“From the first moment I read Julia Quinn’s delicious ‘Bridgerton’ series, I knew these were stories that would capture a viewing audience,” read a quote from showrunner Shonda Rhimes on the rolling projection above the stage where author Julia Quinn sat.
Quinn, author of the “Bridgerton” book series that inspired Netflix’s popular adaptation of the same name, was featured as part of Authors Visiting in Des Moines, sponsored by Des Moines Public Library Foundation, on April 7.
The event, free to the public at Hoyt Sherman Place, opened its doors at 5:15 p.m. to a crowd of Bridgerton fans eagerly awaiting the New York Times bestselling author.
“I saw an Instagram post [about the event] a few weeks ago at like 1 a.m.,” said Melanie Kure-O’Reilly, a senior at Drake University, who attended the event as a longtime fan of the show. “I was so excited.”
Kure-O’Reilly said she jumped on the bandwagon in high school when the first season came out and read the first book.
Jordan Anderson, another attendee who has read the entire Bridgerton series, was anxious to hear Quinn speak.
“I love meeting authors who wrote books that I love,” said Anderson. “I love learning background [information] of the characters I read about, so I’m excited to learn more about the Bridgerton family.”
Aaron Gernes, the marketing director at the Des Moines Public Library, was central to organizing the event and putting together this year’s author lineup.
“We were very pleased with the crowd,” Gernes said in an email. “We had about 550 people, and I’d guess 70% of the crowd stayed to have a book signed. We had 185 people through the doors in the first ten minutes, in fact.”
Denise Williams, a Des Moines-based romance author, moderated the event. The two discussed Quinn’s passion for Regency-era romance novels, the newest season of the Bridgerton show, Quinn’s journey as an author and book bans across the U.S., an issue close to Quinn’s heart.
“The vast majority of Americans are opposed to book bans and book challenges, but the people who are challenging books are very loud, and they are very focused, and they show up at meetings,” Quinn said. “And so we also need to do the same.”
In February 2026, the Iowa House introduced House File 2324, which would prohibit “school districts, charter schools, and innovation zone schools from entering into certain specified contracts with public libraries and hosting mobile libraries.” Although this bill did not advance, it is part of a larger trend across the country.
“I just encourage you all to pay attention to this,” Quinn said. “[Book bans] used to be a very hyperlocal type of issue … but there is actually a bill before Congress right now which would put [a long list of criteria for books in schools].”
Gernes was a fan of Quinn’s emphasis on book bans.
“Julia’s message about the freedom to read was something I loved to hear, as a library professional,” Gernes said. “I think her message that people who care about libraries and that freedom to read and freedom of information should be ready to show up and be loud was very important.”
Quinn remained after the lecture to sign copies of her books that attendees brought with them, but there were also books available for purchase courtesy of Beaverdale Books.
Authors Visiting in Des Moines is celebrating 25 years of bringing authors to Des Moines, hosting 177 authors since 2001. The next authors to make an appearance with AViD are Maria Semple, Taylor Wolfe, Shannon Chakraborty, Tayari Jones and Patrick Bringley. Dates and times can be found at dmpl.org/avid.
