It’s been a week since YALC and already I miss it intently. If you didn’t see my previous posts, YALC is a literature convention held in London every summer, offering panels, author signings and publishing stalls with lots of goodies.
Last year I attended YALC on the Friday, and ended up loving it so much that this year I went for the full weekend. There’s something very special about attending a three-day convention with like-minded people who love books as much as you do; it brings out a sense of unity and gives a shared experience not often found elsewhere. Being able to stand in a queue with strangers and feel a synonymous excitement over books with them is nothing short of wonderful.
This year’s YALC was undoubtedly made more special by the fact that I got to spend it with Hollie @Hollieblog and Anna @ALiteraryPotion (both absolute babes), and also met a lot of my Twitter and blogging friends in person for the first time.
The weekend was jam-packed with panels, activities, and signings, so here’s a quick run-down of everything.
Books
I ended up coming away with a lot more ARCs this year than I did last year, including The Fandom by Anna Day, Invictus by Ryan Graudin, and A Shiver of Snow and Sky by Lisa Lueddecke.
I was lucky enough to win a few highly anticipated ARCs too, including The Beast’s Heart by Leife Shallcross, Zenith by Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings, and Everless by Sara Holland.
I also treated myself to a few purchases: Monstress by Marjorie Liu, Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody, and The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James.
As well as books, I picked up a number of chapter samplers, tote bags, bookmarks, postcards, posters and lots more.
I’m actually doing a giveaway on Twitter where you can win a lot of the goodies I picked up, so if you’d like to enter go ahead and follow the link!
Panels
A few days before YALC I posted my YALC plans and schedule, discussing which panels and signings I was hoping to attend. I managed to get to most of the panels I wanted to, including The Books That Made Me, Laini Taylor in conversation, and Patrick Ness in conversation. The Books That Made Me ended up being my favourite panel; it was so moving and sentimental in the best possible way.
I also saw the Faber & Faber cover reveal for Alwyn Hamilton’s Hero at the Fall. It was the first time the cover has ever been revealed so I was very excited to see the design.
And guys, look at it. Isn’t it gorgeous?! I think it matches the other covers in the series perfectly, and I can’t wait for the release next year.
Signings
I got my books signed by Alwyn Hamilton, V. E. Schwab, and Laini Taylor, which was one of the highlights of my weekend. Before her signing I managed to catch V. E. Schwab by a publishing stand and chatted to her for a couple of minutes; it pretty much made my life. (We’re fringe twins!) As a result, I ended up meeting Victoria twice on the Saturday making it one of the best days EVER. While she was signing my books I told her how much her novels mean to me, and I was so glad I got to say it to her in person because she seemed really pleased. So yeah, my life is basically complete now.
YALC has been my most anticipated event of 2017, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. I’m definitely planning to go for the full weekend again next year, but in the mean time, I’ve got plenty of books to be reading!
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Great post, Kate! Isn’t Victoria Schwab an angel? I just adore her and it was lovely to meet her. I saw her on Friday in Waterstones Piccadilly too. You got some really fab ARCs, quite a few I was hoping to get but wasn’t as lucky! Can’t wait to see what you think. Which are you starting with?
Again I wish I could have been there!! I’m so glad you had such a wonderful time and that haul is definitely impressive. I’m especially jealous of that Invictus ARC you snagged haha.
Great post Kate, I loved reading about your YALC experience because it brought back memories of my YALC experience! 😀
You picked up some great ARCs as well. I am so excited to get around to Invictus, obviously that was the ARC I was most excited for the whole weekend, and I really hope you enjoy The Beasts Heart. I’ll be looking forwards to your review for that one as it’s one of my most anticipated releases at the moment. 🙂
V.E. Schwab was amazing wasn’t she? I loved the Books That Made Me panel and Laini Taylor in conversation. I was glad I got to see both of those.
I am so excited for YALC 2018 now, as soon as the tickets are up I’ll be grabbing a weekend pass again! 😀
What a lovely round up. The weekend was just so great. And yes, Victoria is the sweetest ever!
I’d already met Laini during her UK tour for Strange The Dreamer and she’s the kind of author that ism just so inspiring and best of all encouraging to aspiring writers. She has a way of talking about writing that makes me go like: yep, totally hard but also doable. Haha.
Aww thank you so much! Both Victoria and Laini are just wonderful, I wish I could meet them again next weekend! I 100% agree that they’re very inspiring, just listening to Victoria speak at panels made me want to grab a notebook and start writing! Hopefully we can both keep that motivation going until we next meet them! 🙂
You got to meet Laini AND V?! AAAAAH, amazing!!! So jealous but so happy for you. 😀
I did! It was THE BEST weekend. I still can’t quite believe I met them both in one day – and got to talk to V twice! In terms of bookishness, it was probably the best day of my life! They’re both incredibly kind, enthusiastic, and genuinely happy to speak to their fans, so I really hope you get to meet them in the near future too! 🙂
I would love to meet Victoria!
I really hope you get to in the future! She’s such a wonderfully eloquent and kind person, and I could honestly listen to her talk about books and writing (or anything) for days!
She seems pretty awesome!! Kerri Maniscalco is another one I am dying to meet! She is so sweet on social media!
That’s so awesome that you got to meet V.E. Schwab!! I’m glad this was such a great experience!!
Hehe thanks Steph, it was wonderful to meet her again and not only that but TWICE in one day! I’m surprised my heart made it to the end of the weekend to be honest. She’s such an inspirational person and everything she says is so eloquent that meeting her will probably go down as one of the highlights of my year. 😀