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Jump to navigationJump to searchJim Dean Talks To Bookbag About The UK's First Ever YA Literature Convention (view source)
Revision as of 09:03, 14 July 2014
, 09:03, 14 July 2014no edit summary
The main programming for the weekend was a series of panels featuring some of the top names in YA today. Saturday started with a well-received panel on the appeal of dystopian novels. I didn't make it myself due to being in a workshop - more on that later - but it was a great line-up with [[:Category:Malorie Blackman|Malorie Blackman]] herself, [[:Category:Patrick Ness|Patrick Ness]], [[:Category:Sarah Crossan|Sarah Crossan]] and James Smythe all appearing, and several friends who went said it was really fascinating.
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|Rainbow 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.
Both the dystopian and superfans panel, in particular, were packed out, with 300 seats available and dozens standing around the outside. I think the overwhelming interest had taken many by surprise - we had early bird tickets which allowed us in from 9 o'clock and arrived a little before 9, eventually making it through massive queues for 10. I know some people queued for significantly longer and unfortunately on Saturday a few who turned up without tickets ended up not getting in because demand was so high. I think there was a combination of it being the first year for YALC and the staggering popularity of Marvel legend Stan Lee at LFCC which made it difficult to judge interest, but I know that if (fingers crossed!) the event runs again I'll be planning more carefully.
