EVENT RECAP: An Evening with Alice Oseman!

It’s no secret that I absolutely adore the work of Alice Oseman. They are easily one of my favourite authors, and I Was Born for This might just be one of the most read books on my shelf at this point. When I found out that Alice was going to do a mini-tour and Manchester was one of the stops, I just had to get a ticket! 

i wore my hand-painted jacket of course

Since I don’t get to visit Manchester very often, I went pretty early on in the day so I could visit some bookshops. My favourites are the Gay Pride Bookshop and Queer Lit. They have such a fantastic range of diverse books and you should definitely check them out if you’re in the area. 

Alice came by to quickly sign a few things at Queer Lit, so I was able to pop back there before the event and picked up a signed copy of my favourite Heartstopper volume, the third instalment! After that, I walked around to the venue to see where the entrance was because I’d never been there before, and I found someone queuing by the main door. Even though there was an hour before doors opened, I thought I might as well just stay there. I’m so glad I did because I met some wonderful fans who showed up just after.

I’ve spoken before about how much my anxiety messes with my ability to get out to events and signings, so to find fellow fans who were lovely and welcoming made the day even more memorable. Everyone was up for talking about why they love Alice’s stories and how they discovered them in the first place. I also loved seeing the diverse set of fans that came out to show support - there was no specific age-range that dominated the audience. 

The host for the evening was the lovely Joel from fictionalfates. He did such a fantastic job of asking all of the right questions, and we could see how much it meant to him to be asked to take part in the event.

Alice had a chat about Hearstopper in general for the first half of the evening, talking about the growth of the comic and, of course, the love for the Netflix adaptation that graced our screens back in April. Alice also spoke a little about the future for their career. After the final volume of Heartstopper is released to the world, they want to take a hard-earned break! But the only other thing they’ve been thinking about for the future is a potential sequel to I Was Born For This. Needless to say, I’m very on board with that plan. 

The second half of the event included audience questions. I didn’t get to submit a question because they had to be typed into a box during the ticket-buying process, and I was so stressed about actually securing the tickets that I didn’t put anything in the box. Oops. But it was exciting to hear what everyone else had asked! 

One of the questions Alice answered was about their advice to aspiring illustrators, something I kept a keen ear out for as a fellow artist. They recommended to simply draw what you love rather than focusing on what you feel like you should be drawing. 

When asked about their recent favourites, Alice said they’re loving Disney Dreamlight Valley at the moment. They’re also reading the ARC for the new novel by Allison Cochrun, which they’re particularly excited about since The Charm Offensive is one of their favourite stories! 

Alice was asked what her favourite musical moment was in the Heartstopper TV show, since the soundtrack is so adored by all of us. They said that Nick and Charlie’s snow day was the best, and they loved how it came across on screen. 

I’m thrilled I had the opportunity to see Alice in person after being one of my favourite writers for so long. It was just such a joyful experience and I’m thankful to everyone involved for making it such a memorable day!

Read More

EVENT RECAP: Wirral Kids Book Fest

On June 5th, us bookworms in the North got to enjoy the first ever Wirral Kids Book Fest, hosted by Bear Hunt Books with the help of Wirral Unplugged. As soon as I found out the festival was happening, I knew I had to sign up as a volunteer! I've never been able to travel to a book festival before, so with one happening right on my doorstep I was determined to help out as much as I could. 

i helped arrange the tables of books we had for sale on the day and of course i created a little Heartstopper section

The festival took place in the fabulous Bloom Building in Birkenhead, with the profits from food and drink bought on the day going to the mental health charities that the building works with. 

The first slot for the day was a reading of Fantastic Frankie by Jess Rose. I was the not-so-glamorous assistant who turned the pages! We then had some activities for the children, alone with some balloon creations for them to play with.

The next event was for Tsunami Girl by Julian Sedgwick, who gave a fascinating talk about the place and people that inspired the story. I also ended up being the person who volunteered for his little trick at the end! The talk got me super interested in the story so I purchased a copy of the book and got it signed afterwards.

The next event for the day was a joint talk with Vasti Hardy and James Nicol. They set up a table filled with props that connections to their books, and invited people up to select one. It was fun to hear about what inspired their characters and stories. 

We ended the day with a chat from neurodiverse author Emily Kenny, talking about her debut novel The Extraordinary Adventures of Alice Tonks. There was a fun section at the end for people to create their own hero or villain for a story. 

