“Grab all the books!” I shouted to my daughter as we jumped out of the car. We had arrived at NoVa Teen Book Festival, and we had books, many heavy books, to be signed. It was time to fangirl it up.
My top list from this event:
- Conversation with Tomi Adeyemi and Dhonielle Clayton. Smart, engaging, even silly.
- The events were named after songs, making a great playlist for the day: 24K Magic, Thriller, Look What You Made Me Do, Royals, and so on. Clever, One More Page Books.
- Panel with Audrey Couldhurst, Susan Dennard, A.C. Gaughen, and Tomi Adeyemi. Interesting, funny, and inspiring.
- Question and answer sessions, with fabulous authors ready to answer your questions. The one I attended featured Eric Smith and Dhonielle Clayton.
- Susan Dennard. Author of two different book series (Something Strange and Deadly series and Witchlands books), who shared her heartfelt story of failure on the way to success. Her writing is as funny and creative as she is, and she took time to chat pleasantly with every single person in her signing line.
- Powerful and emotional keynote presentation by Anna-Marie McLemore.
- The games! Authors got to play games between panels and presentations, including Balderdash, Mad Libs, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, The Dating Game, and so on. A cool way to observe these authors letting their guard down and having some fun on a long and tiring day.
- Special events for local educators and authors, creating discussion to bring authors and books to students.
- All authors who went to high schools and bookstores before or after the event. Thank you for maxing out your time and sharing yourselves even more!
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Megan Miranda’s books on display at the library - And the last and most anticipated on my top list, at the end, end, end of the long day, Tomi Adeyemi signed my copy of Children of Blood and Bone, while smiling and chatting with me like I was the first person she had seen all day, even though it was ten hours after the start of the event.
Want to read even more about this event? My friend and YA author K.L. Kranes also wrote a blog about this fabulous event!
bylisatully 
I am SO jealous you got your book signed. I wish I could have stayed to the very end! I should have given you my copy to sneak in a signature. Although half the fun is actually getting to meet the author! It was so fun!! Yay NoVa Teen!
Yes I stayed…while waiting in line, I chatted with other fans and also read new books I had bought. A win-win for sure!
Just two weeks ago, Entertainment Weekly magazine called Tomi Adeyemi “The Next JK Rowling,” so I’m very fired up to have my photo and her signature already in my grasp! Yay NoVa Teen indeed!