This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the annual YA Lit Conference at Anderson’s Bookshop with my mom. We look forward to this event every year! It’s technically geared toward teachers and librarians but book enthusiasts are welcome as well. 🙂
I thought I’d give you a little rundown of the featured speakers. Enjoy!
Mark Oshiro
- He gave his speech in numbers:
- At 8, he read IT by Stephen King(!!) and fell in love with stories.
- At 13, he saw himself in the character of Rickie in My So Called Life—a gay brown boy, which he’s never seen outside of himself.
- At 14, he was touched by The House on Mango Street
- In 2017, only 7% of children’s books were written by Black, Latinx, and Native authors combined
- 43 – The number of times his first manuscript (not Anger is a Gift) was turned down. Many agents told him it just wasn’t believable to have a protagonist who was both Latino and gay. Because, you know, he doesn’t exist.
Mary Pearson
- When she was in school, they didn’t have an extensive library. She only saw books by dead male authors. She thought her dream of writing was pretty hopeless since she was neither dead nor male.
- Then the librarian gave her The Outsiders and said she might like it. Her life was changed.
- She pointed out how women’s voices are often silenced or demeaned. They made a whole “Chick Lit” genre as a sort of throwaway genre that only women should read.
- Because of this she purposely named her first Remnants Chronicles book a name that declared that it’s a book about love.
- She pointed out that Kiss of Deception could appeal to anyone—men (and boys) are just as romantic as women, they just express it differently.
- Sometimes it’s hard to write in the current world, but letters she gets from her readers inspire her to keep going. She told the story of a woman who left her abusive husband because she was inspired by The Remnant Chronicles’ main character and the strength that she shows.
Ellen Hopkins
- She has gotten more political with her books. Her newest book (People Kill People) uses Violence as a narrator and shows how it seduces people.
- The WIP she’s working on now is even more political. She read us an excerpt (that may or may not end up in the final book—she just got editing notes) and it sounds like it’s based on a more extreme version of Trump America—sort of an idea of where she sees it could lead. (She admits she’s going to get in trouble with some people over this one.)
- She pointed out that often kids on the fringes join hate groups or gangs because they are desperate for a place to belong.
- She also talked about how we don’t want to listen to each other anymore. She wants to hear opinions different than hers and she wants to be heard.
Kody Keplinger
- She talked about the things she’s learned about herself via storytelling: her sexuality, themes she’s passionate about, etc. (Sorry, this one was mostly personal, and I didn’t take notes.)
Neal Shusterman
- He worked with his son Jarrod on one of the short stories in UnBound. He said he only did minor edits to Jarrod’s story. When he submitted the book to his publisher, they knew he’d been working with his sons (and maybe some other people?) on it, but he didn’t tell them which ones they’d worked on. He asked for his editor’s favorite story, and they said it was definitely Jarrod’s.
- So, he asked what they thought of them writing a whole book together and the publisher said yes right away. Of course, they asked what they had in mind, but they didn’t have any idea yet!
- They came up with the idea for Dry while sitting in LA traffic on a way to a meeting.
- Someone mentioned the concept of “72 Hours to Animal” to them, which is basically the theory that it will only take 72 hours for society to break down in a disaster situation.
- He talked about how people will either become Sheep (followers with no real drive to survive on their own), Wolves (people at their worst), or Sheepdogs (those who work to protect others).
- By the end of the drive, they were set on this story idea!
- Only 8% of California’s water comes from groundwater or the interior of California. The rest all comes from the Colorado River, which runs along the border. (He mentioned that they have water towers that are completely empty and some have been torn down). This river supply could technically get shut down at any point.
- Right now, people are just paying more for water and hoping the problem will go away. Neal says that even conservation alone can’t possibly solve the possible water crisis there.
- South Africa actually did face a water crisis right after the first draft was written, and a lot of the things that Neal and Jarrod wrote about ended up being true (for instance, since people weren’t allowed recreational water like swimming pools anymore, they didn’t have that as reserve water when it suddenly became unavailable).
- Movie & TV news!!
- The rights to Unwind have been sold to HBO and they are planning to make it into a series!!!! They say they want it to be their Handmaid’s Tale. This just happened last week, so it’s brand new news!
- Jarrod and Neal wrote the script for the movie of Dry for Paramount and just got notes on the first draft.
- They’re also working on a series unrelated to their books called Cry Victory, which is about the world after a war with an alien race. The war has been won, but what happens after that? (You can read a description of it in the Scripted Original Series Development announcement).
I also attended three panels: Fantastical World Building (with Ellen Goodlett, Kristen Simmons, Mary Pearson and Tracy Banghart), Thriller! Suspense! Survival! (with Neal Shusterman, Jo Treggiari and Megan Miranda) and Out of This World (with Emily Suvada, Jason Walz, Kass Morgan and Maura Milan). I didn’t write many notes from the panel, but it was great to hear all of these authors talk about their writing process and their work!
The authors I bought signed books from:
(It was so tempting to buy them ALL!! Sorry, a couple of these aren’t great pictures because of the backlighting)
I decided to pick up a copy of Mary Pearson’s Kiss of Deception so I could offer it to all of you! Sorry, but this giveaway is US only. Just follow the instructions on the Rafflecopter to enter.
I love YA Books! Great pics! Thanks for the chance.
Good luck!
Thanks for sharing your notes and photos. It’s interesting to hear authors’ thoughts about why they write, characters they choose to portray, as well as the worldly issues that are important to them.
Glad you enjoyed the recap!
I heard Ellen Hopkins speak a few years ago! She read from one of her books (I can’t remember which one now), but I had no idea she was getting more political with her stories. I admit I haven’t read most of her books. Most of them are written in prose, right?
