This was my first time to go to the Teen Book Con, and it was as amazing as I had anticipated. I got to meet some of my favorite authors (Leigh Bardugo, Morgan Rhodes…). I attended three of the four panels, Power to the People, Power of Memory and Take Me Away.
Power to the People
Cinda Williams Chima, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Jennifer Nielsen, Caragh O’Brien, Mary Pearson and Morgan Rhodes
Power of Memory
Leigh Bardugo, Jessica Brody, Bethany Frenette, Claudia Gray, Dan Krokos, Lisa McMann
This panel was hilarious–you could really see how much fun the authors were having. You know, I had no idea Dan Krokos is so funny. I immediately followed him on Twitter after this panel. My favorite question from the crowd was: “Mr. Krokos, do you know that you look like Doctor Who?” The crowd cheered. He really does.
Another question was which books inspired them when they were teens, lots of answers but the one I was most excited about, Leigh Bardugo loved the Dragonlance series. I grew up on these books! I read them in fifth grade and have read them every few years to this day. A lot of George RR Martin love too.
After the panel I had to run up and tell Leigh Bardugo how much I love Shadow and Bone and tell her how awesome I thought it was that she is a fellow Dragonlance fan. It was a really great moment for me to fan girl with one of my favorite authors. We even have the same favorite three books in the series–kismet people!
Three of my most prized books. I will never part with them.
Take Me Away
Lenore Appelhans, Tera Lynn Childs, A. G. Howard, Sophie Jordan, Stacey Kade, Shannon Messenger
Then it was time to stand in line for the book signing
Sadly, my picture with Leigh Bardugo didn’t come out (sobs)
Everyone was super nice especially since I become an awkward mess when I get up there to get my books signed. I forget everything I had tried to remember to say. I was also working on the biggest headache so that’s why I’m not totally smiling huge in the pictures; my excitement did not translate.
Thank you to the amazing authors and everyone that helped put this event together. Shout out to Blue Willow Bookshop, my favorite independent bookstore.
Upcoming on My Friends Are Fiction- two signed books I’ll be giving away in the next few months…
How fantastic! So glad you got to meet everyone, and yes, it’s impossible to remember everything you want to say. 😉 That’s so funny about Dan Krokos and Dr. Who. I haven’t seen the show, but I’ve seen photos of the actors. Total doppelgangers! Oh, and I have not heard of Dragonlance. I’ll have to check it out. Thanks for the great recap!
Stephanie
I was raised on Dragonlance 🙂 It was the first ‘adult’ book I ever read (Dragons of Autumn Twilight). I’ve started on season one of Doctor Who–I’ve known I’ve wanted to watch it for years but I just never seem to have enough time for everything.
Great wrap-up! You are so much better at remembering to take photos of everything than I am! I think I got like 5 pictures the entire day, and not all of them turned out well! I just get so into the excitement that I forget about my camera. You got some great shots though! I really enjoyed the Power of Memory panel, too. Dan Krokos was hilarious! So awesome that you got to talk Dragonlance with Leigh Bardugo! I remember my brother reading those books when we were kids, but I was never allowed (he had to hide them), because my parents were strict weirdos. 🙁
I have a really large DSLR so hauling it around it’s hard to forget to take pictures 🙂 I am an amateur photographer (or was a few years ago…haven’t had much time for photography lately) so I always think in terms of pictures. My husband is the picture taker these days though. It was so awesome to find out Leigh Bardugo is as awesome as I could have hoped. 🙂
What a great post! I thought all of the authors were really, really nice. It was a great mix of people this year!
It was a great event. I just wish I could have bought every book there 🙂 I am really interested in Dan Kroko’s books now. I’ve never read anything by him.
I wasn’t able to go this year and was sad i was missing it but I had a very important thing going on that saturday. I bet it was awesome though, they had a lot of great authors this year. Love the post and all the pictures! =)
Wow! It’s fantastic that you got to meet so many authors and all in one place, too. I know what you mean about being an awkward mess. I met Maggie Stiefvater recently and couldn’t think of a thing to say to her. AND I prepared a few things beforehand. *facepalm*
Thanks for sharing!