Showing posts with label Foyles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Foyles. Show all posts

Thursday, 17 May 2012

Event Report - Foyles Creative Voices 1 - 2nd May 2012

On the 2nd May Neil at Foyles held the first in what looks to be a fantastic series of events.  Each event showcases current YA authors.  They get to share their stories of how they got where they are and also about their books.



The first events authors were the awesome Amy Plum, Ruth Warburton, C J Daugherty and Sara Grant.  I have read books by all the authors and so was really excited to meet all of them and find out where their stories stemmed from.

Photo courtesy of Serendipty Reviews

Going to the event was also an awesome way to catch up with all my bookish pals too!!  We actually got to the event rather early, so got ourselves front row seats.  I have to say it wasn't that wise of Foyles to leave a group of book bloggers unattended in a room at Foyles.  Much laughter and random tweeting ensued, including Viv capturing some of us warming up the seats for the authors.  It was a thrill to be in the main seats just for a while.


The amazing authors took to the stage, with a very eager audience excited to hear their tales.

Amy kicked off the sharing telling us about where the idea for the Revenants series came from.  She told us about her wanting to copyright the word Revenants - it was decided that, that would be rather tricky as its a very well used word.  Amy read a passage from the new book 'Until I Die'


Next up was Sara Grant.  We learnt about where the idea for the story came from.  It was fascinating to hear about her decision to go with the dystopian route.  Sara read a somewhat steamy extract from 'Dark Parties'  Anyone that hadn't read it, surely wanted to after hearing her read!



Ruth was the third author to talk.  It was quite fun to hear from her perspective being the only British author in the group.  I definitely could relate to a lot of what Ruth had to say.  She read one of my favourite passages from her book 'A Witch In Winter'



Lastly C J got to share her tales of becoming the author she is today.  Her book is somewhat different as it is more of a thriller, whereas the others all have the supernatural / different reality twists.  She chose a really exciting part of her story to read that definitely left people wanting more.


The next part of the event was the audience getting to ask questions.  For some reason everyone was rather shy and somewhat reluctant to speak with an audience.  But some great questions did get asked.  I for one need to get over my fear of public speaking!!

At the end we all got to go and get our books signed, which was amazing.  Its so exciting to be able to ask the person that knows the characters we have come to love the most.  Sara for one cleared up something that had been playing on my mind - I won't reveal as this has to stay spoiler free.

And so our evening come to an end.  An absolutely fabulous night was had by all and left me so excited for any upcoming events. 
Many Thanks to all involved in the evening!!

You can read event reports by Serendipity Reviews , Sisterspooky , Amy Plum - Yes Amy mentioned ME!!  Eeek!

Monday, 21 November 2011

Cassie Clare Event At Foyles

On 26th October I was one of the very lucky attendees of the Cassie Clare talk And signing at Foyles bookshop in London.  It was the only event Cassie was doing in England this year and was also the first opportunity I was getting to meet her.  I HAD to go and very luckily the awesome Laura at SisterSpooky: Book FanGirl managed to book us tickets EEEEE!

My Pretty mask!
Our day of awesome started with me meeting Laura at her local train station and making our way to London.  We did our usual mad rush to Foyles, there we met up with the awesome Andrew at The Pewter Wolf.  We had a major fan session over all the pretty books in the YA section - we all worked out that we want more than we can afford & also have time to read Eeek!

From there we made the epic journey up to the top floor.  This walk really makes you realise how unfit you are.  I was somewhat puffed out I am sad to admit!!

Upstairs we had to join the long queue of people to get in the events room.  We had about a half hour wait so gave us great opportunity to geek out some more, with talks of everything teen that we love!!
Cassie during the talk
Just as they started to lead people in to the room the wonderful Becca arrived - YAY!  We now had a full party and so could get really excited, if a more excited state was possible!!

We got to the events room were all told to pick ourselves out a scary mask from a big box.   I picked myself a rather beautiful witches mask (my dog didn't think it so nice though)
A little later we were told to look for a coloured dot in the mask - if you had a colour you won some stuff, sadly all of ours were colourless :(  But we did get to pick up some free book swag at the end, so no complaints!!

