Changes

The weekend of Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th July saw the UK's first ever YA Literature Convention, held as part of the established London Film and Comic Con. Curated by Malorie Blackman, Children's Laureate and author of many of our favourite books, including [[Noble Conflict by Malorie Blackman|Noble Conflict]], and organised with the help of Booktrust, LFCC organisers Showmasters, and many of the top YA publishers around, the event, held in Earls' Court 2, was a staggering success.

The two panels I did manage to attend on the Saturday were an interesting one on fantasy novels, with authors [[:Category:Frances Hardinge|Frances Hardinge]], [[:Category:Amy McCulloch|Amy McCulloch]], [[:Category:Jonathan Stroud|Jonathan Stroud]] and [[:Category:Ruth Warburton|Ruth Warburton]], and the superb Superfans unite! The latter, hosted by [[Geekhood: Mission Improbable by Andy Robb|Geekhood: Mission Improbable]] author Andy Robb and featuring 19-year-old debut author Lucy Saxon, self-publishing bestseller Tim O'Rourke (who's now signed to Chicken House) and US superstar [[:Category:Rainbow RowellRainbow Rowell]], was particularly interesting. Taking questions from the audience right the way through, interspersed with a few of his own, Andy quizzed the three on what fandoms were their favourite, their thoughts on fanfiction (all three were heavily in favour) and the way in which fans could actually influence writers today. All the authors here were excellent, with several people commenting after that they'd been inspired to grab ''Take Back The Skies'' after being impressed with Lucy's clear passion for books.