Last weekend I attended the largest book convention in the UK: the Young Adult Literature Convention. Its been running for a few years now and runs alongside London Film and Comic Con at the Olympia, London. I had previously attended the event in 2019 and had a blast.

YALC is a mixture of a book fair, comic con and networking opportunity for anyone that posts bookish content online. Authors are invited to do book signings and panels, publishers have stalls with their current and upcoming releases and bookish people are there to meet up and hang out. This year I didn’t attend any panels and only attended one signing for William Hussey. There were a few authors I did want to meet but the queues were just too long. A lot of publishers were giving out samples for upcoming releases, such as The Golden Enclaves, the final book in the Scholomance trilogy by Naomi Novik, and crazy good deals from their biggest titles in recent years. Who can say no to three paperbacks for £10? (not me!) There were even some ARC giveaways (that I missed!), including an ARC for R.F. Kuang’s Babel!!

A few smaller publishers and indie authors were there selling their books and I picked up a couple series. I always make a point to pick up indie books at YALC and conventions in general as a lot of the attendees tend to focus on the big and shiny new releases by major publishers, and not the smaller indie authors.

My YALC Haul!

• Girl in Pieces – Kathleen Glasgow
• Aurora Rising (Aurora Cycle #1) – Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
• Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor – Xiran Jay Zhao
• Nevernight (Nevernight Chronicles #1) – Jay Kristoff
• Fire and Blood – George R.R. Martin
• The Poppy War (The Poppy War #1) – R.F. Kuang
• The Winter of the Witch – Katherine Arden
• A Deadly Education (Scholomance #1) – Naomi Novik
• The Last Graduate (Scholomance #2) – Naomi Novik
• The Golden Enclaves (Scholomance #3) – Naomi Novik (sampler)
• Ink, Blood, Sister, Scribe – Emma Törzs (sampler)
• Battle Ground (Battle Ground #1) – Rachel Churcher
• False Flag (Battle Ground #2) – Rachel Churcher
• Darkest Hour (Battle Ground #3 – Rachel Churcher
• Black Knight (Camelot 2050 #1) – David Cartwright
• Dragon Fire (Camelot 2050 #2) – David Cartwright
• Dark Magic (Camelot 2050 #3) – David Cartwright
• Yaya Han’s World of Cosplay – Yaya Han

This year YALC was shoved in a really weird place and it sort of squashed the event. Usually its placed in a separate section of the Olympia but this year it was in the same main hall with LFCC, just in the balcony upstairs. The murmurings on Twitter suggest that the YALC team hadn’t made the decision to move there, or were told long enough in advance to question or contest this decision. I had a discussion with a friends yesterday who also attended this year and we talked about how YALC has outgrown LFCC and should be its own separate convention. Waterstones is the main sponsor every year and they could definitely help YALC stand on its own and expand, making it a better experience for guests and attendees in the process.

As the day went on I had a wander around LFCC and I had the pleasure of meeting Yaya Han, one of my biggest cosplay inspirations. She one on the world’s leading cosplayers and in 2020 published her first book: Yaya Han’s World of Cosplay. This is a celebration of cosplay, the good and bad aspects of the cosplay community and an autobiography of Yaya’s incredible life story.

QOTD: Did you attend YALC this year and/or are you thinking of attending next year? 📚