Dear Aly,
This past weekend was heaven for book nerds!!! The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is like “Coachella for normal people” (an actual quote by an actual person who passed by me!) I wish I could have packed you away in my suitcase and taken you with me, it was so amazing!
First off, this festival is HUGE!!! It takes over basically the entire main campus of USC! There are little white tents everywhere, lined up in neat little rows. Publishing house representatives abound, with stacks of their best sellers. There was food trucks (yum!), entertainment, and even games for the kids!
Of course the main draw is the more well-known authors. The likes of John Green, Giada DiLaurentiis, T. C. Boyle, Katherine Schwarzenegger, Rob Delaney, Veronica Roth, and Rainbow Rowell topped the lists. A lot of these bigger events required tickets to get in, since they were in larger, indoor halls. I heard the line for the John Green signing was like 2500 people long! That’s a lot of Nerdfighters!
The events I went straight to were all near the YA stage (no surprise there!). Right when I arrived, Marissa Meyer (Lunar Chronicles series) and Sarah J. Maas (Throne of Glass series) were both holding signings. Finally, my opportunity to buy The Assassin’s Blade and have it signed!!!!
The epic Sarah J. Maas had all her fans sign HER copy of Throne of Glass as well, how cute!
Marissa Meyer! What a cutie
Other amazing YA authors present were: Leigh Bardugo, Laurie Halse Anderson, E. Lockhart, Amy Tintera, Lauren Myracle, Cecil Castellucci, Lauren Oliver, Stephanie Perkins, Laini Taylor, Ann Brasheres, Eoin Colfer, Melissa De La Cruz, and so many more!!!
For me, the main main main thing I could not miss was the Tahereh Mafi signing. You all know how deep my love for Tahereh runs, I was soooooo stoked to meet her and have her sign my shiny brand new copy of Ignite Me! She was so sweet and beautiful and poised and ahhhh I could go on forever! My only regret was that I should have sought out Ransom Riggs as well, since he was having a signing at around the same time. But the starry-eyed effect Tahereh created in me lasted far too long for me to function enough to find Ransom. Meh.
at Tahereh Mafi’s signing! Isn’t she gorgeous??!
If you’re book-nerdy like us, you HAVE to check out the Festival of Books!! I know there’s a ton of similar festivals around the country, so if there’s one near you, go! It’s free, you get to be around like-minded people, books, and just have a good time! It’s a really cool environment, and judging by the amount of people who showed up and hung around all day, I’m confident that books are here to stay!
Read read read! Whether it’s on an eReader, a hard copy, on your computer or phone, just READ! It’s so good for you, it’s exciting, and you get to explore worlds you never knew existed!!
Happy Reading,
Zoe
All my signed books!
YA Sci-Fi/Fantasy panel: Leigh Bardugo, Marissa Meyer, Cecil Castellucci, Sarah J. Maas!
Photo credits to Karina DePiano
FromAtoZBooks 