YALFest!!!

"Overall, we all had an incredibly bookish weekend!"

Hi Everyone!

So of course, we as the Dome also went to YALFest. But not only that, we had a whole YALFest weekend! On Friday, we had the honor to interview Veronica Rossi, on Saturday we went to the ‘boekhandelarenborrel’, as they say, which was having drinks with the awesome authors as representatives from the Dominicanen boekhandel, and on Sunday we went to YALFest! It was a whole lot to handle, but we had the best weekend ever! Let me tell you a bit more about the events.

On Friday, we were invited to an afternoon full of interviews with the authors. What we did not know before, was that the interviews were almost one on one! Therefore, Minca and Rika had the chance to talk to Veronica Rossi for 15 amazing minutes, during which they discussed her writing process, her amazing books, and, best of all, helped her clear some things up for her next stand-alone! Curious? We filmed it all for you guys so check it out!

On Saturday, the Dominicanen bookstore was invited to drinks with the authors. They asked us from the Dome to check it out and of course Irina and Rika were very excited to show off our amazing bookstore to the authors. Our bookstore is very highly ranked as one of the most beautiful bookstores, so we had no problem showing that off with all our love. A lot of the authors were very excited about possibly seeing our bookstore so hopefully, in the future, we will see some of them again in our church!

Yes, all the authors are trying to read their Dutch versions :)

In between the drinks there was also a short interview with all the authors and the questions were awesome. They were asked to promote their book as well as possible. We still are in love with Gena Showalters answer on the question: "How can people relate to your book?" On which she simply said: "Everyone dies." Gena, you're the best! And the enthusiasm of Lesley Livingston was the best! We love her 'dark' voices and how she loves to kill characters when she has a bad day (and of course blames us for it all xD) Also David Arnolds’ fast rap was amazing! We didn't understand a word, (sorry), but it was awesome! After the interview, we were able to chat some more with the authors and we had a lovely time.

On Sunday, it was time for the official YALFest, and let me first say, the location was gorgeous! Enough space for everyone, cute stands with shops and workshops. Almost all of us were present at this amazing day. Caroline, Ana, Minca and Rika enjoyed the interview, which had such honest and cute answers about the author’s daily writing in bed in special PJ's, their killing of all our favorite characters, and the feeling of being published in foreign languages. When Lesley Livingston said the Dutch title of Riders (Onverschrokken) she actually sounded more German than Dutch, haha! For Amy Ewing, Donna Freitas, Victor Dixen, Megan Shepherd, David Arnold, Veronica Rossi and Gena Showalter it was pretty easy, since the title of most of their books have not been translated. After the interview, we got super cute goodiebags! Young and Awesome designed the tote bags, which you can also buy in the Dominicanen. Everyone got the new Dutch version of Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, as well as a second book. Everyone got either De Voordelen van Onbeantwoorde liefde from Becky Albertalli, Op de Rand van het Niets from Corinne Duyvis or Disruptor from Arwen Elys Dayton. And not to forget, signed bookplates from every author!!! So in love with all the cute signatures!

So, after all that, we had a morning and afternoon session of workshops or meeting the authors and getting our books signed, so we split up so everyone could get to meet their favorite author, get a portrait drawn or buy some goodies from Celebrate Books… There was so much to do! In between, we also had a workshop in reviewing. They had good tips that can definitely help us convey out thoughts about the books to you, our lovely readers! We're hoping it will pay off and you all fall in love with the same books as we do.

Overall, we all had an incredibly bookish weekend, busy will all things YALfest!

Following this weekend, we decided to make our own YouTube page! There, you’ll be able to see our YALfest experience, an introduction of the Dome and our group, as well as interviews, book reviews, and maybe more!

Love, 

Rika, Irina, Ana, Caroline and Minca