I was even more excited about this as it was 2 days before my cast came off so it was my last outing struggling with only 1 hand. Now, this post is a little late but alas reminiscing about good days is a great way to pass the time.

If you haven’t had the chance to attend either of the events I really would recommend trying the next one. I love the fact its in the North so it was much easier for me to attend and it was a free event too!

BOOKS & MERCH Even though there was a rather large amount of authors attending, most were authors I’d seen before or contemporary writers so my pile was rather managable.

I was also thrilled to hear that Dawn Kurtagich was attending to help with one of the stalls there! I reached out to her to make sure it was okay to bring my copies of her books along too and she was more than happy to sign them.

a song of sorrow | the dead house | a girl called shameless | and the trees crept in | the priory of the orange tree

Whilst there I also accidentally picked up a few books…

Honestly though it could’ve been much worse but I made sure to do my best to keep to my rule of “only buy bookish merch to support your friends” and even did my best to not spend too long at other stalls there.

However, I did end up with a few books and I’m very excited to read them. I only bought 1 book too, which was the hardback copy of The Dead House from Dawn, of course I wasn’t going to say no. (Also, when I got to the stall she was at she came around and gave me a hug so my day was pretty much made)

frostblood [book swap] |the creeper man | music and malice in hurricane town | we are blood and thunder | the kingdom | the harm tree | the dead house As I mentioned I did pick up some merch too! It was really tough what to pick because both Jenn @ Literary Galaxy and Fiona @ Felfira Moon Designs have such awesome designs and work.

But I did end up buying a lovely amethyst necklace from Jenn, a lil bookish pin from Penguin, and 3 bookish stickers & 3 Studio Ghibli inspired pins from Fiona! I love these all so much and have already made use of the stickers in my bujo.

PANELS NYALit Fest had a variety of panels throughout the day but I only attended 3 of them, I found this worked well for me as it allowed some down time to chill with friends and have lunch. Its important when you go to these events to also make time for your friends!

The first, and the one I was most excited for, was the Feminist Fantasy Panel with Melinda Salisbury, Samantha Shannon, Laure Eve, and Rose Edwards. Hearing this dream team talk all things feminst was amazing and I felt so full with love for these authors.

I had a bit a of wait till the Shame-Less panel with Katherine Webber, Laura Steven, and Tamsin Winter. This was another very inspiring panel to hear them talk about how shame is handled in books and why we need to be shaming people less. Laura also shared a story from her time in high school which struck a cord with me.

Lastly as I was staying to get a book signed for a friend I also sat in the Mental Health panel, which I was a little late for as I got side-tracked talking books with Dawn. Lisa Williamson, Alice Broadway, Akemi Dawn Bowman, and Alexandra Sheppard were wonderful to listen too. Their exploration of mental health in their books and also lives were discussed and I think everyone felt touched.

SIGNINGS I loved getting books signed and the fact Laura instantly came and gave me a hug. Day actually made tbh! Also, Alice Broadway remembered me from YALC two years ago?! Wild, still shook.

I do really need to remember to make an effort to get selfies with authors from the side I prefer or I just end up hating half of them like I do here.

As with most authors I’ve met everyone was such a love and I’m so blessed to have met these wonderful women.

As I’ve already mentioned I had such a great time with my pals and love every opportunity I get to get to know these gals even better.

Lastly, NYA did a great time at putting on such a wonderful event with no fuss. I don’t recall hearing any complaints or concerns; there was room for people to chill when they weren’t at the panels + whilst some of the queues were a lil messy we all figured it out calmly.

As they had more timely posts cause I’m a mess, make sure to check out Fiona, Sarah & Sophie, Lois, Beth, and Bec’s posts.

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Have you read any of the books I hauled?

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