BookCon 2019: My First Experience, Ever.
I’m so excited to talk about my first ever (!!!) BookCon with you guys! Check out everything I did that day (I only went for Saturday), and all my thoughts below. ♥︎
This year, I went to my first ever BookCon at the Javits Centre in New York City—the ultimate dream for any avid reader. The funny part is, I didn’t even know this convention existed until two or three weeks beforehand. I discovered it through Cassandra Clare’s Instagram, author of the #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of The Mortal Instruments. Usually I become green with envy when it comes to pop culture conventions, because nothing as big as this ever happens in Montreal. Then, I realized I was going to be in New York City that weekend, and with a loud shriek, I immediately bought my tickets and prepared for the convention, which turned out to be one of the best days of my life.
I experienced so many unexpected events that day, that it’s still hard for me to believe any of it as I write it down. My day at BookCon 2019 can be broken into four segments:
1. Obtain Tickets to Meet Rainbow Rowell
Note: Since originally publishing this post, I have learned about Rowell’s racism in E & P and her blatant refusal to acknowledge it. I do not stand by her, nor do I condone her actions. I no longer support her; the following article is what I originally wrote post-Book Con.
New York Times bestselling author Rainbow Rowell is a favourite author of mine, and not just because she has a really cool name. Her contemporary young adult novel, Fangirl, is on my top five favourite books of all time. I read this novel when I was starting a new chapter in my life, and like the protagonist Cath, I was determined to balance my life the way she had.
At BookCon, there were two ways to meet authors—one of which is through the signing booth, where you line up at certain publishing booths at the beginning of the day to obtain tickets, on a first come first serve basis. As soon as the doors opened, I bolted into the large convention room, desperate to find the line for Rainbow Rowell tickets. When I found it, I was a bit discouraged—Rainbow could only meet so many people in the span of an hour, and I thought I was too far behind in line to get a ticket. Fortunately, I made good time, and when the staff at Macmillan’s Publishers handed me my copies of Rowell’s Fangirl and Eleanor & Park, along with my ticket, it occurred to me that for the first time in almost ten years, I was really going to meet one of my favourite authors. Three o’clock couldn’t come any faster, but there was still plenty to do before then, which brings me to the second segment of my day—Cassandra Clare.
2. Attend the Panel “Spotlight on Cassandra Clare” + MEETING HER!!!
The part of the convention I was most looking forward to was seeing Cassandra Clare’s panel. She’s on my top five list of all-time favourite authors, and that day at BookCon, she was doing two panels and an autographing session. An autographing session is the second way to meet authors, but instead of obtaining tickets at the convention, they are posted online a few weeks before, also on a first come first serve basis. However, because I only found out about BookCon at the last minute, her autographing session was already full. Nevertheless, I was still super excited for her panels, especially the first one, which focused solely on her. Her second panel, later in the day, was a group panel with three other authors, so while the audience would still witness her discussion on her books, she was not the only focus. I ended up not making it to her second panel because it overlapped with meeting Rainbow Rowell.
I learned a lot of great things at Cassandra’s panel. Moderated by Entertainment Weekly’s David Canfield, the panel an hour long discussion. During the first half, David asked Cassandra various questions. Some of them were expected, such as questions about her latest book, The Red Scrolls of Magic—a new trilogy in her Shadowhunter world. Other questions, I was pleasantly surprised to hear, and even happier with Cassandra’s answers.
One of the more memorable answers to the various questions David Canfield asked Cassandra was about where she got the idea to expand the Shadowhunter world by writing accompanying series like The Infernal Devices (which happens to be my favourite in the entire Shadowhunter Chronicles). Clare briefly expanded on a particular trip to London, England (where this trilogy takes place), and how historical landmarks, mythology, and Victorian attributes she encountered inspired her to write this story. In fact, she spoke about Blackfriars Bridge, the iconic landmark in The Infernal Devices, and how she pictured two silhouettes standing on this bridge in the Shadow world. Those silhouettes developed into Tessa Gray and James “Jem” Carstairs, two of three of the main characters in The Infernal Devices. I was especially pleased to hear about some of the background on not only one of my favourite series, but my favourite of all The Shadowhunter Chronicles.
Before Cassandra Clare’s panel ended, the audience was granted some time to ask questions. I used this opportunity to ask a question that has been on my mind for several months—I asked if there would be more queer female characters in any of her future books. She spoke of an upcoming relationship in another Shadowhunter spinoff, The Last Hours. My favourite part of her answer (and probably the whole panel itself) was when she spoke about her upcoming adult fantasy Sword Catcher series, saying (and I quote), “no one is really straight.” She tried so hard to explain the representation of sexuality in her new series, and she ended up just spoiling it by saying how every significant character is queer in some way. I sat down with a smile on my face, as Casandra went on to answer a few more questions before the panel was over.
After the panel and a quick lunch, I decided to take a look around the various publishing booths. It dawned on me that even if I couldn’t meet Cassandra Clare, I’d still be able to watch her sign autographs five feet away, which I thought was still pretty cool. So I dragged my mother over to her autographing table. After a couple of minutes, my mom insisted she wanted to check out the ticket booth to see if any authors still had available tickets for autographing sessions. At the ticket stand, a couple of girls asked to start a standby line for Cassandra Clare. BookCon staff replied saying that it “was fine,” but we shouldn’t “expect anything” despite how fast Clare’s line was moving. I didn’t want to get my hopes up because I’ve seen standby lines for so many different things before, but the next thing I knew, the same BookCon staff were calling us over because there was enough time for Cassandra to meet a few extra fans. I purchased a copy of her long-awaited Ghosts of the Shadow Market, and prepared to meet her.
