Second day of Waterstones BookFest focuses on YA

The second day of the Waterstones BookFest (17th August) at the retailer’s Piccadilly shop ended with a collaboration with Penguin’s House of YA with a series of panels championing YA authors. 

The first panel of the day, "In My Lover Era", saw authors Marie Lu, Beth Reekles and Jenny Ireland in a discussion chaired by BookTok creator Samantha (@samfallingbooks). In conversation about their respective contemporary romances, Stars and Smoke, The Summer Switch-Off and The First Move, the authors touched on popular tropes in the genre including enemies to lovers, forbidden love and grumpy versus sunshine. Towards the end, talk turned to changes in the genre, particularly in reference to BookTok. "I think today the landscape is very different," said Lu, "there’s still a lot of space for improvement in diversity for YA and for fiction at large but it has changed a lot from what I remember 10 or 12 years ago and that has been very encouraging to see."

Ireland, whose "publishing journey" started on the Penguin WriteNow scheme which helps writers from underrepresented backgrounds, said: "It’s a fine balance between writing a disability book and a love story. I was very adamant I wanted [The First Move] to be a love story. It’s a girl who wants a big love story in her life who just happens to have arthritis." 

#romancebooks has 8.3 billion views on TikTok at the time of writing, with Lu reflecting: "BookTok is so big now that you don’t have to necessarily be on TikTok to hear about what’s happening on BookTok."

In the mid-afternoon panel "Fantasy Glow-ups: Re-imaginings that Hit Different" Bea Fitzgerald, author of Girl, Goddess, Queen, Kika Hatzopoulo, author of Threads That Bind and Natasha Bowen, author of Skin of the Sea and Soul of the Deep, took to the stage. Chaired by BookTokker Lauren (@lauren.little.library) panellists discussed why retellings have become increasingly popular. "I think there is a comfort in familiar stories," said Bowen, "especially during and post Covid when our world was completely upturned you seek comfort in the familiar, in what you know, and [there’s] also an urge to re-tell a story in a way that reflects society today." Fitzgerald added: "I think there’s probably something in that post-pandemic landscape of longevity and looking for something stable and everlasting." 

The final panel of the day, hosted by book creator Joel (@fictionalfates), featured Karen McManus, Joelle Wellington and H F Askwith on "It’s Giving Murder Vibes: Stories That Slay". 

YA books have become increasingly popular with the genre up 46% in volume and 67% in value against 2019 through Nielsen’s BookScan. BookTok has helped in part with #yabooks receiving 2.2 billions views to date. 

Reflecting on BookFest one Waterstones bookseller commented on the popularity of fantasy romance and YA amongst customers alongside fantasy "classics" such as Cassandra Clare, Sarah J Maas and Harper L Woods. "It’s been fun, there’s been a lot of conversations going and a lot of freebies - which everyone loves!"

Chair of the romance panel, Samantha commented: "Overall, I feel [BookFest] has really brought the book-ish community together [...] it’s been really nice for younger readers to come and do activities and chat with publishers and bask in the cute bookishness of everything!" She added: "I definitely hope they do more of these things", adding that the increased advertisement and activities has meant more "younger readers have come along". 

BookTok creator and BookFest attendee Heaven (@heavenlybibliophile) said: "I think what’s great about BookFest is not only do book lovers and get to discuss things that they have in common but you also get to interact with publishers and authors and get to know more about the bookish community". Another BookTok creator Amy (@amymaybooks) echoed this point saying "it’s nice to be a space where everyone is talking about books they love" with the added opportunity of talking to Waterstones booksellers "and hearing about how much they love these two days is really fun". 

Gary Deane, events coordinator at Waterstones, commented: “We have had a joyous second busy day of BookFest at Piccadilly, working in collaboration with Penguin for House of YA to celebrate some of the best books for young adults. Feedback from attendees has been overwhelmingly positive, all of whom have enjoyed a day full of interactive activities, games, and three sold out author panels and signings.”