My Writing "Awakeners": The Most Inspirational Children's and YA Author Events I Have Attended, So Far!

Recently, I read Kate Bolick's new book Spinster, in which she describes several women writers who have inspired her to live bravely, creatively, and unconventionally. Fortunately, I have met numerous YA writers who have inspired me to continue to study this wonderful genre, to write myself, and to embrace my creative spirit. I definitely encourage my fellow YA lit. lovers to attend some of these wonderful events and bookshops, and to bring your kids, if you have them. And I just could not narrow my favorite YA events down to ten, so I did eleven. I'm sure before too long, I'll be able to up them to 20. :) I hope you enjoy reading about them! Please feel free to comment below if you want more information about any of the events or the venues I describe.

1. David Levithan and Rainbow Rowell at Avid Bookshop: November 2013

David and Rainbow did a theatrical reading at this event, as they were kind enough to visit Athens after YALLFest. This event brought great energy to Avid Bookshop and to Athens. I believe it helped put our small, but noteworthy college town on the map in the literary world.  

Me with David, who brings me to tears nearly every time he reads his amazing books aloud. In particular, I recommend Two Boys Kissing, Love is the Higher Law, Dash and Lily's Book of Dares (which he co-wrote with Rachel Cohn), and Every Day. I am super excited that the sequel to Every Day will be out soon. 

Rainbow Rowell is definitely one of my awakeners. She writes about the nerdy, late bloomer girls like me, who are creative and lovable in spite of, or maybe because of, our quirks. Someone needs to tell our story, and she does it so well. I can't wait until Carry On comes out soon. 

2. John Green at Little Shop of Stories, Decatur, GA: October 20, 2008

Little Shop of Stories in Decatur does an amazing job with their author events, and the John Green event was no exception! The events feel both homey and high energy every time I go, which is a great balance.

And yes, as some of you have seen this iPod picture before. It's when I got to have a brief conversation with John Green's editor, Julie Strauss-Gabel. I was pretty star struck. :) 

3. Stephanie Perkins and Terra Elan McVoy at Decatur Book Festival

These two great women writers were on a panel one year at the Decatur Book festival, and it was so very fitting! Both women write books that remind me that women can be both sensitive and strong. Plus, I see a lot of myself in their protagonists, particularly Charlotte in Being Friends with Boys and Isla from Isla and the Happily Ever After. Plus, Terra and Stephanie are both brilliant and creative, and also extremely kind and benevolent people. In a world where some people are competitive and only look out for their own interests, it is refreshing to be around two great writers who genuinely care about others. So yes, I look up to them, even though I am not that far apart from either of them in numerical age. Also, I took a two-month creative writing class with Terra in 2009, which was a great learning experience for me. 

4. The ALAN Workshop at NCTE, 2014
         This conference was special to me in part because my friend Michelle Falter and I got to present a breakout session about using graphic novels to teach social justice issues. Also, I met several amazing authors!

Me with E. Lockhart, who signed my copy of We Were Liars, which we read for Avid Bookshop's YA for Not So YA book club. My favorite books by E. Lockhart are actually Fly on the Wall  and The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks (which by the way, Terra Elan McVoy recommended to me at Little Shop of Stories, and I am ever so glad she did). 

Libba Bray made such a brilliant keynote speech at ALAN last fall, which inspired the proposal my colleagues and I will do at NCTE this year! So far, I have only read A Great and Terrible Beauty, which I loved, and The Diviners, but I plan to read Going Bovine soon for our Avid Bookshop YA book club.

Me with M.T. Anderson, who wrote the amazing Sci-Fi/Dystopian novel Feed. I hope to re-read it again sometime, as I think its message is very timely. 

5. Leigh Bardugo and Stephanie Perkins: Dragoncon YA Literature Track, 2014

One of the many things I love about the Young Adult literature track at Dragoncon is that they offer book club discussions. Last year, we discussed The Grisha trilogy by Leigh Bardugo, which was super fun. Leigh Bardugo has lived a fascinating life, as she has also been a make-up artist in LA. I hope one day I am as interesting as she is. 

