Event Recap & Giveaway: YANovCon 2019
For the past 4 years, the San Mateo County Libraries have created a one of a kind local experience celebrating young adult literature in YANovCon and 2019 was no exception! I am always impressed with the variety of voices the library brings to the table, challenging the audience in real issues facing youth today. This year’s theme was Teen Resilience and more than 20 authors represented a variety of topics such as sexuality, racism, grief, the foster system, size discrimination, classism, and more. I feel honored to be part of YANovCon, beginning first as an attendee and now as a moderator and planner behind the scenes.
This year I had the pleasure of moderating the keynote panel, hosting Mark Oshiro, Adib Khorram, J.H. Diehl, and Akemi Dawn Bowman. Authors explored their own experiences with resilience, what teens in their community are working through, how they create the realistic world’s their characters live in, their favorite books growing up, and what they’ve read recently (Mark gave a special shout out to Mason Deaver’s I Wish You All the Best). It was an hour of laughs, stories of advocacy, and conversations with teens about writing and navigating the world today.
A local TV station recorded the opening, which includes the welcome, panel, and local teens reading their winning short stories. I’ve included the panel below, with the video starting where the panel does. I couldn’t have picked a better group to discuss teen resilience with!
Fellow bloggers Adriana and Enna moderated breakout panels focused on middle grade reads and facing what’s real (talking about the hard stuff). I also had a secondary panel focused on charting your own path and featuring Brandy Colbert, Kayla Cagan, and Robin Benway. It was a dream come true panel full of coming of age tales and books with characters I adore. Certainly, Yvonne, Grace, Maya, Joaquin, and Piper are charting their own paths in their stories!
Giveaway:
Signed hardcovers of Mark Oshiro’s Anger is a Gift, Akemi Dawn Bowman’s Starfish, Adib Khorram’s Darius the Great is Not Okay, and J.H. Diehl’s Tiny Infinities. Come enter on Instagram!
