Yalfest is almost here!! - Irina recommends you the YA Dutch book event of the year!!

Hello my lovelies!

It is a foggy Maastricht Monday and everything feels just a bit darker so I would like to share some news that may just brighten your day!

As we promised you, we are not only book reviewers; we also want to keep you up to date with all the hot books coming out, but also the coolest bookish events near us. And if you are a true Dutch YA fan you may have heard of the Yalfest. And if not..well it is probably worth your while and this post is just for you J 

But let’s start from the beginning. Yalfest is what you would call a typical YA book event that we all have seen happening in US or UK. The event is organized by Blossom Books and Best of YA. Authors are present to answer your questions and sign your books (I know right? AWESOMEEEE!!), you have workshops organized and goodie bags are waiting for you at the entrance. It is a little bookish paradise <3

And to prove that to you I would make a short recap of the event last year. I found out about it a little too late (one week before the event) and I barely managed to buy tickets because it was already sold out. It was a long day of looking for people selling their tickets. I hope my post will give you a sufficient amount of time to plan your trip.

Let’s start with the coolest thing:

Yep, that smiling idiot in the middle is me (hello)!! From left to right: Stephanie Perkins (Anna and the French Kiss series), Tom Ellen & Lucy Ivison (Lobsters), me (one of your favorite (I hope) book bloggers), Arwen Elys Dayton (Seeker series), Tahereh Mafi (Shatter Me series) and Ransom Riggs (Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children series). The smiling cutie sitting on the ground is Becky Albertalli (Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda) who btw is releasing her 2^nd book this month – look for The Upside of Unrequited.

Yes, I know. I am sitting with some of the best YA writers currently. How cool is that? The book nerd in me is so proud of this photo.

You may be wondering if I was the only one who (somehow magically) managed to take a photo with them and the answer is no – everyone had the chance. Which in my opinion was absolutely great. As you can imagine, the organization was really on point for this to happen. That was achieved partially with the lack of actual book signings – which is sad, I know, but that was replaced by receiving signed bookplates at the entrance with your goodie bag. The actual signing of your copy of the book is amazing indeed, but on the other side we get a sufficient amount of time at Q&A with the authors and the photos were absolutely great <3 And the bookplates looked so cute.

As for the goodie bag – well it was filled with goodies, that is for sure. As you see on the photo, we received a cute “Book junkies” tote bag containing the signed bookplates (one per author per bag), different booklets, bookmarks, cosmetic testers, the lovely BAAh-ing sheep (it makes sound and the eyes are flashing, hilarious) and naturally - a copy of a book. I think there were two different books, I received a copy of “De afstand tussen jou en mij” by Marina Gessner. I can’t tell you my opinion about the book since it is in Dutch, but I gave it to a good friend of mine and one of our lovely book reviewers – Rika. If you want to know if the book is good talk to her (ha ha).

The ticket everyone bought qualified people in to one of 4 workshop groups – Instagram and photography, vlogging, calligraphy or writing.  

And I think here is the place where I have to address the Dutch language situation. As you may know, I am a foreigner myself and I also saw a lot of foreigners at the event. The event started with an intro in Dutch, but all of the Q&A session following was (of course) in English. After that we got split in our workshop groups and there were two sessions for the photoshoots. The workshops were (sadly for me) in Dutch. I was a part of the most interesting (at the time) for me – the Instagram and Photography workshop. It looked great and the girl leading it had slides and small merch to take the photos with. And even if you don’t understand a thing of what she is saying, the corridors were filled with small stations where you can buy some book merch, get a poem written about you (yes, really, the guy was writing at and old typing machine, so cool and hipster of him, ha ha), or maybe get a bookish tattoo? (not permanent of course). The squad was drawing or writing either something of your choice or some of their templates. The HP nerd in me couldn’t resist this (even though I was already 24 y. old at the moment, thank you very much). I chose the “Always” quote on my wrist and it looked epic (as you can see on the photo). So overall, even if you are not fluent in dutch, there is still enough for you there to do and see. The overall experience for me is 4.5 out of 5 crosses !! (and that mainly because I still don’t know Dutch..). 

This year the event is set for the 23^rd of April, the location is Studio’s Aalsmeer and there is a great line of authors rounded up for the event so if you want to see Donna Freitas, Amy Ewing, Gena Showalter, Veronica Rossi or many more, now is your chance! And this year there will be an actual signing (yeeeey) so go and grab your copies of the books at our bookstore! Our bloggers are going to attend this year as well – you can expect the excited opinions from Rika, Ana, Caroline and Minca after the event with many photos of signed books, shared smiles, amazing authors and exciting workshops.

I hope that my review will help all of the people wondering if it is worth their time or money and inform the clueless ones (like me) about this great event – I am promising you, you will have the greatest time!!

Until next time, lovelies!

Irina

>> Check here the official website of the event for tickets and the full program of the show!!

P.S. Lovely photo of all the books we have currently @ Boekhandel Dominicanen from the authors joining Yalfest 2017 (+some additional bookmerch that I couldn't resist adding to the photo, sorry-not-sorry). The book jar is definitely my absolute favorite - it is perfect for us book junkies. You can collect there the money for your most wanted books of 2017 or, who knows, maybe Yalfest 2018. As long as you keep it bookish ;) And the cover of Eerste Leven by Gena Showalter is just so gorgeous.