When I finally reached Cassandra, I was in such a complete state of shock, that I became overly emotional and started to tear up. I spoke with her for a couple of minutes, and I couldn’t believe how nice she was. She’s one of the most well-known young adult authors of today, but you wouldn’t be able to tell based on her personality. She takes her time with each and every fan, and makes everyone feel so incredibly special. No matter what you have to say to her, she strikes up a different conversation with each fan she meets. I mentioned how I got into fantasy because of her, and that I was currently writing my first novel, in the high fantasy genre. We spoke a bit longer, and honestly, those few minutes were some of the best of my life. I’m hoping it will not be the last time I meet her, but even if it is, it was worth every moment. I went into BookCon that day only expecting to see her panel, but I left actually having met her. I’ll never forget this day as long as I live.
Unfortunately, she didn’t allow photos, but I did capture some great shots during the panel, as seen below. After I finally walked away from Cassandra’s autographing session, I checked the time and realized it was nearing three o’clock. Onto phase three: meeting Rainbow Rowell.
3. Meet Rainbow Rowell
After the biggest twist of events, three o’clock quickly approached, which meant it was time to line up at Rainbow Rowell’s booth. I was coming down from my Cassandra Clare high, so I was still floating on a cloud. When I approached the line for Rainbow, it was much longer than it had been that morning, but that didn’t matter anymore, because we were all going to meet her. While we waited in line, there were tons of free goodies—snacks, the first few pages in Rowell’s soon-to-be-released graphic novel, Pumpkinheads, and posters. The waiting period was quite a long time, and while I didn’t care, I did overhear a BookCon staff member say waiting for Rainbow Rowell is unusually long because she likes to take her time with each fan. It was extremely heartwarming to hear this, because I’ve met writers and celebrities outside of BookCon who just provide a quick signature and then send you away. Considering how successful Rainbow is, it was refreshing to hear about someone remaining down to earth despite their success.
I finally approached the table to meet Rainbow, and I was able to tell her how significant Fangirl was to me. Just as I heard, she was sweet, patient, and chatty. Rainbow allowed fans to take photos with her, so I was fortunate enough to get a snapshot of this moment to frame on my wall.
After I met Rainbow, my mother and I roamed around more publishing booths for a little while, until the final segment of the day approached—meeting author Nic Stone, the autographing session ticket I acquired when I purchased tickets for BookCon.
4. Meet Nic Stone
New York Times bestselling author Nic Stone rose to prominence with her debut novel, Dear Martin, which is about a seventeen year old African American boy named Jus, who is arrested by a policeman simply for helping his drunk girlfriend into his car. Jus decides to write to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as a coping mechanism after the incident. Stone’s book is a painful reminder that an African American can do everything “right”—they can attend a mostly white boarding prep school, never step out of line, have good grades, don’t get into trouble—but they are still the target of police brutality simply for being black. I found this book to be incredibly moving and inspiring, and when I finished it, I was even more excited to meet Nic Stone. I connected with one of the main characters, Sara Friedman, who is an Ashkenazi Jewish girl interested in advocation for social justice. Stone intertwined the Jewish and black communities—something I always wished to read about in books, but haven’t found yet.
When I finally met Nic, I couldn’t believe how friendly she was. This was at the end of a long day at BookCon, and her personality just radiated positive energy. I told her how thankful I was for Sara, and her relationship with Jus in the book. Nic looked at me, almost doe-eyed, and as she was signing my copy, she drew the Star of David, further representing the connection. I was incredibly touched. My heart still swells thinking about this moment, and I could tell just how much she really cares about her fans.
We spoke for a couple of more minutes, and I mentioned that I was a writer, which prompted her to write in one of my signed copies of her novels “One day you’ll be signing for me!” Finally, I had to walk out, because there was still a line behind me waiting for Nic, but not before I got my hands on an advanced reader copy of her new novel, Jackpot, set to be released later this year.
Final Thoughts
After a long day of running around, meeting authors, and visiting publishers, I was exhausted in the best way possible. Before BookCon, I had two general entry tickets for Saturday, a ticket to meet Nic Stone, and an empty backpack. By the end of the day, I had a backpack and a large tote bag filled with books, nearly dried out contacts, a slouch to my posture, and matted hair—but everything was worth it, because of how my day turned out. I realized that even if I missed meeting Rainbow Rowell, even if I didn’t get lucky to meet Cassandra Clare, I would have felt (almost) the same way. There’s just something about being in a room full of readers and writers, that most people could never understand. Outside of authors and booksellers, I spoke to maybe ten other attendees out of thousands, but I didn’t need to speak with every single person in the room to connect with them. Just making eye contact with another reader or writer establishes a connection that isn’t there with any other person. When I sat down after I met Cassandra Clare, just to process what happened, someone walked by and overheard me talking to my mom about it—the girl looked at me and smiled, understanding what I was going through. She understood why I needed time to process and why I was in shambles just from meeting someone, all because we locked eyes.
Writing about BookCon a few days later made me excited about it all over again, and even more excited for next year’s BookCon—taking place on May 30th and 31st, 2020. Except this time, I’ll definitely be more prepared to purchase better tickets, bring extra bags, a few snacks, and more water. BookCon 2020 is still a year away, but I’m already counting down the days.