Sarah looking rather pouty
We took to our seats and waited for everyone to be seated.  Literally the room was PACKED!!  You could easily tell how popular this event was.
Cassie was then led out with her interviewer and also fab author friend Sarah Rees Brennan!  Cassie and Sarah seemed equally as excited as all of us.
They started off with Sarah just asking Cassie some basic questions and then went on to a pop quiz where members of the audience got to win bits related to Cassie's work.  This made me realise I have a terrible memory and need to study harder when going to events.  I mean we should all be able to name the cats in the Tmi series right?!!!
Next up Sarah picked questions that the audience wanted answers for.  There was some talk of mangoes that went right over my head!!  Still unsure of that one!!  But subjects like South Carolina were easy to pick up on - Cassie has some saucy minded fans!!!
We then went on to a speed round of questions where everything was done very fast and very short.  Cassie shocked us all with her epic speed and quick thought up answers.  She knows her stuff!!
The talk lasted around an hour and was just fantastic, so entertaining and filled with laughs.



 Next up we had to journey back down to the main floor and joined another big queue.  This time for the signing.  To add to the excitement Sarah was also signing which was fantastic as I had a couple of books that needed signing from her too.
This queue did take quite a while, but that is completely down to Cassie having written so many great books.  We were all more than happy to wait our turn.  I had about 6 books that I wanted signed, some people had even more.  Luckily for us Cassie was more than happy to sign everything and chat with us all.
Cassie asked me if I was team Will or Team Jem, which I had to say I'm really not fussy!!  Both are such awesome characters.  I ended up saying I was team lover of all - I think that suits me well!

Cassie and Sarah kindly had a photo with me, which I adore - this needs to go on my wall of awesome I think!!
Cassie, Me & Sarah

This was such an incredible event which I would love to thank Cassie, Sarah, Foyles & Walker Books for making it so special

Monday, 7 November 2011

Becca Fitzpatrick Signing At Foyles

Back in October I had the pleasure of attending the Becca Fitzpatrick talk and signing at Foyles in London.  I was so excited for this event for several reasons -
  • I've never been to an event at Foyles before
  • Becca is the coolest author & I adore her
  • I get to see some awesome friends again
I think they were all pretty solid reasons to attend and boy am I glad I did!!!
My adventure started by meeting my very good friend and fellow blogger Laura from SisterSpooky: BookFangirl  We had plenty of bookish and geeky things to discuss, so that kept us busy until we arrived in London.  We worked out we were in fact slightly later than we had planned.  A very fast walk ensued, with phone calls to Becky (Laura's cousin and my good friend) who was also attending the event.  Literally as we got to Foyles I started to geek out as Becca Fitzpatrick walked in the store before us.  I was trying to be cool, but failing epically by loud whispering to Laura 'Look that's Becca' I honestly am trying to find my cool factor!!!


 We then had a mad rush up 3 flights of stairs to the roof of Foyles, where the talks are held.  Its quite a small intimate area, but absolutely perfect for these book events.  There was a projector on the back wall, showing all of the Hush, Hush saga covers and a gorgeous antique style chair that was reserved for Becca.

We took to our seats, but not before getting to speak to some of our blogger friends - these events have so many perks - meeting authors, evenings out, seeing friends, buying books - Heaven!!!

After a very short wait Becca finally walked in chaperoned by two topless winged guys - not such a bad sight I can confirm, but they don't match up to the Patch in my mind!!!

Becca launched into a talk about how she thought of the books and the long process it takes - you really don't realise how long these books take to make it onto your bookshelf & all the hard work and even rejection that goes into them.  I really wouldn't be cut out to be an author!!

Becca then took questions from her eager audience, that were at first reluctant to ask questions but eventually couldn't stop (I didn't ask any questions, as I am a scaredy cat that doesn't speak to large amounts of people)
Several people asked questions about Silence which had Becky & me covering our ears as neither of us have read the newest installment yet - I'm just so slow right now!  Luckily my memory is not so wonderful and I can't remember anything major and so have remained unspoilt for when I get to read my copy.

After the talk we all got to go and get our books signed.  I had actually met Becca the year before, so already had my copies of Hush, Hush and Crescendo signed.  I just took along my gorgeous Red edition of the book.
We were fairly close to the back of the queue, which was quite a shame as most of the front of the queue got to have some yummy looking mini cup cakes.  I was GUTTED to miss out on those, but meeting Becca seriously helped that pain!!
After about 3/4 of an hour it was our turn to get our things signed.  Becca looked straight at me and said 'Hi Leanne' I was GOBSMACKED!!  Obviously Becca has had a huge impact on my life, but I never thought she would remember me a year after meeting her for the first time.  It shows how the little conversations on Twitter and facebook can build real connections with awesome people in all walks of life.  Finally Becca posed for a picture with me!!


This was such an amazing event that will be treasured in my memory for years to come!!  Many thanks to Becca, Foyles & the lovely people at Simon & Schuster