May is just around the corner y’all, and YallWest already posted the line up for this year. What is YallWest? YallWest is a book festival, held in Santa Monica, CA in May each year. This festival is focused on Young Adult literature and also offers a teen writing contest. YallWest offers amazing talks, a wide display of YA publishers and book-related companies. Most importantly, YallWest is well-known for the amazing talks and panels with renowned YA Authors.
Why you should consider attending YallWest
if you’re a bookworm and/or a YA writer.
What is YallWest?
This is the more formal answer if you look at YallWest site:
Who?
Over 100 authors and presenters including New York Times Bestsellers along with local and acclaimed young adult and middle-grade writers, plus notable TV, film, video game, and comic creators.
What?
A day of panels, book signings, food trucks, bad jokes, rock ‘n’ roll, killer photo ops & general geeky shenanigans.
Where?
Santa Monica High School
601 Pico Blvd.,
Santa Monica, CA 90405
Website: www.yallwest.com
Why should you attend YallWest?
If you’re a bookworm…
The reasons are endless, but here are a few:
- You get to meet your favorite authors (link to line up here)
- You get to have your book signed and personalized
- You get to hear them discuss the creation of the book and inspiration for a particular novel that you enjoyed reading
- You get to meet crazy passionate YA book lovers
- You walk in a maze of amazing YA books
- You get to participate in giveaways and get a lot of goodies (including ARCs)
- You get to have fun and enjoy the sunny weather of California (Bring sunscreen)
If you’re a YA writer/author…
- You get to attend talks/panels where the writing process is discussed. This is a fantastic learning experience.
- You get to meet your favorite authors
- You get to ask questions during panels. This gives you access to information about the industry and the publishing world.
- You get to buy books because when you write, it’s important to read voraciously in your genre.
- You get to get familiar with all the publishers out there. It’s important to know what happens in the industry and what kind of books/stories attract them.
Last year, I volunteered for four days, and I would highly recommend it to anyone. First, it’s a wonderful way to give back to the community and promote literacy. Second, you get to meet incredible human beings, and third, you’re by the ocean (please note the amazing weather) and surrounded by books and incredibly talented authors, what’s not to like about it?
What to expect there?
As you know, I’m both a YA writer and a devourer of YA books. So here is a sneak peek of the things I’ve done/seen last year.
What I really enjoyed there were the talks and panels. The authors described their writing process, provided little stories around their books, and offered a view on the pressure and deadlines they have to face on a daily basis. The publishing world is a fiercely competitive world.
Have you ever attended a book festival? Which one was it? What did you most enjoy?
I went to yallwest for the first time last year and was blown away! I am so excited about this year!
Me too! Last year was my first time and seriously this is such a well organized event. I was very impressed.