Lists

YA Literary Events Across The USA For Your Bookish Road Tripping Needs

Grab your favorite books and get ready to attend one -- or many -- of the awesome YA literary events across the USA this year.

Kelly Jensen Jan 24, 2019

Kelly Jensen

Editor

Kelly is a former librarian and a long-time blogger at STACKED. She's the editor/author of (DON'T) CALL ME CRAZY: 33 VOICES START THE CONVERSATION ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH and the editor/author of HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD. Her next book, BODY TALK, will publish in Fall 2020. Follow her on Instagram @heykellyjensen.

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Versions of this list appeared in the “What’s Up in YA?” newsletter last year. Sign up for the biweekly newsletter dedicated to all things young adult.

With a fresh new year comes a fresh new batch of awesome literary events throughout the USA. We’ve highlighted awesome annual literary events in each state before, but we’ve not yet focused entirely on young adult specific/heavy events. Let’s change that and talk all things YA literary events!

This list is far from comprehensive. There are events that are missing, particularly smaller events that happen at public libraries. Since not all conferences have announced dates, locations, or speakers yet for this year, some of the information you’ll find below is bare bones.

But the beauty of this is it’s a resource for you to keep returning to and planning around. Because even if you can’t actually attend one of these events, who doesn’t enjoy dreaming up a fantasy bookish trip?

I’ve stuck with specific to teen/YA lit events, except in cases which events were focused entirely on children’s literature more broadly and showed a wealth of YA events with it. If you know of other events fitting these parameters, drop a line. Know of great international YA lit–focused fests? Drop a line about those, too!

Get ready to get YA Lit across the USA.

YA Literary Events Across The USA

The African American Children’s Book Fair: February 2, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Teen Book Fest By The Bay: February 16, Corpus Christie, Texas

National Latino Children’s Literature Conference: February 28–March 2, San Antonio, Texas

Southeastern Young Adult Book Festival: March 7–9, Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Ontario Teen Book Fest: March 9, Ontario, California

Children’s Literature Festival: March 17–19, Warrensburg, Missouri (at the University of Central Missouri)

North Texas Teen Book Festival: March 22–23, Irving, Texas

New York City Teen Author Festival: March TBA, New York City, New York

NoVA Teen Book Festival: March 30, Arlington, Virginia

Teen Book Con: March 30, League City, Texas

Chicago Young Adult Book Festival: April TBA, Chicago, Illinois

Colorado Teen Literature Conference: April TBA, Denver, Colorado

Southern Kentucky Book Fest: April 26–27, Bowling Green, Kentucky (They hold a teen and children’s day)

Twin Cities Teen Lit Con: April 27, Twin Cities area, Minnesota

Hudson Children’s Book Festival: May 4, Hudson, New York

Yall West: May 3–4, Santa Monica, California

Lit Up Teen Book Festival: May TBA, Kansas City, Missouri

Greater Rochester Teen Book Festival: May 18, Rochester, New York

YA Fest PA: Summer, Easton, Pennsylvania

Bookmarks Festival: September TBA, Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Brooklyn Book Festival: September TBA, Brooklyn, New York

Pasadena Loves YA: September TBA, Pasadena, California

Boston Teen Book Festival: September 22, TBA, Boston, Massachusetts

Update:

Hey you might want to consider making an amendment to this article. @BTAFest is on hiatus and there will be no Boston Teen Book Fest in 2019. BTA will be back in 2020.

— Mikko is doing updates only 🕯🌷🧹 (@SueLahna) January 24, 2019