Fellow nerds, rejoice. The line up for this year’s Yallwest has just been announced and it’s beyond spectacular. It’s specmazing. It’s amtacular. You get the point.
What is Yallwest, you ask? Only the best YA book festival on the West Coast (it’s a sister event to the much beloved Yallfest, a book festival I’ve been secretly jealous about for years). This is only the second year, and while last year felt very new and therefore a little bumpy, it was awesome. We had the best time. Based on this year’s author list, I’m sure to be making a fool of myself having a blast the whole weekend. I mean, Jenny Han is going to be there. JENNY HAN (among other amazing authors, some of whom I had the pleasure of meeting last year. But Jenny Han).
Locals, mark your calendars now. April 30-May 1 at Santa Monica High School. This is not some stuffy day where you barely get to meet your favorite authors. No, your favorite authors are organizing the event and handing out your passes and getting lunch off the grilled cheese truck with you. They’re standing outside, walking around between panels and signings, talking to fans and taking pictures. Because, in the end, they’re just bookworms like we are, right? (Even though they’re really our version of a rock star, Jenny Han).
Here is the basic info, per the event website:
SATURDAY OPENING KEYNOTE
Rainbow Rowell
STORY/MAKER KEYNOTE
Sana Amanat
MIDDLE GRADE KEYNOTE
Soman Chainani & Melissa de la Cruz
SATURDAY CLOSING KEYNOTE
Matt de la Pena & Jason Reynolds
SUNDAY OPENING KEYNOTE
Marie Lu & Tahereh Mafi
Authors
RENEE AHDIEH
ADI ALSAID
MT ANDERSON
JOSIE ANGELINI
JENNIFER ARMENTROUT
BRODI ASHTON
VICTORIA AVEYARD
LEIGH BARDUGO
DAVE BARRY
ROBIN BENWAY
HOLLY BLACK
FRANCESCA LIA BLOCK
GWENDA BOND
PSEUDONYMOUS BOSCH
JENNIFER BOSWORTH
ERIN BOWMAN
ALEXANDRA BRACKEN
NATHAN BRANSFORD
LIBBA BRAY
CECIL CASTELLUCCI
SOMAN CHAINANI
SUSANE COLASANTI
BRANDY COLBERT
ALLY CONDIE
ARWEN ELYS DAYTON
MELISSA DE LA CRUZ
MATT DE LA PENA
HEATHER DEMETRIOS
DEBRA DRIZA
SIMONE ELKELES
SETH FISHMAN
AIMEE FRIEDMAN
MICHELLE GAGNON
KAMI GARCIA
STUART GIBBS
ALEX GINO
DAPHNE GOTTLIEB
MICHAEL GRANT
SHANNON HALE
DEAN HALE
JENNY HAN
CYNTHIA HAND
HARRIETT HAPGOOD
AARON HARTZLER
KIRSTEN HUBBARD
J.R. JOHANSSON
ALAYA DAWN JOHNSON
AMIE KAUFMAN
KODY KEPLINGER
JESSICA KHOURY
JESSI KIRBY
ISAAC KLAUSNER
JAY KRISTOFF
STEPHANIE KUEHN
MERCEDES LACKEY
NINA LACOUR
CHRISTINA LAUREN
EMMY LAYBOURNE
DAVID LEVITHAN
ALEX LONDON
MARIE LU
TAHEREH MAFI
SARAH MCCARRY
KIMBERLEY MCCREIGHT
RICHELLE MEAD
JODI MEADOWS
SARAH MLYNOWSKI
JULIE MURPHY
JENNIFER NIVEN
ALYSON NOEL
ELLEN OH
DANIELLE PAIGE
MARY PEARSON
RIDLEY PEARSON
DAVID J. PETERSON
SARA RAASCH
BRENDAN REICHS
JASON REYNOLDS
RANSOM RIGGS
GARY ROSEN
VERONICA ROTH
RAINBOW ROWELL
PAUL RUDNICK
MARIE RUTKOSKI
AISHA SAEED
ROBYN SCHNEIDER
JEFFREY SELF
NEAL SHUSTERMAN
ADAM SILVERA
EVELYN SKYE
HOLLY GOLDBERG SLOAN
SHERRI L. SMITH
SONYA SONES
AMY SPALDING
SCOTT SPEER
WENDY SPINALE
JESSICA SPOTSWOOD
NOELLE STEVENSON
MARGARET STOHL
TAMARA IRELAND STONE
ELISSA SUSSMAN
SABAA TAHIR
VALERIE TEJEDA
AMY TINTERA
SIOBHAN VIVIAN
SCOTT WESTERFELD
JOHN COREY WHALEY
KIERSTEN WHITE
NICOLA YOON
BRENNA YOVANOFF
SARA ZARR
YA Crush 
Heather Demetrios!!!
Ha! I just read your recap from last year and you don’t even mention running into your FAVORITE librarian! Maybe if you’re lucky, it will happen again this year and you’ll have a chance to redeem yourself ; -)
But seriously, hopefully I’ll see you and Miss C again this year.