With a fresh new year comes a fresh new batch of awesome literary events throughout the USA. We’ve highlighted awesome annual literary events in each state before, but we’ve not yet focused entirely on young adult specific/heavy events. Let’s change that and talk all things YA literary events! This list is far from comprehensive. There are events that are missing, particularly smaller events that happen at public libraries. Since not all conferences have announced dates, locations, or speakers yet for this year, some of the information you’ll find below is bare bones. But the beauty of this is it’s a resource for you to keep returning to and planning around. Because even if you can’t actually attend one of these events, who doesn’t enjoy dreaming up a fantasy bookish trip? I’ve stuck with specific to teen/YA lit events, except in cases which events were focused entirely on children’s literature more broadly and showed a wealth of YA events with it. If you know of other events fitting these parameters, drop a line. Know of great international YA lit–focused fests? Drop a line about those, too! Get ready to get YA Lit across the USA.
YA Literary Events Across The USA
The African American Children’s Book Fair: February 2, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Teen Book Fest By The Bay: February 16, Corpus Christie, Texas National Latino Children’s Literature Conference: February 28–March 2, San Antonio, Texas Southeastern Young Adult Book Festival: March 7–9, Murfreesboro, Tennessee Ontario Teen Book Fest: March 9, Ontario, California Children’s Literature Festival: March 17–19, Warrensburg, Missouri (at the University of Central Missouri) North Texas Teen Book Festival: March 22–23, Irving, Texas New York City Teen Author Festival: March TBA, New York City, New York NoVA Teen Book Festival: March 30, Arlington, Virginia Teen Book Con: March 30, League City, Texas Chicago Young Adult Book Festival: April TBA, Chicago, Illinois Colorado Teen Literature Conference: April TBA, Denver, Colorado Southern Kentucky Book Fest: April 26–27, Bowling Green, Kentucky (They hold a teen and children’s day) Twin Cities Teen Lit Con: April 27, Twin Cities area, Minnesota Hudson Children’s Book Festival: May 4, Hudson, New York Yall West: May 3–4, Santa Monica, California Lit Up Teen Book Festival: May TBA, Kansas City, Missouri Greater Rochester Teen Book Festival: May 18, Rochester, New York YA Fest PA: Summer, Easton, Pennsylvania Bookmarks Festival: September TBA, Winston-Salem, North Carolina Brooklyn Book Festival: September TBA, Brooklyn, New York Pasadena Loves YA: September TBA, Pasadena, California Boston Teen Book Festival: September 22, TBA, Boston, Massachusetts Update:
— Suzanne is doing their best. (@SueLahna) January 24, 2019 YA-hoo Fest: September TBA, Chattanooga, Tennessee Texas Teen Book Festival: October TBA, Austin, Texas Southern Festival of Books: October TBA, Nashville, Tennessee Sheboygan Teen Book Festival: October TBA, Sheboygan, Wisconsin YAS Book Con: October TBA, Bowling Green, Kentucky Anderson’s Young Adult Literature Conference: October TBA, Naperville, Illinois Books By The Banks: October TBA, Cincinnati, Ohio Las Vegas Book Festival: October TBA, Las Vegas, Nevada Read Up, Greenville: October TBA, Greenville, South Carolina Pickerington Teen Book Festival: October TBA, Pickerington, Ohio Colorado Teen Book Con: November TBA, Denver, Colorado Epic Fest: November TBA, Charlotte, North Carolina Yall Fest: November TBA, Charleston, South Carolina Portland Book Festival: November TBA, Portland, Oregon
