YALC 2015 DAY 2

Day 2 was probably the most hectic day for us despite the fact we only headed to the convention for 10am. Since public transport runs alot later on a Sunday and we couldnt be bothered to walk 4miles because we were shattered.

We got to YALC at around 10.30 and headed straight to the first panel, Mental Health in YA. This panel was so interesting especially with the diverse range of authors, Matt Whyham, Brian Conaghan. Annabel Pitcher, Holly Bourne and Imogen Russell Williams. It was so riveting to hear about authors discuss the issues with Mental Heath since it is usually a topic not discussed.

I then headed to Holly Bournes signing and met another lovely girl called Eve while queuing, we found out that we had both headed down from 'the North' to attend YALC and it was very cool to find out she was from a town only 20mins away from where I live (it's obviously a small world)! Meeting Holly Bourne was very cool since I am a huge fan of her writing since she always creates such interesting characters and tackles issues like mental health with style and grace.

I am currently reading her new book, Am I Normal Yet? I love it so far and yet again she has created a book with interesting and diverse characters. The protagonist, Evie struggles with OCD and she is also a hardcore feminist. It's such an interesting read so I would definitely recommend reading it.

We then headed to Louise O'Neill's book signing, where she signed my book and she was so lovely. I am a big fan of her writing and her book, Only Ever Yours, is so important as it highlights the big issues when it comes to being a girl in society nowadays.

 Following Louise O'Neill's signing, we grabbed some food and then started queuing to meet Melinda Salisbury. I loved reading her book, The Sin Eater's Daughter so I was very excited to meet her and I really needed to know how to pronounce her lead protagonist Tyrelle's name.

We then headed to Jenny Valentine's signing, author of Fire Colour One, we managed to be the first ones in her queue which was pretty cool. She was very lovely. Following her signing we then headed to Sarah Pinborough's signing, author of the Death House,

After this we went to get more food and then went to Liz Kessler's signing. It was lovely to meet her and it was kinda crazy since I had been brought up reading her Emily Windsnap books. She was one of the main reasons I started reading so I was internally fangirling when I met her.

We then headed to Steve Camden's signing which was very cool since I am a huge fan of his writing and he was such a lovely guy. 

Fun Fact: Steve wrote down my name, telling me he loved my name so if you hear of any characters in his new books called Verity it could possibly be because we met at a book signing!!

(I don't really know what I am doing in this pic but Steve Camden wanted us to pull funny faces?)

So after all the signings we headed to the nearest tube station to catch a tube back to Euston so we could get home. We had ALOT of baggage so it was pretty awkward catching 2 tubes and then finding out that our 11 coach train home had been changed to a 5 coach train so we ended up having to squeeze on a train. We happened to be sitting next to a woman and her baby so that meant we couldn't sleep since the baby was so energetic...

Eventually we got home, after an amazing weekend at YALC. I am definitely going next year since it was so much fun meeting authors and other book lovers. I managed to get 15 books signed over the weekend and since it was my first ever book convention, I didn't know what to expect but it was such an amazing experience and I loved every minute of it. Bring on YALC 2016!

YALC 2015 DAY 1

So YALC 2015 (aka Young Adult Literature Convention) ran from Friday 17th - Sunday 19th July, it was my first time ever attending a book convention and comic con since YALC was running alongside London Film and Comic Con it was pretty cool when we got on the overground and there was a guy dressed as the joker and another guy as doctor who sat beside you.

So on Friday I headed down to London from my house in the Lake District, we arrived at around 5ish and then grabbed some food from Camden Market and then headed to Pax Lodge (one of the guiding world centres) which was pretty cool since while we stayed there we go to meet loads of Canadian/American guides. Upon our arrival we went straight to bed since we were shattered.

DAY 1
We got up early (around 7am) since we needed to be catching the overground to London Olympia at 8, we grabbed some breakfast and then headed out with loads of books..

Once we arrived, we headed upstairs to floor 2 (where YALC was being held) and picked up some goodie bags *insert picture of my badge covered bag*

We then wandered around the floor and got to meet author of Tormaline, James Brogden, he was lovely and signed both my books by him. I am currently reading Tormaline and I would definitely recommend it if you love fantasy/mystery books. 