It looks like you had a lot of fun! I’m going to the Origin event next month (so excited!), and it’ll be my first bookish event in years. It’s so great that you go with your mom every year! My mom doesn’t read and actually thinks it’s a waste of time, but eh. It is what it is — haha. I had a lot of wonderful teachers in school that encouraged reading, and now here I am!
I hope you have a lovely week!
Lindsi @ Do You Dog-ear?
Most of Ellen Hopkins’ books are written in verse (which I think is what you meant—prose is what most books are written in). I’ve just recently started reading her books, and I’ve really enjoyed them.
What a fabulous event and so many great authors! Love the pictures and thanks for taking some great notes.
Glad you enjoyed the recap!
I’m sad I missed this great event, I like that they’re doing panel sessions as well!
Great photos Nicole!
Do you live near Anderson’s too? I’m always excited when I find bloggers who live nearby. 🙂
I’m in Chicago so I often make the trek for author events, although I haven’t gone since July!
There are so many amazing events there. I can’t decide if I wish I lived closer or if it’s a good thing I’m not too close because I’d just live there.
I’ve never read “The Outsiders,” but it sounds like Mary Pearson followed a somewhat unusual path to success!
Yes, she did. 🙂
This sounds like so much fun! Thanks for sharing. I really enjoy your blog.
Glad I could share this fun event with everyone!
You saw so many great authors! I have to get back to reading Ellen Hopkins. Her books are extremely depressing, but I liked most of the ones I’ve read. I would totally watch an Unwind TV show. Putting Unwind on TV sounds like a brilliant idea.
I agree that Unwind will be fantastic on HBO—way better than it would have been as a movie, I think.
Thanks for sharing all of this. It sounds like it was a wonderful time. What’s funny is I’ve read two books by Ellen Hopkins…but they were both adult books. I need to actually read some of her YA titles. I also need to check out Dry. It sounds really intriguing, and scary too because it’s something that COULD happen. I love that he wrote it with his son.
-Lauren
I didn’t actually even realize Hopkins writes adult books. Interesting!
Thanks for the wrap up. I wasn’t able to go this year, and I was soooooo bummed!
I missed last year’s, and it made me sad, so I can relate. 🙂
What? IT when he was 8 years old? That is something shocking. To be honest I haven’t got to reading IT yet, given the massive volume of the book I doubt if I will pick it up any time sooner. Great post! Thanks for sharing the key pointers.
Pretty scary, right? I did read a couple of Steven King books when I was young, but not THAT.
What a fantastic event! I would have loved to hear Neal Shusterman speak. He just seems like such an interesting guy. I’m glad you had a great time!
He is truly fascinating. I highly recommend going to one of his events if you ever have the chance.
What an amazing event! I wish I would have been there (my country needs this kind of events). I don’t know how Mark Oshiro read IT when he was only eight. I’ve been staring at that book and wonder when I’ll be brave enough to read it.
I’d love to have heard Neal Shusterman – thank you so much for sharing your notes. <3 It's so insightful to listen to an author talking about his inspirational process. I can't now wait to read <i<Dry. And an Unwind will become a TV series?! =O I really need to finish reading the series now.
Oh, I know, reading IT at eight must have been TERRIFYING! And yes, you definitely need to finish reading Unwind—such a fabulous series!!
Oh my gosh what an amazing event! It sounds like a once in a lifetime opportunity. And I love what Mary Pearson said, I definitely need to read her books!
And can I geek out for a second? Water, from when I lived in California, is such a huge topic and the percentage he said is a little off….so Southern California, which houses 50% of the state’s population receives 55-65% of their water from Colorado. The rest of the water that is delivered to SoCal is from Northern areas of California. California is beyond fascinating because they have built a massive and interconnected water system. It’s capable of moving water from the northern border to the southern border and my Grandpa was a surveyor for the aquatic which is 700 miles long and 30 feet wide, it’s mind blowing to see. I could nerd out about talking about their water forever lol. And it’s crazy how half of the population lives in an area that gets such little rain…..my family that lives in Bakersfield, SoCal, averages 6.5″ of rain a year vs my family that lives in Humboldt, NorCal, averages 42″ a year yet almost three times the people live just in the town of Bakersfield vs all of Humboldt County. Anyways if you ever want to talk water I’m your girl. Lol. I can’t tell you how many conversations I constantly have about it with my family and friends.
Sorry I geeked out on water! We just spent the last 9 days in Orange County, Southern California, with my husband’s family and there were huge discussions going on about it almost every single day eeks.?
No apology necessary—it just made me realize that my random notetaking might not have been ideal, and I should probably double-check if I’m going to quote numbers. LOL!
It’s possible I wrote the number down wrong. I know he said 8%, but that number involved drinking water specifically and there was something about farms … Um, I probably shouldn’t quote specific numbers when I don’t know what I’m talking about. LOL!
I bet you had no idea I could ramble on and on about water ?. The joys of living the majority of my life in California. BUT I remembered a fact that has 8%, and your comment about drinking and farms rang a bell. So on the years where we have good rain our water consumption is pretty close to 8% Urban, 29% Agriculture and 62% Environmental. Hmm not 100% but it’s somewhere close to that. Oh my gosh, it’s like I’ve never left the state, all those random facts are still there ?!
Ha! You can’t get them out of your head now. 🙂
Thanks for the giveaway; I like the Kiss of Deception; the characters are so good. 🙂
I agree that Pearson’s characters are amazing.
What fun, Nicole! Such a great group of authors. I have really discovered in the past couple of years how much I enjoy hearing authors talk about their work.
And I can’t WAIT for Unwind on TV!
Yes, I find these types of events SO inspiring and wonderful!!
I have always wanted to go to a book event! Looks like happy times. =)
I hope you make it to one someday!