I couldn't tell you when I first became aware of the UKYA community being a thing, but I do know that I have loved every moment being part of it.
Here are some of my favourite moments...
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Me at YALC 2018. |
Seeing my favourites win awards at UKYABA
I've been lucky enough to be able to attend the UKYA Blogger Awards presentation twice now, and both times I've had a wee cry seeing people I admire and consider friends in the UKYA community win awards. Everyone is so amazing and supportive, and I love being part of that joy.
I love getting to nominate the people I admire and always do a squeak of "yay!" when the nominations are announced and I see so many familiar names. My fingers are crossed for everyone shortlisted this year.
SundayYA Chat
I have met some of the very best people through this chat, and they're not just there to talk books (although we talk a lot about books). Some of them have become real life friends and we meet up for book events and signings and sometimes just a drink and a natter.
But that chat itself inspired so many debates and blog posts and I added so many books to my TBR. It's how I discovered Vic James in the debuts chat, immediately pre-ordering Gilded Cage and finding a new favourite. It's how I got to host my own book club chat and talk about a book I loved with lots of people.
You're Cora from Twitter!
The first time this happened was at YA Shot in 2016, and I was stunned. People recognised me, and I recognised other people, from those tiny little Twitter icons. I got to meet people that I talked to online almost every day, we got to talk about books in real life, not just online.
I like how now at book events I'm not alone (hello, first YALC, you were scary) and that I know so many people that I can chat to. I also love how everyone is accepting of anxiety and the need for space, and asking before jumping in for a hug.
Making Vic James cry
This sounds worse than it is, honest. Basically, I when I love a book I read it to death. I read it multiple times, I fold down pages, I annotate. It spends that long in my bag as I cart it around for rereading that the cover gets ripped and the page edges get smushed. ANYWAY. The first time I made Vic James cry was at YA Shot when she saw the state of my book - but it was happy tears! She said she loved that it'd been read to death and she scoured the annotations to see what I'd marked out and made notes on. At YALC later in the year I spent some time with her after her signing, she got to have a look at my scribbles in Tarnished City, and she circled the pages she wanted to see my reactions on in Bright Ruin.
Making Tanya Byrne and Eleanor Woods cackle
I absolutely loved
Floored so it was one of the books I annotated. Unfortunately I didn't much like one of the characters, Hugo, so when he came up there were a lot of snarky notes. At YALC last year I took my copy along to get it signed, and the authors got to have a flick through and see what I wrote about the characters. Every time I think about "GET IN THE BIN HUGO" I smile and remember the laughter that particular annotation brought up.
Bookish Events
I love meeting people and authors at events, getting to celebrate our love of books. Authors and readers get to interact, fangirl, share the love. Sometimes there are freebies, sometimes there is cake, every so often there's a wee drink.
I loved how at UKYACX I was sat right next to Sally Nicholls, after YA Shot I had a drink with Sarah Baker, after UKYABA Will Hill joined us celebrating our friend's successes, whenever I see Eleanor Wood at an event she jumps up and gives me a hug. I just love how authors are part of the community too.
I also love how I can meet the publicists I email and tweet so often, can thank them to their faces for their hard work and fangirl over the titles they've arranged blog tours for.
What are your favourite UKYA moments?