Event Recap & Giveaway: A Look back at 5 Years of YallWest & Looking Forward to YallStayHome

Crushed on by Christy Jane, on April 20, 2020, in Events, Feature / 17 Comments

Event Recap & Feature: A Look back at 5 Years of YallWest & Looking Forward to YallStayHome

Team BookCrushin has spent the last 5 years celebrating YA at the annual YallWest book festival, held in late spring in Santa Monica. This is a time when we see friends from around the country, hang out with authors we know, meet new authors, and get to know publicists. While we are sad we can’t come together this year, we want to celebrate 5 years of YallWest and talk about YallStayHome!

We also put together a giveaway of books I bought to get signed at events, but since the events aren’t happening we are still giving away the books! Go the bottom and enter the rafflecopter.

YallWest Year 1 – 2015

Kelly:
My best friend and co-creator of BookCrushin, Shannon, had previously moved to San Diego, so we each decided we would visit each other in combination of big bookish events! Shannon was to come home to the first ApollyCon here in Philly, and when we heard that YallWest was coming to LA we thought it was a great reason to get me to fly across the country to visit. This inaugural year was a tad different than other years but I am so glad I was able to be a part of it.

Shannon and I had so much fun! We got lots of books signed, met some book friends for the first time in person, hung out with authors, and ultimately had a blast…even if I had some of the worst sunburn in my life.

YallWest was so much fun. So many authors I had never met before, and solidified my absolute obsession for signed books and hanging around authors and similar folks with a passion for books. I vowed to return again!

  • 1st Selfie of YW w/Richelle Mead
  • behind the scenes selfie
  • behind the scenes selfie
  • Stephanie Perkins
  • Stephanie Perkins
  • Penguin coffee hour Andrea Cramer
  • Ransom & Tahereh
  • Andrea Cramer
  • Veronica Rossi
  • Leigh Bardugo
  • Veronica Roth & Livia
  • Me, Shannon & Ransom
  • Marissa Meyer
  • Lauren Oliver
  • poor sunburn
  • Penguin Teen Coffee Breakfast
  • #SignedBookSundays #YallWest edition
YallWest 2015


YallWest Year 2 – 2016

2016 was my (Christy) first year and I had NO IDEA what to expect. I was new to the book world in general and had never been to a book festival before. Meeting Veronica Roth and David Levithan were definitely highlights, as was the Smackdown where Libba Bray sang a song about David!

  • tiger Beat
  • Veronica Roth
  • Kiersten White
  • David Levithan
  • Rainbow


YallWest Year 3 – 2017

2017 was the year both Kelly and I (Christy) attended together, along with so many of our friends!

We also got to meet some (new) favorites!

  • Shannon & Dean Hale
  • Ryan North
  • THE Caleb Roehrig
  • Abigail Johnson
  • Sierra Abrams

Our friend Enna CRUSHED the cover guessing game Simon Teen hosted!

  • Roshani Chokshi
  • Rae Carson
  • Kelly & Simon Curtis
  • Adam SIlvera
  • Queen Bardugo
  • Benjamin Alire Sáenz
  • Fierce Friday line waiting
  • Marie Lu & Christy
YallWest 2017 Kelly’s Montage


YallWest Year 4 – 2018

The best part of YallWest is making new friends and seeing old ones! As you can see, our friend group continues to grow each year.

2018 felt like the busiest year yet with interviews, panels, giveaways, and signings! I got to see Veronica Roth again, where I practically cried over We Can Be Mended.

  • Marie Lu
  • Alexandra Monir
  • Veronica Roth
  • Claudia Gray
  • Gwenda Bond
  • Marissa Meyer
  • Becky Albertalli
  • Shaun David Hutchinson


YallWest Year 5 – 2019

In 2019, the Bay Area was well represented and again, our little group continued to grow. This was Jana’s first YallWest, too!

2019 might have been the year I saw the most authors?

  • Brittany Cavallaro
  • Mindy McGinnis
  • Bill Konigsberg
  • Margaret Stohl
  • Mary HK Choi
  • Christina Lynn Herman
  • Lorraine Cink
  • Charlotte Nicole Davis
  • Rory Powers
  • Julian Winters
  • Sandhya Menon

My fav part might have been seeing Gwenda Bond and meeting Matthew Modine!


YallStayHome Year 6 – 2020

Even though we are super bummed we don’t be in person, we are excited that we get to share the event with our friends who can’t make it in person! Check out our schedules below and tell us, where will you be joining us?

There are 5000 spots for each panel so don’t be afraid to register!

Christy’s Schedule
Kelly’s Schedule



There is a new panel added!
“Growing up Gotham…and New Mexico”
Date Time: Apr 26, 2020 05:00 PM Pacific Time

Also anyone can now join the audience for the Fierce Friday event!



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See the full schedule and giveaways here!

yallwest.com website link to register for YallStayHome virtual event



Giveaway

Box of books! USA Only due to shipping costs Enter through the rafflecopter for you entry to count.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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17 responses to “Event Recap & Giveaway: A Look back at 5 Years of YallWest & Looking Forward to YallStayHome”

  1. John Smith

    “Tell us about an author you want to meet in person?” I would like to meet the science fiction author John Scalzi, because I’m sure he’s very amusing!

  2. Amanda Jenkins

    I’d love a chance to meet Aiden Thomas! I follow him on twitter and he’s both adorable and very funny. Thank you for the amazing give away and see you on Ya’ll West this weekend!

  3. Danielle Hammelef

    I really want to meet Brigid Kemmerer, Jake Burt, and Josh Funk–some of my favorites in YA, MG, and PB, respectively.

  4. Teresa Warner

    I have many I would like to meet! Janet Evanovich, Jennifer Estep, Christine Feehan, Nicholas Sparks Stephen King and Dean Koontz!

  7. colleen capelle

    There’s so many authors I would love to meet, but I would say Kiera Cass. Her books, specifically The Selection series, are solely responsible for introducing me to the world of YA. I will forever be grateful to my mom for finding her books for me and Kiera Cass for writing them.

  8. Elisquared

    I have had the great opportunity to meet many of the authors I have wanted to meet: John Green, David Levithan, Julie Murphy, Ellen Wittlinger, Laurie Halse Anderson, and Shaun David Hutchinson. I think the one person I would love to meet in person now would be Alice Oseman.

    Thanks for the chance to win! 🙂

  12. Abigail

    I’d love to meet Rainbow Rowell because she wrote my favorite book of all time and is one of the few authors who I’ve always wanted to meet but haven’t yet gotten the chance.