BEA '15 Recap

WHEW! My trip to New York City for BEA this year was a whirlwind 6 days that left me totally exhausted but also very reinvigorated about books and blogging and this entire, wonderful community. I'm glad I get a chance to relax now (for a bit... I leave for Europe next week!) but I also loved the chance to spend time with some of the most fantastic people in US publishing. I was terrible about taking pictures because there was always SO MUCH HAPPENING but I borrowed a couple from my friend and BEA buddy Ciara of Lost at Midnight for this post (unless otherwise credited, all photographs are hers).

Tuesday

I arrived in New York on Tuesday afternoon and my roomies (Ciara, Emilie, Katherine, Kathy, and Kaley) and I all basically dumped our stuff in our rented apartment and turned back out the door to head to Teen Author Carnival, which took place at one of the NY Public Library locations that night.

There were two panels running concurrently and then two more concurrent ones following, so I got to attend two of the four that night.

Panel 1 was about the concept of time in YA and featured Lance Rubin, Adi Alsaid, Marieke Nijkamp, Tommy Wallach, Leila Sales, and Jennifer E. Smith, and was moderated by Rebecca Serle.

Panel 2 focused on world building and featured Melissa Grey, Virginia Boecker, Alex London, Jennifer L. Armentrout, Alexandra Bracken, and Susan Dennard, and was moderated by Claire Legrand.

Afterward there was time for some book signing where I met amazing authors like Susan Dennard (hey Sooz, we didn't die getting Truthwitch, just like we promised we wouldn't!), Katie McGarry (with whom I gushed over her characters), Dahlia Adler (finally! Just as awesome in real life as on the internet, which is pretty damn awesome), and Adam Silvera (who is the most wonderful person and also super tall), among others.

  

Me and Adam posing nicely (in which he is so tall and I am so short) and then being silly so I could be the tall one for once! (These pictures are mine)

Katherine and me Dumplin' posing for Julie Murphy after Teen Author Carnival on Tuesday 

Wednesday

Wednesday marked the beginning of BEA with the half-day, which kicked off with some serious Truthwitch madness as everyone scurried to Macmillan as the floor opened to snag a golden ticket (literally) to be able to get this one. This was probably the most intense thing I took part in at BEA, though I heard there were some similar reactions to Alexandra Bracken's signing of Passenger the next morning. Aside from that crazy entrance, though, Wednesday was a great day and I loved getting to see Sooz again (also oh my gosh I am so excited to start Truthwitch!). In the line, waiting for a few hours like the dedicated fans we are, I met Hazel (who did my blog design!) and Louisse, who both came to BEA from the Philippines! Talk about dedicated!

That night was the Epic Reads party, which I felt so lucky to be invited to (shoutout to Suman at Harper Canada for scoring us Canadian girls invites - you're the best!) At the party I met and actually got to chat a bit with some of the lovely Harper people, including Margot, briefly, as well as some Harper authors like Corey Ann Haydu, Patrick Ness (who signed my awesome book shimmy tote because he's great), and Maggie Lehrman. We all also went home with an awesome goodie bag containing some printouts of the cool Epic Reads posters (like their retellings bubble map and their 365 days of YA graphic), some yummy treats (below), and a fall Harper ARC (I got Ice Like Fire!). Such a fun night, overall!

 Epic Reads' epic rice krispie treats! 

Ciara and me after Epic Reads

Thursday

Thursday was a little more of a quiet day, wandering around the floor, stopping by some signings (I finally got to meet Sara Raasch) and chatting with people, including finally getting to meet Ksenia, formerly of Macmillan publicity, who is now working at Simon & Schuster and who is amazing.

Later on in the day I got to meet up with Shae of Shae Has Left the Room and we got to sit in the park and catch up, which was wonderful. It's always so great to finally get to sit and chat in person with the people you're friends with online, so I loved getting that chance.

Shae and I then headed to the Fierce Reads party at the Strand where we got to mingle with some amazing people. I met authors (I got to chat briefly with Marissa Meyer (!!!), Leigh Bardugo, and Sandy Hall, plus Leila Sales and Josephine Angelini, who are both even more unfairly gorgeous in person were there) and the amazing Macmillan team, including Brittany and Mary, who are both so sweet. I also got to meet Christina and Gaby, met and spent some time with Bekka and Ashleigh, and got to chat with Lili and Gillian. We also each went home with an awesome Fierce Reads tote bag with a book from each author inside!

Friday

BEA finale day (because no way was I braving BookCon) and the day I spent the most time in autographing lines because I got to meet, among others, MarcyKate Connolly (who is so sweet! Hugs next time, MarcyKate), Julie Murphy (where Ciara and I got to spend some time with another Julie, who is wonderful), I.W. Gregorio, and Marcy Beller Paul. I also stopped in line for Corey Ann Haydu's new middle grade, Rules for Stealing Stars; Dahlia had her signing for Under the Lights, which I was first in line for because I was NOT missing that, and I managed to hop into Alex Bracken's line for In the Afterlight.

Ciara and I were also first in line for Patrick Ness (signing his upcoming title The Rest of Us Just Live Here), whose line basically exploded out behind us and grew to be about five rows of people deep, so... good decision-making on our part to be early.

SO MANY PEOPLE. Except for the group behind the black rope in the back, everyone in that open space is all there for Patrick Ness. And that wasn't even everyone. I think this is when it was only around 3 rows deep. 

Friday night was our blogger dinner, which was a lot of fun. I got to meet and chat with Holly, Shannon and Val, who are all lovely and totally my kind of people. Afterwards, the roomies and I plus Tiff and Sarah all made a trip to The Strand, where I was almost completely overwhelmed by books but managed to be reasonable and not go over my spending limit, of which I am very proud. But seriously, if I lived in NYC, The Strand would have all my money, always.

Saturday

Saturday was basically the only free time we had, so we all headed out to do some New York things. Emilie and I did a little shopping and then saw Finding Neverland on Broadway starring Glee alum Matthew Morrison and So You Think You Can Dance alum Melanie Moore, who were both wonderful. This show was so fantastic - definitely see it if you get the chance. It totally had Em and I both in tears at one point.

Then that evening was the Paper Lantern Lit party in Brooklyn which was lovely and very mingle-friendly (I got to see Adam again and finally meet Tara, who was so nice and gave us all ARCs of the next big PLL & Harlequin title, Legacy of Kings, which I am really looking forward to - thanks so much, Tara!) and had the most delicious punch courtesy of Lexa, who the party was also for in honour of the launch of her debut, Proof of Forever.


And that's it! I left NYC Sunday afternoon totally wiped and lugging crazy heavy bags but so happy I did it.

Finally, getting back to the books (because that's what this really is all about, right?), to give you an idea of what kind of book talk you can look forward to from me in the coming months, here are the books I picked up at BEA that I'm the most excited about.

Any of these you think I should get to right away? Let me know! I don't know how else I'll possibly choose what to dig into first.