Eighteen of the 32 authors who appeared at the Texas Teen Book Festival.

It’s officially fall, which means in Austin, TX, it’s book festival season. Saturday, September 26 marked the seventh annual Texas Teen Book Festival, and an all-ages crowd of nearly 4,000 people swarmed the St. Edward’s University campus to celebrate young adult literature. This year, the festival’s team assembled 32 young adult authors and artists who discussed their work during seven panels, four writing workshops, and two keynote addresses as well as a "Star Wars"–themed game show (lightsabers and representatives of the Dark Side included!) and six autograph sessions. Also present: literary exhibitors, a photo booth, and Typewriter Rodeo, a group of Austin locals who create free, personalized poems on the spot for anyone who wants one. The event’s overall focus this year was the connection that readers form both to stories and their authors, as well as the rise of talented teen writers. For example, the festival and Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House, sponsored a writing contest for aspiring authors ages 11–18. In addition to a monetary prize, the three winners—Jack Dessert of Dallas, Madeline Sweany of Austin, and Nikhil Prabala of Austin—will receive a full editorial review of their work by an editor at Delacorte. The three were presented their awards by Nicola Yoon, whose debut novel Everything Everything (Delacorte, 2015) has already gained the top spot on the New York Times best seller list.

Texas Teen Book Festival Writing Contest Winners l. to r.: Madeline Sweany, Nikhil Prabala, and Jack Dessert. Photos courtesy of the Texas Teen Book Festival.

Keynote speaker Sonia Manzano, best known for her role as Maria on Sesame Street, discussed a pivotal moment when she recognized pieces of her life reflected in West Side Story. “Every banal thing in my life, in this movie, it was exalted. Maybe art is taking something in your life and putting it on another level with your sensibility. My participation in art separated me from the chaos in my life. There were no book festivals or young adult imprints, but the books I read put me in someone else’s shoes.” At the end of her address, Manzano said, “Reading is the only time you don’t have to have the right answer all the time. You bring yourself to the book.” A group of debut authors representing the Freshman Fifteens writers’ group ran two workshops for attendees with questions about writing and publishing. Jenny Martin, author of Tracked, said of the opportunity, "We hope teens walk away with a greater understanding of the publication process and lots of inspiration to go out and share their voices with the world.” The Freshman Fifteens have a community service focus and earlier this year launched their Freshman in the Stacks program, in which the group adopted 15 school and public libraries in order to provide books to teens in need.

l. to r.: Aaron Hartzler with fans Matt Keenan, Rebekah Stepanian, and Patrick Keenan. Photo by Aaron Hartzler

During the "Future Possible?" panel, authors Pierce Brown, Claudia Gray, Sophie Jordan, Jenny Martin, and Rick Yancey kept the audience laughing with quips, such as Gray gleefully exclaiming, “Oh, yeah, I killed you so good!” when describing character deaths, but then brought “the feels” as authors discussed their emotional attachment to their own work. Red Rising (Del Rey, 2014) author Brown explained, “If I don’t get emotional, I’m probably doing it wrong. If I don’t feel it, the reader won’t, and they’ll feel that disingenuous manipulation.” Yancey, author of The 5th Wave (Putnam, 2013), agreed: “Teens do feel things intensely, and it’s impossible to not feel that [while writing].” He added that writing “is a great profession because you don’t have to pay for a therapist. We work through things on the page, and then we talk about it in front of all of you!” As the crowd dissolved into laughter once more (for a panel about the destruction of civilization as we know it, there were more chuckles than gloom and doom), Yancey continued, “You connect with readers, anyone going through [the same situation]. I’ve never been a girl, but I was 16 years old, and we do share things. We share humanity.”

Three fans waiting on line to have their books autographed by Huntley Fitzpatrick.

The "True Love 4eva" panel continued along this vein—in between questions about ideal book boyfriends and awkward but entertaining stories from the authors’ teenage years. Jenny Han stated she enjoys writing romance because it allows her to write the full range of emotions, while Jennifer E. Smith wants her characters to be realistic—balancing family, school, and jobs—and have romance. “The best books are the ones that help you figure out who you are, who you have been, who you want to be, and who you don’t want to be,” said My Life Next Door (Dial, 2012) author Huntley Fitzpatrick. When invited to ask their own questions, teen attendees delivered, but the sweetest moment came from one shy adolescent who didn’t ask anything. Instead she thanked the authors for the impact their work has had on her. “Your boys don’t judge girls based on how they look, and I just wanted to know that we appreciate that.” She handed the microphone to the next person in line and went back to her seat amid a sea of applause and cheers.

Mary Hinson with TLT blogger Karen Jensen's daughters. Photo by Karen Jensen.

Indeed, the festival was marked by quiet moments as well, during which attendees could forge the connection they really came for. The day started with an early book signing queue featuring heavy-hitters, such as Jesse Andrews, David Levithan, Carrie Ryan, and Libba Bray, causing lines to snake out of the signing tent and across the parking lot as teens eagerly awaited their chance to catch their favorite authors. Teen librarian Karen Jensen drove four hours with her two daughters just so they could meet Nicola and David Yoon and discuss how powerfully Everything Everything moved them as a family. A group of teen bloggers excitedly shared how much fun they had during a long interview with Aaron Hartzler, author of What We Saw (HarperCollins, 2015). Pierce Brown took requests during his signing times, recording videos and silly pictures with as many attendees as wanted them. Stephen Emond, author/illustrator of Bright Lights, Dark Nights (Roaring Brook, 2015), let attendees know that if he saw them at the fest, they may end up in a comic.

Pierce Brown, author of Red Rising, with fan.

These were welcome moments after the fest experienced some growing pains upon moving to the new venue at St. Edwards in 2014. When approached for comment, festival director Cynthia Bartek stated that staff worked hard to tailor the 2015 festival to the new venue. “We expanded the venues…to help with the flow and experimented with the signings. I think we learned what works [at St. Edward’s] and look forward to tweaking things for next year.” She added that the festival team felt this year’s festival “was a success!” A group of nearby teens overheard and were quick to jump in. “We agree!” they cried in unison. Mary Hinson is a senior library assistant for teen services at the Irving Public Library, TX.