I'm so glad I decided to volunteer. As anxious as I am, I was less of a mess than I expected to be so I'm proud of myself for being able to help out. It's exciting to finally be having book events close to home, and I can't wait for next year! 

Read More

EVENT RECAP: Worlds Collide Tour with Leigh Bradugo & Rainbow Rowell

As you probably already know, I am a huge fan of Rainbow Rowell. Her books have literally set standards for everything else I read because they’re just that amazing. I’ve been part of the UK Fangirls group set up by the fabulous people at MyKindaBook for over a year now and there’s nothing I enjoy more than discussing Rainbow's amazing stories. After hearing a lot of buzz about Six of Crows from my fellow bloggers (making me pick up the book which subsequently ruined me emotionally) I’m now also a huge fan of Leigh Bardugo. So when I found out they were both coming on tour TOGETHER, to the UK, it’s safe to say I JUST HAD TO GO. Last night I was lucky enough to attend the final tour stop in Manchester, and here’s what went down!

I arrived at the library where the event was being held quite early and spent a little while curiously wandering around, not knowing where to go, and generally being too anxious to ask a person and find out (great start, brain). But I ended up meeting the lovely Sarah from Sarah’s Chapter and we started our own little queue outside that luckily ended up being in the right place. When it was time to be allowed in, I managed to grab a seat on the front row! 

Rainbow and Leigh started off the event with a little bit of background info on how they became friends. Leigh told us that she questioned Rainbow on why she was writing about a vampire with the name Baz, but not because she didn’t like the name. It was actually because at the time she was writing a story about a character named Baz Brekker. Yup, Kaz was originally named Baz!

Then we were all treated to a reading from both Carry On and Crooked Kingdom, and it was pure gold. From Carry On we got the scene between Simon and Baz down in the catacombs, and let me tell you, Leigh as Baz was utterly hilarious. From Crooked Kingdom we had the scene between Nina and Matthias whilst they’re undercover, and Rainbow as Matthias had everyone laughing.

After the readings, there was time for audience members to ask some questions. We found out that Leigh has been asked if she’ll write an epilogue or a short story about the future of the characters from SoC but she doesn’t want to do that because it would prevent her from returning to that world in the future. (Which she seems keen to do a few years down the line!) Both authors were asked to choose their favourite of each others characters from. Leigh said that Lincoln from Attachments is her ideal guy, whilst Rainbow’s favourite is Nina because she’s a woman who embraces everything about herself. Whilst talking about the publishing industry and dealing with rejections, Rainbow told us that Fangirl had a rocky start in the UK because she was told ‘fangirl’ wasn’t a term that was used over here and wouldn’t work as a title, which caused us all to giggle a little.

When the Q&A was over, we were then taken in rows to queue for the signing. Despite the large amount of people in attendance, both authors took the time to sign plenty of books and chat to everyone. As someone who gets very nervous at signings, it was great that the event was so relaxed. At one point, when I was quite near to the front of the line, the library accidentally turned the lights off on us, which turned out to be quite hilarious! Both Rainbow and Leigh were super lovely when I was having my books signed and it was a lovely ending to a wonderful event.

 

I was thrilled that we were allowed to take one of the gorgeous Six of Crows art cards. They were faced down on the table so we couldn’t see which one we chose, and I ended up actually getting the one I wanted the most!

My actual child, Wylan Van Eck Sunshine

We also got to take home one of these gorgeous tour badges. Isn’t the artwork beautiful?

Before I left, I was able to meet the lovely Beth from Words From A Reader, and there was some running for a train which may have almost killed us, but we lived to tell the tale. Was the event worth almost missing our train home for? Most definitely!

The Worlds Collide Tour is honestly one of the best author events I’ve been lucky enough to attend. Rainbow and Leigh are completely brilliant together and I hope they decide to do events together in the future. I’m so glad I had the chance to go - I had the best time! A huge thank you to everyone involved in making this tour happen.

Extra thanks to Kat from MyKindaBook for sending out one of the tour shirts, isn’t it gorgeous??

Were you lucky enough to attend one of the tour dates, or have you met either of these fab authors before? Let me know!

Read More

EVENT RECAP: An Evening With Maggie Stiefvater

Anyone who knows me will know how much I adore The Raven Cycle series. Those books have consumed a part of my soul. I attempt and most of the time successfully convince people to read them. I basically live and breathe that series. So when I found out that Maggie Stiefvater was coming to Manchester for an event, I just had to go!
 

