Last week, I got to attend a whole slew of events for the
NYC Teen Author Festival. In case you were wondering what exactly this is, it's a whole set of events, panels and signings that happen all in the span of one week featuring many different YA/teen authors. I missed out on this last year because I was on vacation in the Philippines, but this year, I was lucky enough to attend three of the events!
The Panel
The authors basically shared a little about their books, their character's journeys, their own personal journeys and even their writing. It was quite the fascinating panel, and I managed to record some of it on my phone! I attended it with
Rachel and
Estelle, and we all went out to dinner at Japadog after (and it was delicious!).
The Reader's Theater
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| The amazing cast of authors reading from Go Ask Alice |
Rachel and I met up for dinner at Republic, before heading on over to the store to wander around before the event started. I must say -- this was definitely one of the most entertaining events I've ever attended! The authors performed scenes from each of their books, as well as a bonus opening scene from Go Ask Alice. Honestly, my favorite scenes were definitely the ones from Eleanor & Park (with Rainbow as Eleanor and David as Park!) and Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality (with Elizabeth as Lexi - and she
totally pulled it off, of course!).
Rachel had her copy of Eleanor & Park signed by Rainbow, and I came up to the table with her. It was pretty darn awesome when Rainbow gave me a hug after recognizing who I was from Twitter!
The (MEGA) Signing
And the last event I was able to attend was Our No-Foolin' Mega Signing at Books of Wonder, which was held at Books of Wonder (one of my favorite bookstores!). There were at least 30 authors present, signing in 45 minutes shifts, and I was amazed by the sheer amount of energy and passion for YA books in the room. Obviously, I grabbed copies of a few books that I either didn't have yet or hadn't read yet and got them signed by all the authors, which was a fun experience, especially since there was time to chat with each of them!
I had brunch with
Hannah at Westville before the event, and we hung out for most of it. I did spy
Jamie, and get to meet the awesome
Betty and
Ellie from her book club. Plus,
Margot was there for a while and I also got to see
Mitali! It was also fun to see
Kim Sabatini again - we first met in a line at BEA while waiting to meet
Veronica Roth and a few other authors.
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| The wonderful and adorable Marisa Calin, author of Between You & Me |
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| The amazing and incredibly sweet Rainbow Rowell, author of Eleanor & Park |
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Gorgeous Diana Peterfreund, author of For Darkness Shows the Stars
(And yes, that is an ARC of Across a Star-Swept Sea!) |
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| So awesome to finally get a chance to meet these two for real! |
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| Jamie, who is as gorgeous and lovely as always |
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| Hannah, who is all sorts of awesome |
There you have it - my little recap of what went down all last week for me. I hope you enjoyed getting an idea of what the NYC Teen Author Festival has to offer. It's a very fun event, and I would definitely recommend coming to attend it and see all the amazing authors if you can swing it.
(If you're wondering where the books are, you'll have to wait till Sunday for that, as I'm including them in my book haul!)
Wow you got so many pictures at the mega author signing! I'm jealous =P I loved getting to attend all these events with you.. can't wait to go to more!!
ReplyDeleteI think it's wonderful that we're always able to attend events together these days! It makes for a much more fun experience :)
DeleteSoooo envious you got to meet such awesome authors! Glad you had a great time and got to meet some bloggers too :) Woo hoo can't wait to see your book haul!
ReplyDeleteLooks like such a fun time with some AMAZING authors!
ReplyDeleteIt definitely was! I'm still in awe that I got to meet most of these amazing people :)
DeleteHow awesome!!!! I'm super jealous. I would have loved to be there but obvs NY is a little far for me hahaha. SO many amazing authors and glad you got to be there!
ReplyDeleteHopefully, one day, we will be able to go to a bookish even together. And yes, it was so much fun!
DeleteLADY. How much do I wish I was home and not home all at the same time? I would have spent like $300 on books if I'd been there. But I do wish I could have gone!!!! I can't wait for all the bookish events we'll go when I get home!!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love all these pictures -- as someone who is kind of visual it's so cool seeing a recap with a lot of pictures. I can't get over how fun everyone looks in real life. AND OMG my jealousy over you meeting Rainbow Rowell. Sighhhhhh. Eleanor & Park was so great!
ReplyDeleteLOVE IT SO MUCH!
Oh my God, this is amazing! I'm so jealous! You met like then of my favorite authors. But actually. I'm so glad you had such a blast!
ReplyDeleteSO MANY AUTHORS!! And hold up, I'm distracted by your amazing cuff. That is fierce!
ReplyDelete-Maggie
Events like these make me wish I lived in NYC. SO MANY BOOKISH FRIENDS AND AUTHORS! I'm glad you had fun. :D
ReplyDeleteOMG!! I'm so jealous! Nova Ren Suma! Jennifer E Smith (which I'm actually reading right now)! So much fun! Are you going to BEA? If so we have to meet! :D
ReplyDeleteAww, this looks like it was so much fun! I wish that we had events like this in Canada. Plus, yay to meeting all those awesome bloggers in real life! Possibly even more exciting than meeting authors, in my opinion :)
ReplyDeleteUm, THAT LOOKS LIKE SUCH A FUN NIGHT!
ReplyDeleteThis is an amazing event. I'll have to make it up there on year. I met Kristen-Paige Madonia at a signing I found her story to be unique. The Signing/Theater looks so cool ! Can't wait to see what books you picked up.
ReplyDeleteGreat pics, Alexa! It's too bad we both went to several events, but not the same ones. I really wish I could have made the reader's theater especially, and it's too bad you missed Sat since almost every author you took pics with was on a panel. Glad to see you enjoyed it though!
ReplyDeleteThis whole thing was so much fun! And it was so awesome to hang out with you at the signing - I'm so glad you had a camera! Looking forward to hanging out with you at more bookish events!
ReplyDeleteAh I so need to move to the US for these kinds of events! You met so many amazing authors (the bit about Rainbow Rowell and David Levithan reading a scene from Eleanor & Park sounds amazing) and I would love to meet other bloggers :) It looks like you had a great time!
ReplyDelete