Today I was fortunate enough to attend the long-awaited YA event so far this year - TeenCon2015! As part of the Sydney Writer's Festival, this really brought to light the wonderful Aussie YA bookish community, and all the publishers which attended made the evening so enjoyable. There was an awesome reviewer panel sharing their experiences, tips on what to read now and what's coming up in YA, an epic book boyfriend battle and of course...GOODIE BAGS (because free books *squee!*).
Basically, it's no wonder that I'm sure a lot of us there were feeling:
Reviewer Panel:
— Amelia Lush (@amelia_lush) May 24, 2015
These four lovely book lovers/reviewers shared some really honest insights into how they started blogging/vlogging, how the scope has changed as the community has gotten larger and what books they're excited about. The highlight would have to be when there was a conversation going on about insta-love and Kat Kennedy from Cuddlebuggery quite accurately said 'You don't fall in love like you fall in a ditch'. I couldn't have said it better myself.
Basically, the main ideas coming through were to be yourself when blogging, find your niche and keep at it. Everyone will have their own unique style, and that's a good thing - we all have our opinions to give, and finding others with the same is a fantastic cause for bookish excitement!
Basically, the main ideas coming through were to be yourself when blogging, find your niche and keep at it. Everyone will have their own unique style, and that's a good thing - we all have our opinions to give, and finding others with the same is a fantastic cause for bookish excitement!
The Aussie YA book community is amazing! 'we're all here for books' #teencon2015
— Eugenia (@Genie_inabook) May 24, 2015
Publisher Recommendations:
Publisher's frantically telling us what books to read in 30 seconds! #TeenCon2015 pic.twitter.com/U8T2QWkuBH
— Date a Book (@DateaBook) May 24, 2015
This was another great segment based on what to read now, and what's coming up later on in the year. There are a few books that have caught my eye especially, like Ten Thousand Skies Above You by Claudia Gray, Risk by Fleur Ferris, Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella, book 3 in The Winner's Curse trilogy and Dumplin' by Julie Murphy.
Book Boyfriend Battle:
Let the Book Boyfriend Battle commence! #TeenCon2015 pic.twitter.com/IZsO0V88QY
— WalkerBooksAustralia (@WalkerBooksAus) May 24, 2015
Goodie bags!
So perhaps there weren't 11 books in there as was mentioned, but between myself and the two others I came with - we still got some pretty awesome reads!
If you weren't able to make it, don't forget to check out the twitter hashtag #TeenCon2015
So - if you went to TeenCon did you enjoy it as much as I did? I know I can't wait to see what's in store for next year!
Thank you so much for the recap! I was so nervous I couldn't remember anything I said onstage tonight so reading about it all is amazing - I'm so grateful to you for this.
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome Kat :) You did a fantastic job on the reviewer panel!
DeleteAwesome recap, Eugenia! So sad I couldn't make it, but everyone tweeted so much I was half-there, having awesome conversations with Rachael. I wonder what happened with the goodie bags??
ReplyDeleteThanks Emily! I don't know what happened with the goodie bags, but at least there were still some great gems in there.
DeleteSounds like you had an amazing time Eugenia! Wonderful recap, the next best thing to being there for a Melburnian like me :) I reckon I'd seriously consider travelling to Sydney if they run it again next year!
ReplyDeleteIt was a wonderful event Bernadette, I'm definitely hoping it runs next year as well!
DeleteOMG you guys are so lucky that you get teen blogging conferences in Australia! Here in UK the closest con that there is in London and it's on when I'm holiday! Oh well!
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely an opportunity we appreciate Lucy, and hopefully there will be more to come. It's unfortunate you're missing the one in the UK, though there's always next time to look forward to!
DeleteThis sounds like it was such a fun time! I've never heard of it before, but then again that may be because I'm all the way in America! :b I'm glad you had fun and enjoy all your new books! :)
ReplyDeleteKrystianna @ Downright Dystopian
It was lots of fun Krystianna, and the first time it was on too which was exciting :)
DeleteThanks for the recap Genie, I'm sad that I wasn't able to be there but your recap, photos and tweets made me feel like I was a part of the action. What a fantastic experience, yay for our Aussie YA community!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome Jeann! It was great to find out that the hashtag was trending in Australia while the event was on too.
DeleteI loved seeing everyone Tweeting like mad, it made us interstaters feel like we were actually there. My heart was with Jamie too, but still can't believe that Chaol didn't win. Kat was an awesome representative for the traditional bloggers, she's probably our unofficial leader even. It's the fabulous hair. I loved seeing some of her quotes and must reads, also the publisher recommendations too, it's such an exciting year for YA!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recap poppet, awesome job! <3
It's good to hear that our tweets did that for you Kelly - there are some events interstate which I know I'll be on twitter looking out for soon! Kat was indeed fantastic (yep, it must be the hair). YA is going to be getting even better from the looks of things :)
DeleteLooks like you had a wonderful time, and YAY for all of the stuff!!! :)
ReplyDeleteI did Jessica, it was great! More bookish goodies were the icing on the cake :)
DeleteOh how fun!! This seems like such a fun event. I've always wanted to visit Australia, everything seems cooler down there xD I'm glad my babe Chaol made it to the finals! ;) What a cool goodie bag! Awesome recap, so happy you had fun :D
ReplyDeleteIt was amazing Rachel (and we Aussies to take pride in our supposed 'coolness' - especially since we have things like Vegemite ;) I'd love to go to BEA one day though - it looks amazing! Thanks for stopping by :)
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