ALA Annual '12 Recap + Swag Giveaway (over)

Hello! I had a fun, exhausting, crazy weekend at the ALA Annual in Anaheim, California. In this post, I’ll be sharing a few photos as well as my overall impression of the exhibit hall.

Sign outside convention center (taken from car):

Marissa Meyer signing copies of Cinder and ARCs of Scarlet (book 2) !!! This was actually a surprise. I was waiting for another author, but it went fast. So I hopped over to the Macmillan booth right after and saw this huge line, which luckily my friend was already in. Marissa seemed excited to be there and I snagged a Cinder mirror as well as Scarlet. No picture with her though.

Disney-Hyperion ticketed signing: (from left to right) Alexandra Bracken, Rachel Cohn, Dan Krokos and Tamara Ireland Stone. I kept joking that this was cafeteria style - a little chat and sign with each of the authors.

Other authors I met throughout the weekend: Rae Carson, Ally Condie, Tahereh Mafi (3rd time in 7 months…she’s that awesome), Libba Bray, Gary Ross (director/writer of The Hunger Games), Sarah J. Maas, Leigh Bardugo (been Twitter friends for a while, it was so nice to see her), Jessica Khoury and Gennifer Albin. They were all very lovely and eager to chat.

5 books I'm most excited to read: Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi, Scarlet by Marissa Meyer, Outpost by Ann Aguirre, Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes and Black City by Elizabeth Richards.

I ended up with around 30 books from Friday night to Monday afternoon and hope to give many of them away after I read them. Indeed, very grateful to all the publishers, authors,  librarians, teachers, bloggers and readers I met or was given books by (whew, is that everyone?) and of course my friend Rachael whom I interviewed last week. It was a great weekend overall and gave me a new perspective on the publishing industry.
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Wait. You thought I was going to tell you all that, then leave you with nothing? No way. I have some very cool YA swag from my personal closet stash (pictured below) to give away!!!

HOW TO ENTER: Just leave a comment below with an email address! I’ll pick two winners* this Monday 7/2. US and Canada only please. Winners have been notified by email.

* One pile of swag per winner will be sent via USPS after email confirmation. Winners will be chosen randomly using a number generator. In the event that only one person enters this contest, the remaining prize will be kept and used at a later date. If no one enters, both swag prizes may be donated. *