[I'd better start with a disclaimer that this is NOT strictly travel unless travelling back to your birth city (hooray... Croydon) and staying with your relatives there almost indefinitely and for no purpose, allowing them to cook your meals and 'looking for a job' while walking out of unpromising job interviews can be considered adventurous.]
Last Thursday I stumbled upon something amazing. @carlybennett had tweeted about her excitement for @yalc_uk. Intriguing. I clicked the mysterious link. And I discovered the UK's first Young Adult Literature Convention was taking place that very weekend, within London's star-studded Film and Comic Con. Alas! Tickets were sold out. But lo! Tickets were to be sold on the door.
Startled to find myself inexplicably in the right place at the right time(!) I rocked up to Earls Court Two at 7.45am and discovered that I was very, very far behind my forward-thinking peers. But once the longest queue I have ever stood in got moving, I was in the door within half an hour, and snapping up tickets to the panels I wanted to attend at the YALC counter.
Over the weekend I attended panels featuring all sorts of literary stars - Patrick Ness, Marcus Sedgwick, Sally Green, Meg Rosoff - but my favourite among them all was 'I'm too sexy for this book', chaired by James Dawson (all hail the Queen of Teen), featuring Cat Clarke, Non Pratt and Beth Reekles. Very innuendo, so laughter. My good friend Jess of the Copenhagen adventure had the time of her life. So did I.
I also entered the ballot for many workshops, of which Lucy Christopher's 'Writing Wild Settings' and Catherine Johnson's 'Writing Historical Fiction' were outstanding. Almost as outstanding as my moment of eye contact with Anthony Head:
Other stars spotted included Lena Headey, Summer Glau and Jason Mewes. I also stood in close proximity to David Wenham while he signed his soul over to Jess. And Karen of the Skyrian adventures was there but we hadn't told each other we were going and it was a very bittersweet and heartbreaking near-miss when I found out later she had been there.
A pretty amazing weekend to start off an unexpected summer in London.
Last Thursday I stumbled upon something amazing. @carlybennett had tweeted about her excitement for @yalc_uk. Intriguing. I clicked the mysterious link. And I discovered the UK's first Young Adult Literature Convention was taking place that very weekend, within London's star-studded Film and Comic Con. Alas! Tickets were sold out. But lo! Tickets were to be sold on the door.
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| Excuse poor photography |
Over the weekend I attended panels featuring all sorts of literary stars - Patrick Ness, Marcus Sedgwick, Sally Green, Meg Rosoff - but my favourite among them all was 'I'm too sexy for this book', chaired by James Dawson (all hail the Queen of Teen), featuring Cat Clarke, Non Pratt and Beth Reekles. Very innuendo, so laughter. My good friend Jess of the Copenhagen adventure had the time of her life. So did I.
I also entered the ballot for many workshops, of which Lucy Christopher's 'Writing Wild Settings' and Catherine Johnson's 'Writing Historical Fiction' were outstanding. Almost as outstanding as my moment of eye contact with Anthony Head:
Other stars spotted included Lena Headey, Summer Glau and Jason Mewes. I also stood in close proximity to David Wenham while he signed his soul over to Jess. And Karen of the Skyrian adventures was there but we hadn't told each other we were going and it was a very bittersweet and heartbreaking near-miss when I found out later she had been there.
A pretty amazing weekend to start off an unexpected summer in London.
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