Hello everybody! Today I will be telling you guys about my experience going to my first ever book festival! Only a few weeks ago I stumbled upon the North Texas Teen Book Festival somewhere online (I’m not sure where, as I’ve already forgotten, I think it might’ve been Twitter), and I realized that it was taking place only 40 minutes away from where I live. The second I found that out I told my sister and my parents and they said that I could go!

So I scrolled through the author list to see who would be there, and I was surprised to see some really popular YA authors on the list such as Maggie Stiefvater, Ryan Graudin, Marie Lu, Veronica Roth, David Leviathan, and more were on the list set to be there! Not only that, but some of my favorite BookTubers were going to be there as well! The only way it could get better was if it was free… and it turns out it was! There was no admittance price, all you had to bring was yourself.

For every 2 books you brought from home, you had to buy one at the festival. But that was fine because there were some books at the festival I wanted anyway. The first thing we did when we got there was put sticky notes on my books and write my name on them so I could get them personalized later on when the signing happened, and then me and my sister went to purchase the books. I didn’t get all the books I wanted because there were so many amazing books to choose from and I didn’t want to spend all my money at once, but I ended up getting Blood For Blood by Ryan Graudin and The Rose Society by Marie Lu. They were already signed copies but I wanted to get them personalized as well.

After we bought those books, my sister and I found out when the BookTube panel was going to be, so we decided that we’d go and check it out. We were the second people in line for the panel (another one was still going on inside) and so we waited there until that panel was over. Once we got in, my sister and I sat in the very front and then just waited while everyone else filed in. There were people getting the panel tables and mics ready and then they laid down the name cards for the BookTubers that were going to be up there.

Whitney Atkinson (WhittyNovels), Regan Peruse (PeruseProject), Sarah “Lizzie” Christoffel (LizzieLovesBooks), Naya Perkins (NayaReadsandSmiles), and Jesse George (JesseTheReader) were all there and it was so cool to see them in real life (especially Regan because I’ve been watching her videos for years now).

That’s literally the only pictures I got during the panel because I guess I just wanted to fully experience it instead of watching it through my phone the whole time. They answered questions about what it’s like to be a BookTuber, as well as tips for those who are thinking of making a channel, as well as their favorite videos to film. Some people from the audience asked some questions and then the panel was over and we all went outside for pictures and all that good stuff. I got pictures and handed them the bookmarks that I had brought (a bit of shameless self-promotion there). They all seemed to like the bookmarks I made and said that they’d check out my channel, and they were all super nice.

After that, my sister and I went to eat lunch and then decided to go and start waiting in line for the author signings. It was only about 1:00, and the signings didn’t start until 3:30, but other people were already getting in line as well and we wanted to get close to the front so we decided we’d just go ahead and wait in line then. I was so full of adrenaline and so the waiting went by pretty quickly, and I met all the authors I wanted and got all the books I wanted, signed. I met Maggie Stiefvater, Benjamen Alire Saenz, Ryan Graudin, and Marie Lu.

I had so much fun at this book festival and I can’t wait to go to next year’s! If you’d like to hear a more in-depth talk about my experience at the North Texas Teen Book Festival, I made and uploaded a video about it on my YouTube channel!

I hope that you enjoyed this little post about my time at my first ever book festival! I would appreciate it if you watched the video I out together as well, as there are pictures and clips of me meeting the authors and more information about the books I got signed and my overall experience!

Have you ever been to a book festival or book convention? If so, how was your experience? Also, have you ever gotten the chance to meet some of your favorite authors? If so, let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear about some of y’all’s experiences as well!

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