Hi bookworms! Are you sad that all of your author signings and book conferences and festivals have been cancelled this year? I know I am!
There were a couple of great local signings I'd been looking forward to, a festival, and, of course, the annual Book Expo Conferences. I usually go to BEA, see friends, hear about new fall titles, and see a couple of Broadway shows (Yep, also cancelled).
I'm sure these things make you as sad as they do me, but this is the best thing for us all, too. Thankfully, the authors and publishers are trying to connect with readers virtually and bring us these experiences in new, unexpected ways.
This weekend, YALLWEST, one of the biggest annual book festivals, which always brings out over 20,000 avid readers, becomes Y'ALL STAY HOME -- and hey, I can finally attend because it's always all the way across the country!
The virtual festival will take place this weekend, Saturday, April 25th and Sunday, April 26th.
www.yallwest.com will have all the information and sign-ups. The festival will begin at 10 am PST. Keynote Speaker Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn, Stormlight Archive) will make his presentation at 4 pm PST. The final event will take place on Sunday at 5 pm PST with authors reading some of their earliest writing!
YALLWEST was founded by two #1 New York Times Best Selling Authors, Melissa de la Cruz (ALEX AND ELIZA, Disney's Descendants) and Margaret Stohl (Beautiful Creatures). The two co-wrote the upcoming release JO AND LAURIE, which revises the beloved classic Little Women so that Jo and Laurie get together. They'll talk a bit about the process during the 10 am PST opening event.
YALLWEST is the largest gathering of its kind geared exclusively to Young Adult and Middle Grade readers. It offers signings, panels, giveaways, and more.
To bring the experience to readers virtually, the online festival will feature more than 70 authors, and feature online panels and games all weekend long (The full schedule is available at www.yallwest.com), as well as host online giveaways!
The conference also got in touch with twenty schools in LA that are underserved and found ways to connect students to authors and bring them e-books and Zoom visits.
Here are some of the events in store, pulled straight from the press release:
Festival founders and #1 New York Times bestselling authors Margaret Stohl (Beautiful Creatures) and Melissa de la Cruz (The Queen’s Assassin) open the event at 10:00 AM (PDT) by discussing their decade-long collaboration culminating in their upcoming novel, Jo & Laurie.
Starsight and Mistborn series author Brandon Sanderson will lead the afternoon keynote at 4:00 PM (PDT).
Saturday closes as Angie Thomas, author of the #1 New York Times bestselling blockbusters On the Come Up and The Hate U Give, host the annual YALLWEST SMACKDOWN variety show with Nic Stone (Dear Martin).
Pseudonymous Bosch and Shane Pangburn host a Middle Grade Storyball on Sunday at 10:00 AM (PDT).
The entire YALLSTAYHOME experience will end with a star-studded lineup of authors reading their earliest writing on Sunday, April 26th at 5:00 PM (PDT).
Additional YALLSTAYHOME attending authors include Cassandra Clare, Rainbow Rowell, Karen McManus, Maureen Johnson, Ransom Riggs, Victoria Aveyard, Marie Lu, Roshani Chokshi, Mariko Tamaki and many others (see below for full line-up).
Multiple bestselling authors will appear on the virtual stage for the festival’s Saturday opening and closing events.
Friday, April 24th will be a Fierce Friday Preview event from 4:00 PM-7:00 PM (PDT). This event is also free, but registration is required.
Full event schedule and panel registration can be found at yallwest.com/schedule.
Here are some of the authors who will be in attendance, with more to come!
Renée Ahdieh
Melissa Albert
Becky Albertalli
Elise Allen
Janella Angeles
Victoria Aveyard
Gwenda Bond
Pseudonymous Bosch
Alexandra Bracken
Julie Buxbaum
Cecil Castellucci
Traci Chee
Soman Chainani
Roshani Chokshi
Dhonielle Clayton
Ally Condie
Mintie Das
Charlotte Nicole Davis
Melissa de la Cruz
Jennifer De Leon
Natasha Díaz
Hafsah Faizal
Jennifer Donnelly
Simone Elkeles
Sarah Enni
Francesca Flores
Romina Garber
Stephanie Garber
Kami Garcia
Stuart Gibbs
Holly Goldberg Sloan
Adalyn Grace
Shannon Hale
Frances Hardinge
Carlos Hernandez
Isabel Ibañez
Jordan Ifueko
George M Johnson
Leah Johnson
Maureen Johnson
Mike Johnston
Marisa Kanter
Amie Kaufman
Bill Konigsberg
Jay Kristoff
Victoria Lee
David Levithan
Alex London
Marie Lu
Tahereh Mafi
Sam Maggs
Karen M. McManus
Tehlor Kay Mejia
Shannon Messenger
Samuel Miller
Bethany C. Morrow
Sarah Mlynowski
Lauren Myracle
Danielle Paige
Shane Pangburn
Lewis Peterson
Rory Power
Brendan Reichs
Ransom Riggs
Lilliam Rivera
Margaret Rogerson
Zan Romanoff
Rainbow Rowell
Brandon Sanderson
Adam Silvera
Rachel Lynn Solomon
Tara Sim
Margaret Stohl
Nic Stone
Mariko Tamaki
Angie Thomas
Maggie Tokuda-Hall
Sarah Watson
David Yoon
F.C. Yee
Abigail Hing Wen
Tracy Wolff
Nicola Yoon
Please visit YALLWEST.COM for a full schedule of events and to sign up!
~*~
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