YALLWEST is back for a fourth year on Saturday, May 5 with keynote speakers Tomi Adeyemi, Tamora Pierce, and more.
YALLWEST will feature over 100 authors when it returns for its fourth year this May at Santa Monica High School in California. The event — along with its sister festival YALLFest — is one of the biggest YA and middle grade book festivals in the country. Each year the event has book signings, keynote speakers, and other panels. It is largely free and open to the public.
This year, they have two exciting keynote events lined up for attendees. The morning keynote will feature Tamora Pierce, author of Tempests and Slaughter, and Tomi Adeyemi, whose debut fantasy Children of Blood and Bone hit the New York Times Best Seller List earlier this year.
For the afternoon keynote, Divergent series author Veronica Roth will be in conversation with Sabaa Tahir, author of Ember in the Ashes. The keynote conversations will both take place at Santa Monica High School.
Tickets for each of the keynote speeches are on sale March 20 at 7:00 PM ET. They can be purchased online through YALLWEST for $8 each.
Other festival events will take place on Friday, May 4 and Saturday, May 5. They include book signings, panels, and even some Quidditch. Festival co-directors Melissa de la Cruz and Margaret Stohl are among the attending authors.
Additional YALLWEST attending authors include Becky Albertalli, Victoria Aveyard, Alexandra Bracken, Ally Carter, Dhonielle Clayton, Ally Condie, E. Lockhart, Gayle Forman, David Levithan, Brenda Reichs, Rachel Hawkins, Marie Lu, Tahereh Mafi, Marissa Meyer, Ransom Riggs, Neal Shusterman, Nic Stone, Pseudonymous Bosch, and Angie Thomas.
Last year, the festival drew over 20,000 attendees. It donated thousands of dollars in book sale proceeds to libraries and hundreds of books to students. This year the event is sponsored by Epic Reads and Underlined.