YALLWEST 2019!
~ A photo essay and review by J.W. Lynne (California, USA)
YALLWEST is an annual book festival held in Santa Monica, California, for kids, teens, and adults who love to read young adult literature. It is one of the largest young adult book festivals in the world. Having enjoyed every single YALLWEST since the very first one (in 2015), I was very excited to go to YALLWEST 2019! |
| Just after 9AM
on
Saturday, May 4th, when YALLWEST 2019 opened its gates, my
first mission was to score some free ARCs (Advanced Reader's
Copies (complimentary copies of soon-to-be-published novels)).
Many ARC giveaways were limited to just 50-100 copies of each book, so there
were no guarantees. I wanted an ARC of The Grace Year (by Kim Liggett), and the festival program indicated that ARC tickets would be distributed at 9AM at the Fierce Reads booth, so I headed directly there. After about 15 minutes of waiting in line, I was given a ticket that promised me a copy of The Grace Year if I returned to the Fierce Reads booth and presented that ticket at 11:30AM. I was also given a free Fierce Reads "fanny pack." |
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| At about 9:30AM, I joined the line for Scholastic's very generous 10AM morning breakfast giveaway. When I reached the front of the line, at about 10:30AM, I was rewarded with a free (very yummy) gourmet donut, a cloth tote bag, and SIX free books! Each book was handed to me by the book's author! How cool is that? |
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| Some booths, like this one from Owlcrate, offered fun swag to those who lined up to spin a prize wheel. |
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| Just before 11AM, I headed into my first panel of the day: "Spaaaace!" where Veronica Roth, Somaiya Daud, Lewis Peterson, Cori McCarthy, Jon To, Jay Kristoff, and Amy S. Foster talked about writing science fiction. After enjoying the first half hour of the "Spaaaace!" panel, I had to leave in order to redeem that Fierce Reads ticket I got earlier in the day for an ARC of The Grace Year. I'd been looking forward to reading that novel, so I quietly slipped out of the panel, hoping to find a free ARC waiting for me. Sure enough, it was! |
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| With my brand-new ARC copy of The Grace Year in hand, I joined the line for the "Frankly in Love food truck." Free ARCs of Frankly in Love (by David Yoon) were handed out to the first 100 people in line, but they were all gone before I reached the front of the line 45 minutes later. I did walk away with a tasty free taco though. |
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| I spent the rest of the day enjoying the interesting panels, like the one titled "Stronger," where Margaret Stohl, Somaiya Daud, Angie Thomas, Shannon Hale, Erika L. Sánchez, Natasha Ngan, and Busy Phillips talked about creating strong female characters. |
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| The "Sci Fi vs Fantasy" panel (with Veronica Roth, Brendan Reichs, Tochi Onyebuchi, Jay Kristoff, Melissa Albert, Nafiza Azad, and Robin LaFevers) offered a special bonus. The first 100 people in line scored a free ARC of The Tenth Girl by Sara Faring! I lined up about 25 minutes before the panel, and I was one of them! |
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| At the "Mysterious Circumstances" panel, Peter Stone, Karen M. McManus, Matthew Modine, Gwenda Bond, Sara Farizan, Gretchen McNeil, and Alexis Bass talked about mysteries and "evil" characters. |
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| The final event of the day was the "Smackdown," where writers and volunteer audience members played games like Never Have I Ever. |
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| To wrap up the event, Maurene Goo, Abdi Nazemian, and Sarah Enni donned wigs and costumes for some dancing and lip-synching entertainment. |
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| I left YALLWEST 2019 with ten ARCs (I did receive two more ARCs during the festival, but I gave them away before this photo was taken), some cool swag (a tote bag, a fanny pack, an eye mask, and two pins), and tons of memories! |
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YALLWEST 2019 was held on May 4th at Santa Monica High School in Santa Monica, California, USA. *Jen received priority admission to the festival and was offered a complimentary ticket to all ticketed talks. |
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jen is also known as J.W. Lynne, a best selling author of eleven novels. Click on any of the titles below to see the book on Amazon! THE UNKNOWN: Eight kids learn the shocking reason why they were kidnapped. ABOVE THE SKY: A girl lives in a world where touching her soulmate is forbidden. THE DARKNESS OUTSIDE: A teen is locked in a bunker to take a simulated trip to the moon. KID DOCS: An experimental program turns kids into doctors. WILD ANIMAL SCHOOL: A girl falls in love with a boy at an exotic animal ranch. WHAT HE DIDN'T TELL ME: A traumatized girl meets a boy with a horrible secret. IF I TELL: A teen wonders if her father is a serial killer. Besides reading books and dreaming up stories to write, Jen's favorite activities are singing along to musical theater soundtracks and hiking in California's beautiful parks. **Jen's books are available on Kindle Unlimited.** |
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Heading to Los Angeles for
YALLWEST? Check out Jen's L.A. Bucket List for great ideas of things to do while you're in town! Jen's reviews and photos of other YALLWEST book festivals: YALLWEST 2016 Day 1 YALLWEST 2016 Day 2 YALLWEST 2017 YALLWEST 2018 YALLWEST 2022 Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, YallWest 2020 and 2021 were not held in-person and were rebranded by the organizers as YALLSTAYHOME (Yall Stay Home), a virtual book gathering that took place largely online. The next YALLWEST will likely be in 2024! Other popular posts you might enjoy: Descriptions of great YA books in ten words or less YA Dystopian Book Bucket List YA Contemporary Book Bucket List Go on a blind date with a YA book |
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YALLWEST 2024 tips: Follow YALLWEST on Facebook and Twitter to be the first to know the details about the 2024 festival, including the complete author lineup and schedule. Before you go, look over the schedule and program and plan out your day. If you want to be among the first people to walk through the gates when the festival opens, arrive early. For YALLWEST 2023, about 30 people were in line at 7:30 AM (the festival was scheduled to open at 9 AM) and the line grew quickly after 8AM. If there's an ARC of a soon-to-be-published book that is on your must-read list, stop by the booth where it will be given away as soon as you arrive at the festival to make sure you know the rules to get that specific ARC. If there's an author who you'd like to have sign your book, review the signing schedule carefully. Lining up to meet certain authors (generally those marked on the schedule with an *) may require a wristband. Check the rules to see when those wristbands will be distributed. If there's a panel that you MUST attend, arrive at the panel early. At YALLWEST 2023, I saw lines for some popular panels beginning more than 20 minutes before the panel was scheduled to start. A few events (generally the "Keynotes" and "Smackdown") require tickets that you purchase online in advance. Be prepared to wait in long lines for almost everything. Pack a refillable water bottle. There are drinking fountains at the school where you can fill your bottle throughout the day. Dress in layers. In Santa Monica, California, the weather tends to be cool early in the day and in the evening, but temperatures can get hot during the day. Wear comfortable closed-toed shoes. The Santa Monica High School campus is not very large, but you will be surprised how much walking you will do, often on crowded walkways. |