I live a fairly long train journey away from Manchester and I don’t get to visit the city very often, so I saw this as my chance to go early, make a day of it, and go exploring. But the rain had other plans. So I spent most of my day in Manchester Central Library, where the event was being held. However, that did mean that as soon as I was allowed into the performance area, I was able to grab a seat at the front! How did I spend that hour and a half wait, you ask? I caught Pokémon, obviously. 

A Poliwhirl lurks close to the stage

Just after 6:30 Maggie was finally introduced to the stage and the event got underway. Let me tell you, Maggie Stiefvater is hilarious. She spent some time talking about her career before she became a writer, and her stories about her portrait painting had everyone laughing. She also told us how her typical working day as a writer varies and we learned that writing on planes is not something she’s fond of! We were also treated to a delightful story about the time John Green invited her to go racing and he ended up on fire. Twice.

Later on people in the audience got the chance to ask Maggie some questions. One of the most stand out ones was when someone asked how she plans her novels. She told us that she thinks of them like a road trip; she knows where she’s starting from, where she’s going, and why she’s going there, but she does various fun things along the way in different places. 

Maggie telling us about the time her research trip to Scotland didn't exactly go to plan...

The last question of the night was about Maggie moving on from The Raven Cycle. She told us that she’d had a six-month book hangover after she finished writing it, during which she found herself wanting to go back to the magic system that she’d spent so long creating. To help herself get out of it she reminded herself that after writing four books in this series with readers wanting certain things to happen before the end, she was now free from expectation and could work on something totally new.

After the talk, we were then allowed to get our books signed so I joined the exceptionally long queue! It was a sold out event and definitely the biggest turn out for a signing that I’ve been to in a long time, and the organisers did a great job of helping everyone. We were also offered a choice of super cute badges to take home! 

I was able to meet Maggie and have my copies of The Raven King and The Dream Thieves signed, my two favourite books in the series. I also told her just how much her books had ruined me in the best possible way. I'm generally rather nervous and mostly awkward at book signings, but Maggie was super lovely! 

 

It was such a fantastic event with a great atmosphere, and if you ever have the chance to see Maggie in person – do it. She is one of the funniest and most engaging authors I’ve had the chance to see! Thank you to Waterstones Deansgate and Scholastic for such a fab night. 

Read More

EVENT RECAP: Be True To Yourself, with Jandy Nelson, Lisa Williamson, and Sara Barnard

Last night I was lucky enough to attend the Be True To Yourself event in Waterstones, Liverpool with Jandy Nelson, Lisa Williamson, and Sara Barnard. The minute I heard that this event would be coming to my nearest city, I had to book a ticket immediately. A talk with three fabulous authors whose books I adore? Yes, please! 

Like the eager beaver that I am, I arrived super early and nabbed myself a seat on the front row. (This is something you do regularly when you’re are as tiny as me and know that your chances of seeing anything from a few rows back are slim.) The talk got underway, chaired by the awesome Cathy Cassidy who asked various questions to the authors about their books and the YA genre. 

The talk touched upon plenty of interesting topics, including the issues teenagers face today as opposed to a decade ago, such as the constant pressures of social media changing how young people interact. There was also a discussion on a topic that I bring up a lot in my book reviews; female friendships in the YA genre. As Sara and Lisa both pointed out, friendships are so important at a young age, and can have a much bigger impact on your life than romantic relationships. Lisa made a great point by saying that whilst she still has friends from her teen years, she can barely remember the faces of her crushes, and that’s so very true! This is why we need more books written around the power of platonic love between friends. 

All three of the authors did a reading from their books. Jandy even had Lisa provide the voice of the ‘hot British guy’ when reading an extract from I’ll Give You The Sun! 

Afterwards, some of the guests had a chance to ask questions, and we got a clue from each author about the project they’re working on next. Once the talk was finished, we had the chance to go and get our books signed! 

I had such a lovely time at the event and it was super inspiring to hear the authors talk about the topics they touch upon in their books. These are three very important stories, and I can’t recommend them enough to anyone who hasn’t read them yet! Hopefully, authors like Jandy, Sara, and Lisa will pave the way for more stories about embracing your true self. Thank you to Sara, Jandy, and Lisa for being wonderful - it was great to meet you all! 

Read More