NYC Teen Author Festival: Part Two

I thought maybe the second day of the Symposium would be more crowded, it being on a Saturday and all, but there weren't any more people there than the day before.  There were, however, more teenagers, which was nice to see.  And they were all excited to see the authors they liked, which warms my heart.

There were four panels the second day as well, plus one tribute.  The first panel of the day was "The Ties That Bind, Part One: The Struggle Against Darkness," with Kim Harrington, Lisa McMann, Maggie Stiefvater and Robin Wasserman and moderated by David Levithan.  Each author chose a passage from her upcoming novel where a character is coming up against darkness.  Three out of the four books were fantasy or sci fi.  David asked how much the characters were shaped by the darkness they experienced.  Kim Harrington, whose upcoming book Clarity I've been hearing a lot of buzz about, said her book looks at truth versus family loyalty and because her main character had been through years of torment it formed the young women she became.  Robin's books, the Skinned series, looks at a girl whose world was free of darkness, and what happens when that darkness seeps in.  Robin had the most thoughtful things to say on this panel.  She talked about how in writing about darkness, writers often focus on very small things, not the larger darkness of the world.  She's like to try to do that and see other writers do it as well.

NYC Teen Author Festival: Part One

This weekend I went to a portion of the NYC Teen Author Festival. The Festival was all week long, starting on Monday and running through Sunday. I went for the Symposium on Friday and Saturday, which consisted of panels of YA authors speaking on different topics. The Symposium was held at the main branch of the NY Public Library. The one with the lions out front. Despite having gone to undergrad in New York, I had never been to the main branch of the library. I know. Shame on me. I'd been to other branches though. Just not the main one. The main branch is a purely research, none-circulating library. It is very pretty. And large.

I was expecting the Festival to be like the Boston Book Festival. Tons of people. Crazy long lines. Having to get there two hours early or you wouldn't be able to get a seat. It was NOT like that. Not at all. I got there an hour early and there was no one. I could have gotten there five minutes before with no problem. The auditorium wasn't even half full (it sits 177 people). What's up NYC Teen Author Festival? Where are all the people? Certainly since it's just YA authors that narrows down the field of interest, but still. It's New York. It's free. I think part of it was that it isn't publicized especially well. I wouldn't have know it existed if a friend hadn't mentioned it.