After canceling the event, the organizers of YallWest — the annual West Coast YA book festival — announced that festivities will continue, this time in the form of a virtual book conference.
The festival will be called YALLSTAYHOME.
“Welcome to YALLSTAYHOME, a virtual fest for our community to stay connected & inspired despite our social distance,” the YallWest Twitter account tweeted last week.
While details are sparse at the moment, YallWest has its author line up in place. Despite moving online, most of the authors who would have been at the physical event appear to be booked for the virtual event as well. Authors like Renée Ahdieh, Becky Albertalli, Victoria Aveyard, Alexandra Bracken and Angie Thomas will all be participating in one way or another. More than 70 authors are expected to make an appearance.
Check out the full line up here:
- Renée Ahdieh
- Melissa Albert
- Becky Albertalli
- Elise Allen
- Janella Angeles
- Victoria Aveyard
- Gwenda Bond
- Pseudonymous Bosch
- Alexandra Bracken
- Julie Buxbaum
- Cecil Castellucci
- Traci Chee
- Soman Chainani
- Roshani Chokshi
- Dhonielle Clayton
- Mintie Das
- Charlotte Nicole Davis
- Melissa de la Cruz
- Jennifer de Leon
- Natasha Díaz
- Hafsah Faizal
- Jennifer Donnelly
- Sarah Enni
- Francesca Flores
- Romina Garber
- Stephanie Garber
- Kami Garcia
- Stuart Gibbs
- Holly Goldberg Sloan
- Adalyn Grace
- Shannon Hale
- Frances Hardinge
- Carlos Hernandez
- Isabel Ibañez
- Jordan Ifueko
- George M Johnson
- Leah Johnson
- Mike Johnston
- Marisa Kanter
- Amie Kaufman
- Bill Konigsberg
- Jay Kristoff
- Victoria Lee
- David Levithan
- Alex London
- Marie Lu
- Tahreh Mafi
- Sam Maggs
- Karen M. McManus
- Tehlor Kay Mejia
- Shannon Messenger
- Bethany C. Morrow
- Sarah Mlynowski
- Lauren Myracle
- Danielle Paige
- Shane Pangburn
- Lewis Peterson
- Rory Power
- Brendan Reichs
- Ransom Riggs
- Lilliam Rivera
- Margaret Rogerson
- Zan Romanoff
- Brandon Sanderson
- Adam Silvera
- Rachel Lynn Solomon
- Tara Sim
- Margaret Stohl
- Nic Stone
- Angie Thomas
- Maggie Tokuda-Hall
- Sarah Watson
- Abigail Hing Wen
- Tracy Wolff
- F.C. Yee
- David Yoon
- Nicola Yoon
YallWest was originally slated to take place on April 24 and 25 in Santa Monica, CA. However, the event’s organizers canceled the book festival in early March due to concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic that has swept the globe. The virus has sparked similar virtual book fests.
YALLSTAYHOME will take place online on April 25 and 26.
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