Local Authors and Great Discussions: #ChiYABookFest2018


I haven't been to Chicago YA Book Fest since its first year, but I was excited for this year's panels; I can confidently say that Chicago Young Adult Book Fest is getting better and better with each year. 
This year, Chicago YA Book Fest took place at a Chicago Elementary School and that was probably the perfect venue for this event. The organizers were able to have multiple panels in different rooms and give the audience the option to choose which topics they wanted to hear. I had to adult in the morning so I only attended the afternoon sessions which was made up of three panels and an opportunity for author signings. 

The first panel I attended was about sci-fi and fantasy and starred Wendy Brant, Audrey Coulthurst, Julia Ember, Lydia Kang, and moderated by Christa Desir. Below are some highlights I took away from that panel: 


After that, I attended the panel I was most excited for: Dark Themes! This panel featured Amelia Brunksill, Michelle Falkoff, Joelle Charbonneau, Tiffany Jackson, Ted Goeglein, and was moderated by Brandy Colbert. This panel of authors was hilairous and had some pretty good insight about how to mentally write dark books. Below are some takeaways from that panel of laughs: 
And the last panel of the event I attended involved family themes in Young Adult novels. The authors on this panel were Tiffany Jackson, Samira Ahmed, Erika Sanchez, Gloria Chao, Kristin Cronn-Mills, Paula Carner, and was moderated by Crystal Cestari. That was a really interesting panel and I've included my favorite tidbits below: 
And that brings us to the end of the event! I sought out Joelle and Tiffany for pictures and book signings and I need to stay this right now: I have an absurd crush on Tiffany Jackson. She is so pretty, hilarious, and just real. I can't wait for her next book to come out and break my heart accordingly. 


Overall I had a lot of fun and I'm kind of bummed that I missed out on so many other panels, but I really enjoyed the ones I attended. Fabulous job to the Book Cellar for putting on this event, I can't wait until next year's festival!

Have you read from any of the mentioned authors? 
What local book festivals do you love attending? 
HAVE I CONVINCED YOU TO VISIT ME IN CHICAGO YET?

Labels: , , ,