Jump to content

YALC 2016 - First Authors Announced!


Recommended Posts

  • Showmasters Admin

YALC-Header.jpg

 

An initial list of authors taking part in this year’s YALC - the UK’s Young Adult Literature Con-vention at the London Film and Comic Con - has been announced today, including US YA stars David Levithan and Maggie Stiefvater and founder Malorie Blackman.

YALC first took place in July 2014, launched by Blackman as Waterstones Children’s Laureate 2013-2015. The event was the first large-scale public literature convention dedicated entirely to teen and Young Adult books ever to be hosted in the UK, and in its first year saw thousands of young people attending a weekend celebrating reading.

The event continued successfully in 2015 as a legacy for Blackman’s laureateship, featuring 70 Young Adult authors including Judy Blume, Cassandra Clare and Patrick Ness.

Following the huge success of the first two years of the event, described as ‘a hit’ by The Telegraph, ‘a +1 for publishing’ by FutureBook, and ‘a little corner of utopia’ by The New Statesman, YALC is now a permanent fixture of London Film and Comic Con.

YALC 2016 will take place in a dedicated Book Zone at the London Film and Comic Con, which this year runs from Friday 28 - Sunday 31 July.

A host of top YA authors will be joining Blackman for the four-day convention, which incorpo-rates a programme of author events, workshop sessions, drop-in activities and book-signings - as well as the chance for young people to learn more about writing and publishing.

YALC continues to showcase the best of UKYA, as well as hosting special appearances for US stars. For 2016, these will include superstar YA author and editor David Levithan, and award-winning author Nina LaCour, who will be celebrating their new co-written novel You Know Me Well, at the event. Also taking part will be New York Times bestseller Maggie Stiefvater, author of the Shiver trilogy and the Raven Boys series.

Other authors who will be taking part include Costa Book of the Year winner Frances Hardinge; radio-personality turned author Simon Mayo; and award winner Melvin Burgess, who will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of his ground-breaking YA novel Junk at the event.

They will be joined by two authors whose acclaimed debuts have been shortlisted for both the YA Book Prize 2016 and the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize 2016 - Melinda Salisbury and Lisa Williamson; as well as TV’s Dr Christian Jessen; and new talent Alwyn Hamilton whose first book Rebel of the Sands has sold at auction around the world.

More author names, and full details of the programme, will be announced in due course.

Managed by Showmasters, with the support of the UK’s YA publishers, Waterstones and charity partner Book Trust, YALC continues to position YA books at the heart of today’s popular enter-tainment culture, placing reading alongside TV, films, comics and gaming in the vibrant environ-ment of London Film and Comic Con.

 

First Authors Announced:

 

  • Malorie Blackman
  • Melvin Burgess
  • Alwyn Hamilton
  • Frances Hardinge
  • Nina LaCour
  • David Levithan
  • Simon Mayo
  • Melinda Salisbury
  • Maggie Stiefvater
  • Lisa Williamson

More to be added very soon! Don't forget we still have YALC dedicated entry tickets for LFCC (that also include entry to LFCC)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Met Ben Arronovitch last year and he was such a great guy and told me a whole lot about his writing process. Would love to meet some other great writers like Kevin Hearne or Jim Butcher. I've even written to the author's publishers here in the UK to see if we can get them both over to LFCC. But I'm just one man. I need a little help here SM. Please look into this. They are a couple of amazing Authors and the Iron Druid Chronicles (Kevin Hearne) and Dresden Files (Jim Butcher) are massively popular and would draw hundreds of people just to see these 2 guys. This needs to happen SM. If not just for my sanity!! Lol.

Edited by kamikazemonkey
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was literally just talking to an American friend about a book event in the States and she mentioned Maggie was going. I said I'd love for her to be at an event over her as she's one of the tops on my list. Realised I hadn't checked back on here recently to see if any authors had been announced and there her name is!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I'm still not sure if I'll be able to go to this, but if I do, I have to meet David Levithan. I got into his books last year and each of them have blown me away-- Every Day/Another Day in particular. I wasn't overly keen on the romance plot involved there but the premise of the book itself is just... amazing doesn't do it justice. Very pleased to know David will be here, I really hope I can go.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

My daughter and I met Darren Shan and Derek Landy in previous cons and both were brilliantly friendly and talkative.

 

Angie Sage would be a great guest.

 

Will we know what days the authors will be signing? Out of all the guests, I'm most looking forward to meeting Simon Mayo.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My daughter and I met Darren Shan and Derek Landy in previous cons and both were brilliantly friendly and talkative.

 

Angie Sage would be a great guest.

 

Will we know what days the authors will be signing? Out of all the guests, I'm most looking forward to meeting Simon Mayo.

 

Yes, the days will be announced. But usually that only happens much closer to the show.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...