EVENT UPDATE: UK'S FIRST YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE CONVENTION - LONDON JULY 2014 - YALC

New York Times Bestseller Rainbow Rowell Completes YA Convention Line Up

Final list of names announced for Young Adult Literature Convention.

Waterstones Children’s Laureate Malorie Blackman and the London Film and Comic Convention (LFCC) are delighted to announce the final list of authors joining the UK’s first Young Adult Literature Convention. Heading them is US author Rainbow Rowell, whose first YA title Eleanor & Park spent six weeks in the New York Times Bestseller chart, was voted Goodreads’ best young adult fiction of the year and was chosen by Amazon as one of the 10 best books of 2013. The first draft of her second YA novel Fangirl was written as part of the National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo) and was chosen as the inaugural Tumblr Book Club selection.

There are also a host of other names from the YA writing world joining the line-up, including 18 year old author Beth Reekles, who was recently named by Time magazine as one of the 16 most influential teenagers in the world. Publisher and award-winning author of In Darkness Nick Lake and Heart Shaped Bruise author Tanya Byrne are also announced today. Joining them is Robert Muchamore, whose books have sold in their millions and been translated into 27 languages.

The full list of names announced today:

•                     Holly Bourne

•                     Tanya Byrne

•                     Alexia Casale

•                     Lucy Christopher

•                     Cat Clarke

•                     Steve Cole

•                     Sarah Crossan

•                     Kim Curran

•                     Phil Earle

•                     Ian Edginton

•                     Garen Ewing

•                     Frances Hardinge

•                     Catherine Johnson

•                     Nick Lake

•                     Andy Lane

•                     Julie Mayhew

•                     Sarra Manning

•                     Amy McCulloch

•                     Anthony McGowan

•                     Sarah McIntyre

•                     Robert Muchamore

•                     Beth Reekles

•                     Tim O'Rourke

•                     Bryony Pearce

•                     Non Pratt

•                     Andy Robb

•                     Rainbow Rowell

•                     Lucy Saxon

•                     Marcus Sedgwick

•                     C J Skuse

•                     James Smythe

•                     Emma Vieceli

YALC will form a highlight of Malorie Blackman’s campaign as the Waterstones Children’s Laureate. It will take place at the London Film and Comic Con (LFCC), at Earl’s Court, London on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 July 2014. YALC will bring together all the UK’s YA publishers to provide a host of author events in a dedicated Book Zone, with talks, workshops, signings, a book sales area and publisher stands promoting new and upcoming titles. Blackman will act as a curator for the two-day convention, uniting authors and publishers throughout the UK community. 2014’s YALC event will be the first time a large scale public convention around YA books has taken place in the UK, and its setting among the fans of cultish film and TV will set books at the heart of entertainment for teens and young people.

YALC is supported by Prudential plc and the Authors Licensing and Collecting Society.

For more information about the London Film and Comic Con, visit their website here: http://www.londonfilmandcomiccon.com/ and follow @YALC_UK on Twitter for all the YALC news.

Names previously announced:

•                     Holly Black

•                     Malorie Blackman

•                     James Dawson

•                     Sally Gardner

•                     Sally Green

•                     Matt Haig

•                     Isobel Harrop

•                     Will Hill

•                     Charlie Higson

•                     Derek Landy

•                     Sophie McKenzie

•                     Patrick Ness

•                     Natasha Ngan

•                     Meg Rosoff

•                     Darren Shan

•                     Holly Smale

•                     Jonathan Stroud

•                     Ruth Warburton