There are book festivals all around the country, but one that's dedicated to 100% YA? Sign us up, please! Teen Board member Isabel C. was lucky enough to attend this festival --- YALLfest, in Charleston, South Carolina --- in November, and outlines her day, below. It's a whirlwind full of authors, book signings and hilarious panels. Get ready to be jealous!
Back in November, I had the opportunity to go to YALLFest in Charleston, South Carolina, a YA festival hosted by a local indie bookstore, Blue Bicycle Books. I’ve been drooling over it for years, so when I got a chance to go, I grabbed it! With a little help, I managed to bring five tote bags of books (65 books total) to Charleston for a nice long weekend.
Before the festivities began Friday evening, I did some sight-seeing in downtown Charleston. I also checked out all the festival locations. Trust me --- there were a lot of them. From 3PM to 5PM, there was the YALLCrawl, in which 19 authors signed books along King Street (plus a few more at the Charleston County Library).
First, I got to meet Gail Carriger at Kudo Coffee. I was there a little early, so there wasn’t a line yet. After that, I went around and got to meet Victoria Aveyard at a local toy store, E. Lockhart and Danielle Paige at a theater, Soman Chainani and Elizabeth Wein by Blue Bicycle Books, and Rae Carson and Melissa de la Cruz at the Train Museum. I wandered for an hour and a half, and got to chat with many of the authors. It was an awesome start to the festival! All the authors were super nice. I got to take pictures with all of them, too!
Then came Saturday. I started off my day at the Opening Keynote, where Kami Garcia interviewed Richelle Mead and R.L. Stine. After some maneuvering, I found a spot in the second row. I was actually right behind Veronica Roth and right next to Gayle Forman. I’m pretty sure I almost died just from being so close to them! Before the interview started, we were treated to a scene from the Goosebumps movie.
When asked, Stine said he uses a magic formula for his novels. And it turns out, the title of Goosebumps came from a TV guide! Stine also shared that he has a ‘secret kid network’ that helps with writing his novels. When listening to him talk, I realized just how hilarious R.L. Stine is. In fact, he stated that if a novel ever got too dark, he’d make sure to put a joke in. Most amazing, though, was Stine’s story about when he learned that he was famous --- one evening he was driving to a book signing and got stuck in a traffic jam. It wasn’t until later that he learned that the traffic jam was caused by readers going to his event!
I’m a big fan of Richelle Mead, and so it was really cool to hear her talk about her books. Mead hadn’t actually planned to make her vampires super special, she just wanted to write her story. She also shared that she made sure not to talk down to teens in her writing. Lastly, Mead explained that it was really hard to write her new novel, SOUNDLESS, after so many years of Vampire Academy.
After the panel, I rushed over to the signing line for Marissa Meyer. By the time I got there, it wrapped around the block. Let’s just say, I was waiting for quite a while. By the time I got up there, Meyer couldn’t personalize the book, but it was still fun to get to see her again. While waiting in line for Meyer, I also happened to meet some awesome booktubers, Christine from PolandBananasBooks and Kat by Katytastic!
Next, I got to meet Julie Kagawa. I love all of her Iron Fey books and fangirled quite a bit when I met her. I don’t know if I got out more than a ‘Hi, I love your books’ and ‘can I take a picture with you?’ Meeting some of your favorite authors is an overwhelming experience!
At 1 PM, I stopped by the Best Friend Train Museum to meet Zac Brewer. He was super nice and had a bunch of cool pins! After a quick snack of Starbucks, I hopped in the Mindy McGinnis line. Thanks to the level of organization, even some of the longest lines moved pretty fast. I got to meet Mindy McGinnis and did quite a lot of squealing about A MADNESS SO DISCREET, my favorite book by her. Then, I ran over the tent by Blue Bicycle and said hi to Ryan Graudin. I love her All That Glows novels, as well as WOLF BY WOLF. Graudin is super cool, and easily had some of the best hair at the festival!
With no time to spare, I headed back over to the museum and got in line to meet Alexandra Bracken. I’m not usually a super social person, but one of the best ways to make the time pass is to chat with people while in line. It was amazing just how nice everyone was at the festival, from the volunteers to the other festival goers. It took a while, but eventually I got up to the front. Bracken was super nice, and was awesome enough to take a picture with me, even thought she’d been signing for nearly two hours by then.
While in line to meet Bracken, I would occasionally have someone hold my place while I hopped in another line to meet another author signing in the museum, including E.K. Johnston and Mari Mancusi. It was super fun to meet Mancusi. I have all three books in her Scorched trilogy, and once she signed them, I got a picture!
After meeting Bracken, I headed over to Moe’s for a quick dinner. I was supposed to meet my mom there, but by the time she arrived, I had to head out for the YA Smackdown. With a quick hello and goodbye, I ran over to the Charleston Music Hall, where the event was being held.
Outside the event, there was a bunch of swag for people to grab. I, being a lover of swag, grabbed a good bit. I headed into the theater and found a good spot fairly quickly. There were authors and fans alike all around me which was surreal to say the least. The event started off with some book trailers from Disney Hyperion. The trailers were cool, but the fun began when Brendan Reichs came out in a bright orange suit and top hat! Meanwhile, Veronica Roth was dressed in all black. From there, it only got better.
A variety of games were played during the Smackdown. There was Hollywood Squares, in which authors Gwenda Bond, E. Lockhart, Soman Chainani, Danielle Paige and more were a tic-tac-to board, and two audience members were the players. Trivia was answered, guesses were made and fun was had by all. Later, Leigh Bardugo and Daniel Handler played a game of taboo. Hilarity ensued, and Leigh won five to two.
At one point, authors read off quotes and the audience guessed which book it was from. While most were easy, a couple stumped everyone! Throughout the event, different authors read pieces they’d written as teenagers. Scott Westerfeld read about a demon in space, all the while criticizing his writing. Then, Victoria Aveyard read some Lord of the Rings fan fiction about Legolas! Carolyn Mackler regaled us with her drunk college diary and Marie Lu told us about how she felt when she discovered the internet. Lastly, Alex London read a song he wrote called “Blood Wave”. Needless to say, the words blood wave repeated. A lot.
To close out the night, the band Tiger Beat, led by Libba Bray, performed covers of songs, including “Love Shack”. At one point, they performed a medley, and the daughters of Gayle Forman, Melissa de la Cruz, Kami Garcia and Jonathan Sanchez (owner of Blue Bicycle Books) got up and performed with them. They closed the night performing “Let it Be” along with the choir of West Ashley High, a local school.
YALLFest was a big success in my book! I don’t know if I’ll be able to go back next year, but I sure hope I can --- it was loads of fun. I got to meet authors, bloggers and readers alike. My one regret is that I didn’t go to more panels since I was at signings the whole time. Hopefully, if I get to go again, I’ll be able to get books signed as well as attend the panels.
After the festival, I tallied up my books --- I brought 65 to the festival, and by the end, I’d gotten 40 of them signed by 19 authors. Considering that’s only a fraction of the 60 authors that were at the festival, I’d say I did pretty well! I really enjoyed the festival, and encourage you to go if you can!
Isabel C. is a Teen Board member.
