My YALC experience

Hey everyone! how is everyones day going? It is BOILING in London and there’s no ice cream *melts*.  I hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

If you read my last post you’d know that I went YALC this year, for those who don’t know what YALC is, it’s a book convention that happens once a year in London and I got to go this year wohooo! YALC was amazing, so many books, authors, panels, workshops and so much more. I wish I could’ve gone all three days, it ended too soon *cries*

Here’s a little bit about my experience, the dos and donts, panels, my haul, the authors I met etc.

I hope you enjoy!

 

AUTHORS AT YALC:

There were so many authors floating around the venue, I saw so many authors but I was too shy to go up to them but I did meet a couple and they signed my books woo, the rest of the time I was at panels or scouting for arcs and freebies.

I met V.E Schwab, Patrick Ness, Samantha Shannon and Melinda Salisbury.

My first ever signing was with Melinda Salisbury and I was actually so nervous because well it was my first signing! I didn’t know what to do or say and I haven’t read her books but she was so lovely, she asked me if I followed her on twitter and I said I think so because I always see her on my twitter timeline. She personalised my copy of The sin eater’s daughter and there’s a cute little golden stamp but I have no idea what it means. My friend took our picture and you can see Taran Matharu, the author of the Novice at the back photobombing us.

She was also was giving out her short story The King of rats and the cover for the final book to her trilogy was actually revealed at YALC!

isn’t that cover stunning?!!!

Next I met Patrick Ness and oh my goodness his line was so long! Thanks to the lovely gals who let me squeeze into the middle with them. I haven’t read any of his books either but will do soon! Has anyone read the Chaos walking trilogy? Patrick was so charming ahhhhhh, I can’t wait to read his books!

I also met VE schwab, one of my favourite authors and I was so giddy, I literally blurted I love you and we were just chatting about how AGOS is going to kill me. She advised me to stop reading A gathering of shadows at page 309 if I don’t want to die!

Last but not least, I was actually one of the few people left in Samantha Shannon’s line because I was in Victoria’s line. I love the stamps on my copy, I think the Bone season will be my next read! 

DID YOU GUYS HEAR THE NEWS? THERE’S A COLLECTORS EDITION AND IT’S SO GORGEOUS AND IT MATCHES THE OLD COVERS!! Numbers are limited and I want it so badly but I have no money *cries* you can preorder it here on Amazon. It’s also signed woo!

 

 

I was so so nervous before meeting these authors but there is actually nothing to be scared or nervous about. Every single one of them are so lovely and engaging and you just end up saying the most random thing and just chatting like you are long lost friends. I was planning so many things to say but you just end up saying anything that comes to your mind. SO DON’T WORRY!

PANELS

There were quite a lot of panels but I only went to 4 including:

YA book prize with Lisa Williamson, Sarah Crossan, Catherine Johnson and Jenny Downham.

My teenage diary with Juno Dawson, Deirdre Sullivan, Honor Cargill and Lisa Williamson. 

Behind the magic: Exploring magical systems in fantasy YA with Sally Green, Taran Matharu, Melinda Salisbury and V E Schwab

Fantasy London: with Samantha Shannon, Ben Aaranovitch, V E Schwab

The authors were just answering questions, giving advice, talking about how they got published and into writing etc.

WORKSHOPS:

I only went to one workshop: Creative writing with Lisa Heathfield and I was just so hyper and giddy and I couldn’t even concentrate so I left. Oops.

OK. The Dos and Donts

DOs:

-Comfortable shoes.

-Portable charger.

-Take your own food and water. (LOTS of water).

-Check twitter for giveaways-  literally follow everyone on twitter that is attending, all the publishers etc.

-Take a bookish partner so they can help you navigate, especially if it’s your first time.

-Take lots of selfies. LOTS.

DONTs:

-Don’t take too many books.

I can’t even think of anymore!

And guys important note, it’s ok to just sit down and rest your shoulders, eat or read in the corner. The venue is massive and literally you can just sit anywhere.

BOOKS I GOT SIGNED: 

I got 8 books signed!

1. The rest of us just live here
2. The knife of never letting go
3. Vicious
4. A darker shade of magic
5. A gathering of shadows
6. The bone season
7. The mime order
8. The sin eater’s daughter

Books I grabbed at YALC:

1. Stealing snow by Danielle Paige – I won this ARC woooo! SO excited to read it!
2. Kook by Chris Vick
3. Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins
4. Girl detached (ARC)
5. An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir (as an early birthday gift for myself)

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Overall YALC was so much fun, I really enjoyed it. I met so many amazing people, I wish I asked for their twitter or something bah. I met friends from bookstagram too and I really enjoyed this day. Thank you to everyone who made this event happen (booktrust, all authors etc), you’ve made a lot of bookworms happy!

Here are most of the goodies I got squeezed into one picture:

The winner’s trilogy poster (one of my favourite series ever! Read it!)

A fairyloot tote bag which is the most gorgeous thing ever (Thank you Anissa <3)

Some stuff signed by Leigh Bardugo from books with bite!

Samplers (A torch against the night, Crooked kingdom, The Graces etc)

A bunch of bookmarks and postcards!

 

I hope you guys enjoyed, I know I’m a bit late but I just got a bit lazy uploading the photos to my laptop.

Thank you for reading 🙂

-Thechroniclesofabookworm.