It feels SO GOOD to be back at YALC this year. The last YALC event I attended was in July 2019, which seems like forever ago!
If you’re not familiar with YALC, it’s the Young Adult Literature Convention, which takes place annually (usually) in London!
I have been looking forward to YALC ever since I stepped out of the Olympia three years ago, so I hope you’re ready for a LOT of YALC related content from me.
I wanted to give you guys an insight into what I got up to, but I’ll have to split it into multiple posts, as each day is so jam-packed!
Signings
Today I met Karen M. McManus, who was really lovely. She seemed super excited that I had copies of all of her books (that are currently available) and she was really friendly and chatty!
I also met Neal Shusterman, who was one of the more popular authors of the day. Usually, you will be given a VQ (Virtual Queue) ticket before the author’s signing starts, and you’ll be allowed to physically queue as the VQ moves along. In Neal Shusterman’s case however, it was a bit more of a free-for-all situation. Neal was really friendly though, and it was so fun to meet him in person!
One signing I didn’t know was happening until it had already started was Saara El-Arifi. I was able to grab a copy of The Final Strife from the Waterstones station, and hurried over to join the queue.
Book Haul
One of the amazing things about YALC is the sheer amount of deals you can find. Most publishers sell their books extremely cheaply during the event. Most publisher stands sell their paperbacks for £4 or £5, and hardbacks for £8 to £10 each! And they often have deals where you can buy 3 paperbacks for £10 and 2 hardbacks for £10!
As you can imagine, I have bought a few books. Some of the books I won in raffles, giveaways or contests though - if you want to know more about that, make sure you head over to my BookTube channel!
So, there’s my stack from day one! I picked up copies of:
- A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross
- Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan
- The Society For Soulless Girls by Laura Steven
- Blackout (by various authors)
- Dark and Shallow Lies by Ginny Myers Sain
- The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi
- Woven in Moonlight by Isabel Ibañez
- Wicked As You Wish by Rin Chupeco
Raffles, Giveaways & Games
Many of the publishers and small business who attend YALC run giveaways, raffles, and competitions throughout the day.
I entered quite a few raffles, but found that I quickly lost track of which raffles I’d entered, and which ticket was for which publisher.
Some competitions required you to sign up for the publisher’s newsletter, and this acted as your entry into the competition. Others, you needed to leave your email and/or social media handle. Personally, I think these options worked better as they eliminated the chances of you losing or confusing your raffle tickets.
That’s day one over!
Watch this space for the rest of YALC, and more YALC related content!