It was also delightful to meet Stephanie Perkins another time. I thought it was cool that she came to Dragoncon and was a part of the realistic fiction panel. I have met her a few times, and each time, I feel like she understand where I am coming from and writes autograph messages that I need to see. :) 

6. YALLFest 2014

I saw many great authors at YALLFest and got to meet very few of them, just because it was so crowded. That being said, it was a super fun trip to Charleston to take with my dear friends Meghan and Michelle from my Ph.D. program. All of the panels were very inspiring, and…I got to meet one f my awakeners, Sarah Dessen! Her family is from North Carolina, like mine, and she's from an academic family, like me. Also, her characters just…speak to me, and I get them. I have not read Saint Anything yet, but I look forward to it. 

7. Will Walton at Avid Bookshop in Athens, GA: May 26, 2015

Speaking of kind and benevolent human beings, Will Walton is definitely one of them. He was one of the first new friends I made in Athens when I moved back in August 2013. He was also the one who first invited me to Avid's YA book club, which has been a great outlet for me during my graduate studies. Also, he wrote this great book called Anything Could Happen, which is a coming-of-age novel about a boy in a small southern town who gradually comes out to his family and friends. The story is heartwarming rather than depressing, which we need more of in the YA world. :) Will's book launch event in May 2015 was…magical. There's just no other way to describe it. I was so excited to see our Athens community come together in the spirit of celebrating Will's accomplishments.

8. Laurie Halse Andersen at Clarke Central High School

I have had the privilege of meeting Laurie Halse Anderson a few times now, and I think she's a remarkable woman. I love how she has the courage to write about "tough stuff," such as mental health issues, which are definitely prevalent in the lives of characters in The Impossible Knife of Memory. This gathering at Clarke Central High School was special because the Athens community really came together, and she wrote me a nice personal message about hoping to see me at NCTE. :) 

9. ALAN Workshop 2012 

I went to this event a year before I started applying to Ph.D. programs and while I was working toward a MAPW certificate in creative writing at Kennesaw State University. I loved how the Science Fiction and Fantasy genres were so well represented that year, along with female writers. Unbeknownst to me, this event foreshadowed my future desires to study comics and strong female protagonists in Dystopian and Fantasy YA literature. 

Shannon Hale 

Kristin Cashore 

Rae Carson 

Marissa Meyer 

Scott Westerfeld 

Barry Lyga…How I loved The Astonishing Adventures of Fan Boy and Goth Girl 

10. ALAN Workshop 2007 

This was the first time I met Laurie Halse Anderson. I learned about Fever 1793, which I later taught to my gifted middle school students. They loved it! 

What an honor it was to meet Christopher Paul Curtis. He is from Flint, Michigan, which is where I was born and spent the first 13 years of my life. He writes amazing books for kids. My middle school students used to love The Watsons Go to Birmingham and Bud Not Buddy, and I loved teaching those books. Elijah of Buxton was one of our reading bowl books in 2009/2010, and I was excited.  

11. The GCBA Children's Conference 2014 

            This really is an awesome conference, and I hope Georgia educators, librarians, and scholars of children's literature will continue to attend it and support it. In 2013-2014, I helped promote and organize the conference as part of my assistantship at UGA. It was a lot of hard work, but it was worth it to have a chance to meet these amazing children's authors.  

Me with Jenni Holm, author of the Babymouse series. I saw her at NCTE in November 2014, where she and Matt Holm did a panel on comics/graphic novels with Raina Telegeimer. I was so honored that she remembered me. 

Jodi Moore, 2013 Georgia Picture Storybook Award for When a Dragon Moves In (illustrated by Howard McWilliam). She's such a wonderful person, and I'm so lucky I got to meet her.  

I am lucky to have met each of these authors and felt a kinship to each of them. I hope that one day, when some things in my life are a little bit different, I will fulfill my dream of writing a middle grades or YA novel. For the time being, I will enjoy reading these books and meeting the authors. Also, I am blessed enough to get to study these books and write articles about them as part of my job, and I look forward to seeing where these adventures will take me.