Are you ready for our most exciting announcement since we told y’all that we were going to be taking over the Melbourne YA bookish scene with our monthly meet ups and online chats?
Are you ready to hear about the best YA event in Melbourne this January?
Are you ready for…
OUR VERY FIRST YA DAY
That’s right! We’ve been hinting about doing something like this for a while now, and we’re so thrilled to announce that we’re doing our first one-day festival. We’re showcasing not only some of your favourite Aussie authors, but also some of Australia’s best booktubers and bloggers!
It’s going to be a full day of discussions and Q&As, and there are a ton of bookish prizes to be won! Refreshments will be provided.
Schedule
11.00: Arrive
11.15 – 12.00: Panel 1: Booktube Brilliance
12.15 – 1.00: Panel 2: Teens to the Front
1.00 – 1.20: Lunch
1.30 – 2.15: Panel 3: Aussie Authors
2.30 – 3.15: Panel 4: Insights from the Industry
3.30: End
We hope you’re as excited for this amazing day as we are! Please scroll down for more information about the four panels, and who our fantastic panelists will be.
UPDATE: We’ve just released more tickets to YA Day! Grab yours here.
Panel 1: Booktube Brilliance
Chami | ReadLikeWildfire
Chami is an twenty year-old BookTuber at ‘ReadLikeWildFire’ (Soon to be called ‘IsThatChami’) who spends most of her time in a small little corner of the internet, harbouring copious amounts of books and unhealthy reading habits. After all the whining and crying about fictional characters that happened in her youth, Chami decided in late 2014 that enough was enough. So she looked to the joys of YouTube for people who understood her pain and immense love for literature, and alas, she found a home.
YouTube | Website | Twitter | Instagram
Lily | LilyCReads
Lily is a a 19 year old booktuber, who has been making book related videos for about a year and a half.
She reviews books she’s recently read, as well as create a variety of book related content on her YouTube channel.
Piéra Forde
Piéra Forde is a BookTuber, actor and animal enthusiast who is known for her honest, quirky book reviews and book to screen adaptations of some popular YA books.
After spending most of her childhood with her face stuck in a book and no one to talk with about them, Piéra took to YouTube to share her love of all things fantasy and since then has amassed a large following of other bookworms with similar passions.
Panel 2: Teens to the Front
Lissa Finger
Lissa is an avid reader with “Nevernight” by Jay Kristoff, Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde, Akarnae by Lynette Noni and the Fairyland series by Catherynne M. Valente among her favourites.
She is a passionate fan of Hamilton and Sofia the First. She also spends way too much time stalking people on Twitter.
Sam Barnes
Sam Barnes is a recent year-twelve graduate who is most noted for his sarcasm, self-deprecation and sass. When not procrastinating, he prefers jamming out to Billie Eilish than reading a book, and can be found editing videos surrounded by week-old iced coconut milk coffee mugs.
In the near future, he aims to focus on his passions of photography and writing, but in the mean time, remains to do nothing productive. You can find him online below.
Anisha | Sprinkled Pages
Anisha is a 17 year old bookish person obsessed with – wait for it – reading (wow, who would have thought?).
She also loves baking and rainy days.
But in all seriousness reading is the best which is why she started her blog, YouTube channel and bookstagram!
Blog | YouTube | Twitter | Instagram
Panel 3: Aussie Authors
Shivaun Plozza
Shivaun Plozza is a Children’s and YA writer. Her debut novel about a girl called Frankie is titled Frankie and her activity book about medieval Europe is called Medieval Europe. Because she’s inventive like that.
Her short story ‘The Point’ is part of Where the Shoreline Used to Be, an anthology of YA fiction. Other short works have appeared in Above Water, Vivid and The Victorian Writer. When she’s not writing she’s beavering away as an editor and manuscript assessor. Her next YA book is Tin Heart.
Alison Evans
Alison is the author of the queer sci fi YA book Ida, a maker of zines and co-editor of Concrete Queers.
They write stories about weird stuff, magic, gender and plants.
Michael Pryor
Michael Pryor writes fantasy and science fiction, mostly for teenagers. He has published more than thirty-five novels and 50 something short stories. He is one of the co-publishers of Aurealis, Australia’s longest running Fantasy and SF magazine.
He has been shortlisted for the Aurealis Award seven times, and seven of his books have been CBCA Notable books.
Panel 4: Insights from the Industry
Catriona | Little Book Owl
Catriona is has been making bookish videos on her BookTube channel, Little Book Owl, for over six years.
When she’s not reading, she can be found staring at her bookshelves longingly or playing video games. She is the Digital & Social Media Coordinator for Bloomsbury Publishing Australia.
Kate O’Donnell
Kate O’Donnell is a writer, editor and bookseller specialising in children’s and young adult literature.
She has a BA in History and French from the University of Melbourne and studied Professional Writing and Editing at RMIT.
Untidy Towns is her first novel.
Danielle Binks
Danielle Binks is a writer and reviewer, with a particular interest in youth literature. In 2016 she joined literary agency, Jacinta di Mase Management, as ‘Agent-at-Large’ – seeking authors of Young Adult (YA) and Middle Grade (MG) fiction works.
In 2017, she edited and contributed to Begin, End, Begin: A #LoveOzYA Anthology, of new Australian young adult writing – inspired by the #LoveOzYA movement – and released by HarperCollins.
Nadja Poljo
Nadja is a publicist at Text Publishing.
The YA Room 
[…] by Sarah and Alex, their first ‘YA Day‘ will be held at the Wheeler Centre on January 28 and there are so many big industry names […]
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[…] like to learn more about YA Day and jog your memory with who you’ll be seeing on a panel, check out this post! If you still haven’t got a ticket, click this link – they’re selling out fast! […]
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[…] There were four panels, the first being actual real-live teenagers! Book bloggers 😀 (Sam @marbledlibrary, Anisha @sprinkledpages & Lissa @joysofbookworms) reminded us to not drown out teen voices; that teens are not the teens we were growing up; and it’s really important for them to see themselves in the books they read. Diversity is the key, people! […]
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