LONDON BOOK FAIR 2016 | Accent YA List Launch!

Hello readers! I hope you all had a great weekend doing whatever you were doing :)

Today I have a very exciting post- a write up of the amazing day I spent at the London Book Fair 2016! When I started blogging I had no idea I would get the opportunity to go to anywhere as exciting as London Book Fair, so I was really grateful to get the opportunity to go! 

I headed off from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston station at 11:59 on the train, and had to write my essay which was due for the next day (because I'm great at balancing my university life and my blogging life, obviously). 

When I got to London Book Fair I honestly couldn't believe how huge the place was. I mean, I had seen it before in pictures but in person it just seemed so much more massive. The place was packed with so many publishers, publicists and companies, and as predicted, I got lost on at least ten separate occasions. However, even when I got lost I saw so many cool things- I went up to the children's section on the first floor and there was just so much to see. Some stands were so creatively put together and beautiful that I had to literally drag myself away.

Eventually (after consulting a help desk, a fold-out map and the main map at the entrance), I finally managed to find the Accent YA stand, and meet the lovely Bethan who I have been emailing for many months. I don't know if you guys know this, but I am part of the amazing Accent YA blog squad, which means I get so many wonderful opportunities for example reviewing books, interviewing authors, attending events, having a say about the design of book covers, and so much more! I met Accent YA at YALC last year, and have enjoyed every moment I have been blogging for them.

Accent YA is a recently launched YA book list from the publishing company Accent Press. Quoted from an article written by the Bookseller, Accent YA is 'dedicated to showcasing the best new voices in YA writing', with lead titles including magical realist novel Luca, Son of the Morning by Tom Anderson, 'beautiful' fable The Sea Singer by Shome Dasgupta, 'gritty' knife crime novel The Deepest Cut by Natalie Flynn, and WWII time-travel adventure Rosie Goes to War by Alison Knight. I was lucky enough to grab a copy of all of these beautiful books, and I cannot wait to read them.

It was also fantastic to meet so many fantastic authors, including Tom Anderson, Alison Knight, Natalie Flynn and Sofi Croft, who I have been speaking with on twitter for quite a while now. It was lovely to meet so many bookish people and everyone was so supportive of what bloggers do and how much they mean to the reading community. I love attending events like these when you come to realise just how important your work is to authors and publishers alike! With wine and nibbles flowing it was a relaxed, friendly event and I loved hearing about the backstory to so many of the authors' books. I was also fortunate enough to be given an amazing goodybag, filled with bookish delights (I've also got another awesome tote to add to my growing collection!)

Thank you so much, Accent YA, for inviting me to your launch, and I am so so fortunate to be part of the blog squad!


Check out Accent YA here: http://accentya.com

There will be reviews of the books I picked up at the fair in a few weeks time! Also, keep an eye out for when it's my spot on Sofi Croft's blog tour in June...

Until next time :)