Top Ten YALC Panels/Workshops I'm Most Excited For

Collaboration: Melinda Salisbury (chair), Katherine and Elizabeth Corr, Tom Ellen, Lucy Ivison. I was lucky enough to be asked to chair a panel with Mel and the Corr sisters last month, which was great fun as they're an awesome combination. Adding the brilliant duo of Tom and Lucy to the mix will make this a brilliant way to kick off the weekend!

Heroines: Anna James (chair), Melinda Salisbury, Alwyn Hamilton, Amy Alward, Laure Eve, Sophia Bennett. Star-studded panel with one of my favourite chairs and a great list of super-talented authors! Alwyn's Amani and Mel's Twylla and Errin, in particular, are fabulous characters and I'm super-excited to hear from their creators.

Write Your Own YALC Zine Workshop: Eleanor Wood and Harriet Reuter-Hapgood. Fabulous pairing of two really fun authors; I've talked to both of them about zines before and I know they are huge fans with lots of experience doing them. I'm so excited to learn from this duo!

We Love Buffy: Katherine Woodfine (chair), Laure Eve, Alison Goodman, Non Pratt, Stefan Mohammed, Harriet Reuter-Hapgood. I mean, who DOESN'T love Buffy? Another panel stacked with star authors and this is going to be a hugely fun discussion, I'm sure.


Saturday

Books To Bags Workshop: Melinda Salisbury. This sounds intriguing, and I generally find that if Mel's doing something at a convention, you probably want to be in The Room Where It Happens!

Unconventional Romance: Lauren James (chair), Ayisha Malik, Jennifer E Smith, Patrice Lawrence and Paige Toon. I absolutely adored Ayisha's debut adult novel Sofia Khan is Not Obliged - possibly my favourite romance ever. I'm thrilled that she's involved in the upcoming Stripes anthology A Change Is Gonna Come, which sounds superb. Everyone else on this panel is a really talented author as well, and the subject sounds fascinating.

Laini Taylor interviewed by Katherine Webber. PERFECT combination of awesome author and my favourite interviewer (who is, obviously, a superstar author in her own right now.) I know already that I'll end this panel wishing it was longer!


Sunday:

Fandom: Lucy Saxon (chair), Maggie Harcourt, Chris Russell, Anna Day, Rebecca Denton. My favourite #boybandlit author and the author of the amazing convention-set Unconventional together on a fandom panel, chaired by cosplay queen Lucy Saxon? Yay!!

Funny Writing Workshop: Beth Garrod. There aren't all that many YA authors who can consistently make me laugh, but Beth did so on EVERY PAGE of her sensationally good debut Super Awkward. I desperately want tips from her!

Life Advice: Chelsey Pippin (chair), Hannah Witton, Holly Bourne, Sara Barnard and Gemma Cairney. I desperately need life advice, to be honest. With radio agony aunt Gemma and star YouTube advice giver Hannah (who've both written non-fiction YA books) joining Holly and Sara, who are amazing panellists and whose novels cover tough issues with incredible insight. This will be a real highlight, I'm sure!