Hobnob with Young Adult Fans at YALLWEST

The free festival returns to Santa Monica with author talks, more.

What to Know

  • May 4 and 5
  • Santa Monica High School (May 5)
  • Free

Digging into a fabulous, can't-put-it-down book? The kind of tempting tale that you sort of want to rush through, to discover what ultimately happens between characters you've come to adore?

And yet, at the very same time, a story that you never want to end, as you want to live inside the world the author has so artfully fashioned for, oh, the next several years?

This is often the case with young adult books, a genre that has been getting a lot of deserved attention in recent years, thanks to bestselling series like "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins (and the hit films that followed).

Of course, YA has been around for a good long while now, and devoted fans and talented authors alike will bring its thriving spirit to Santa Monica, via YALLWEST, on Friday, May 4 and Saturday, May 5.

Santa Monica High School, in fact, which is quite the apt and awesome spot to hold a lively, real-talk convention devoted to young adult literature. Santa Monica High is the location for the Saturday festival, do note, while a Friday afternoon/evening to-do will pop up at Santa Monica Main Library.

On the schedule?

So much "fierce" fan fun — "fierce" is folded into the name for the Friday event, by the by — including panels on facing failure when writing YA, Modern Love, jumping from page to the big screen, writing about music, and more.

Kami Garcia, Tomi Adeyemi, Jenny Han, Ransom Riggs, Gayle Forman, and several other acclaimed authors are set to show, panel it up, Q&A, and say hi to fans.

Tickets to this popular gathering? Y'all, guess what: They're totally free.

So find information on times, who'll be where, who'll be talking about what topics, and what you need to know to jump into this particular story: The story of a real-life young adult convention, flowering in Santa Monica, over the first Friday and Saturday in May.

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