We then headed to our first panel of the weekend, YA: The next generation, the panel included the authors Alice Oseman, Lucy Saxon, Helena Coggan, Taran Matharu and it was chaired by Samatha Shannon. It was a really interesting panel as the 'young' authors spoke about their opinions on how they were viewed by publishers etc and what their age means for their writing.

(left to right) Samatha Shannon, Lucy Saxon, Helena Coggan, Taran Matharau and Alice Oseman.

Following the first panel, we stayed where we were for the Shadowhunters panel, this panel was basically a discussion between Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan about what was next for the Shadowhunter universe and they gave us exclusive news about Lady Midnight, which was very cool! Cassie mentioned how there would be an engagement/??!!  It was a hilarious panel and i was laughing throughout the entire panel mainly due to Sarah Rees Brennans wacky and cool style of interviewing. We also managed to get seats on the third row which meant we were so close to her and we could actually hear what they were saying.

 We then headed to try and get autographs but we ended up getting ticket number 400 and were told to come back in an hour, so we decided to head downstairs into the London Film and Comic Con and ended up getting lost so we missed the signing :(

We did however head to another panel, Being a Girl. They spoke about the importance of feminism in YA writing. It was a lively and interesting talk which involved Hayley Long, CJ Daugherty, Holly Smale, Laura Dockrill, Malorie Blackman and Anna James.

Following this panel, we then headed to the signing booths to meet Laura Dockrill one of my favourite authors and illustrators. When we met her I was wearing my homemade TFIOS tee which had the quote "if the inevitability of human oblivion scares you, I encourage you to ignore it." Laura complimented me about the tee and then wrote "maybe one day I will be wearing one of your quotes on a t-shirt!" She was so lovely and kind, I am very excited to read her new book, Lolita.

We then headed to another panel, Carrie Hope Fletcher's YALC book club. Since I am a big fan of Carrie (and her YouTube channel) it was kinda surreal sitting in her panel. This panel included the authors; Carrie Hope Fletcher, Malorie Blackman, Holly Smale and Samantha Shannon speaking about their books and what has influenced them. 

Following this panel we then headed to Carrie Hope Fletcher's book signing. Due to her being so popular her signing was ticketed and I managed to get ticket number 172, so we decided to chill out for a while. Luckily, this lovely girl gave me her ticket and so we were moved to ticket number 101 so we got to meet Carrie alot earlier than we would have. If youre out there or you happen to read this THANKYOU!

Once we had finished the Carrie signing, we grabbed some food and headed to the main panel area where we decided to chill out and go to the Hunger Games Quiz. We were wandering around the floor and then heard them playing 'The Hanging Tree' and 'Safe and Sound' so I ended up dragging my friend with me to attend the Quiz. We met this lovely girl called Chantel who was lovely and we all shared a love for the Hunger Games. Sadly we didn't win but hey it was a lot of fun.

We then headed off for the night and grabbed some pizza on the way home. We caught the overground back to Pax Lodge and looked through all the free stuff we had collected over the day (which was ALOT).

I Disappeared?

Hello

So I am back! I have been inactive for 2 months now and i am really sorry but school work and exams take up a massive amount of time and i do need to concentrate on my work for sixth form because these grades now determine which universities i will get into which is pretty scary.

Since i have been away though alot has happened so i will provide you with a brief update...

1. I am now planning to study English Literature at university! I am still unsure which university i would like to attend but I now know which course I want to study which is definitely a step in the right direction.
2. I am going to Uganda! I have been chosen to represent North West England girl guides when I travel to Uganda next summer, I was selected with 9 other girls to work alongside the charity Develop with Dignity,they work with women to provide them with information about their health and wellbeing. I can't really believe I was selected all i need to do now is fund raise £2000..
3. I bought a new bookshelf from Ikea while on a roadtrip around the UK, so now my books aren't just piled up on the floor.
4. I went to YALC 2015, I will post a full description of what happened in a later blog post since alot happened.
5. I am currently doing my Queen's Guide Award (The Highest Award in UK Guiding) which means i will be posting alot in the future about my community project.I am planning to set up a blog which will promote reading for young girls and I have already spoken to a lot of authors about helping me with this project.

I am sorry in advance for the lack of posts recently, i promise i will posting more and i will try my hardest not to be inactive

Verityx