, the question is,
you have one of -- the two main characters of
the book are Zig and Nola, and where did you get the
perspective of a woman to try and write that? And obviously, it is hard. The first time I ever
wrote a woman protagonist, I had her go into the bathroom. And she was going into court
and she was all nervous, so she splashed water
on her face. And then she goes
back into the thing. All the women are
laughing now, right? And my wife said, you clearly
have never worn makeup. [ Laughter ] And don't even ask when I had
to write the scene and had to figure out what women do
with pantyhose when they go to the bathroom, right? Like, had no idea. Like, it was a foreign
language to me. What I do is I rely on
my wife and I rely on -- Sergeant Amy Brown [assumed
spelling] was really helpful for this book. And she's the actual --
not current, just finished, artist in residence for the
military and for the Army. And she told me her life story. And her life story is
obviously very different from the I made up, but
it was her perspective that I felt like kept me right. She was my true north,
and I wrote toward her. And it's hard, right? Because I didn't live that. I didn't have that experience. I'm trying my best. OK, with that, as I get
the one-minute sign. The most important thing is
what I said at the beginning. Thank you, thank you, thank you for saying screw you
to Dave Eggers today. [ Laughter ] And thank you for -- seriously,
thank you for coming out here. This is the hometown
crowd for me. This is where I started writing, this is where I love
coming back to. And anyone who comes out
at 10:00 in the morning on a Saturday and
wakes up early, you're my kind of
people for books. So the next writer is my friend, Hank [assumed spelling],
who's coming up. Please stick around, please
stay in this room all day. We have sleeping
bags in the back. [ Laughter ] But thank you for coming here
and for supporting the Library of Congress and the
National Book Festival. Thanks very much. [ Applause ]
