YAFest14: Part 1 (Event)

YA Fest 2014 kicked off last weekend in Easton, Pa at the Palmer Branch Easton Public Library with a full house of 45+ authors! Best-selling writer Maria V. Snyder known for her Study series was present along with the extremely talented Jennifer L. Armentrout who has penned a number of bestsellers in just a few short years! Also amongst these recognizable faces were Demitria Lunetta, Jackie Morse Kessler, Cristin Terrill and many many more. It was a total hit for younger and older teens alike (even the adults—such as myself—were excited and overwhelmed). As a blogger of all genres I always seem to find myself reaching for a YA read, and you know why? A good book is for all ages no matter the intended consumer target.

 Hundreds of people came out to the event to meet their favorite authors, discover new titles, and join in on the fun! From the raffles, treats, and swag goodies to the entertaining YA panel event going on the YAFest turned out to be a great time for everyone, and it was a truly spectacular and well-planned event. The people responsible for putting it all together did a wonderful job and made everyone feel more than welcomed. Thank you for a fantastic YA festival!

Special thanks to the coordinators and volunteers who made it what it was - you rock!

YAFest Highlights:

The impressive list of attendees! For the complete list of authors you can visit the official fest page here!

Raffles by the dozen! There were plenty of giveaways to enter to win amazing prize-packs loaded with hot titles. I threw in a few tickets but I didn't take home a prize—which wasn't a total bummer because I did end up acquiring a massive amount of books anyways from the incredible young adult book sale they had going on! My haul will be posted here!

The opportunity to chat with your favorite authors face-to-face. The rare chance to speak with each writer added to the experience you don't get when you attend huge conventions. Everyone was friendly, polite, and willing to answer any questions you had which—for a fan—is indescribably awesome!

Panel discussion with Cristin Terrill, Amalie Howard, Lisa Amowitz, David Lubar, Kit Grindstaff, Alison Ashley Formento, Laura Toffler-Corrie, Aaron Starmer,  Page Morgan, Justina Ireland, Jennifer L. Armentrout, and Michelle Madow. They spoke about writing for young readers as well as shared their own experiences while answering a variety of questions asked. It was lively, fun, and overall interesting to hear what they had to say. Personally, I loved their insight and enthusiasm when speaking about different topics. Sadly, I was only present for half of the panel due to arriving late.

The main signing area (photo was taken when it wasn't so jam-packed!)

YA Panel Discussion

Only a few of the many raffle prizes you could win!

 My experience at YA Fest 2014:

1 week previously if you asked me what YA Fest was I would have looked at you funny. I stumbled across its existence on Facebook from a post Jennifer Armentrout made about where her next signing would be so I thought I'd check it out. Well, I did, and as it would turn out it was my lucky day because the event she posted about was local—LOCAL! Where I live it is nearly unheard of for big-name authors—let alone authors I LOVE—to come around here. It's such a small dot on the map so I was shocked. I had to go, I just had to. So, I did. It was even better than I could have imagined. As soon as I got there I was anxious, perspiring a little, and hopped up on caffeine. It wasn't the entrance I wanted to make but that's how it went. Immediately upon my arrival a volunteer approached me and told me I could look around the library (which I was more than happy to do—yay books!) because the event wasn't starting for another two hours—enter my nerves again. I mentioned I was a book blogger and the coordinator was wonderfully kind and let me join the author conference going on and free reign to conduct a few interviews with the authors themselves! I was a bit unprepared because I hadn't even thought about taking notes or anything blogging related, I was just intending to go as a fan but ended up getting so much more from the event than I planned. Thus began my day of taking everything in and chatting up every author I could. It was unbelievable how cool and nice everyone was. I even got to interview Maria V. Snyder, Jennifer L. Armentrout, Jackie Morse Kessler, and Demitria Lunetta who were all ridiculously sweet. Though I only named a few I met a TON of new-to-me authors and I can't wait to check out their books! I may have to make an extra post just for them!! All of my interviews can be found in Part 2 & 3 of my posts which will be coming soon!

Overall this was one of the best events I've attended this year! Most importantly It offered so much to readers both young and old. I loved that it was an entire event created to promote and support reading for teens. It allowed many personal interactions not found at larger venues and a day of absolute bookish fun!

CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 (Author interviews from Maria V. Snyder & Jackie Morse Kessler!)