YA Literature Symposium

YALSA's YA Literature Symposium is a biannual event, with the first one ever being held this year.

Topic: "How We Read Now."

Dates: November 7–9, 2008

Location: Nashville, Tennessee at the Millennium Maxwell House Hotel.

Here is the list of programs, including preconference. I point your particular attention to this one:

Explaining and Exploring Fandom, Fan Life, and Participatory Culture, presented by Liz Burns and Carlie Kraft Webber. Yep, that's me and Carlie! (Carlie and I? how about, that's us!)

I'm excited; excited about the presentation, and excited about the YA Lit Symposium, excited to see other bloggers on the program list (hi, Mitali! hi Goddess of YA Literature!)

The event is conveniently located during a weekend; tho, if you're like me and just cannot say no to anything YA Lit, you'll also want to be there for the preconference on Friday.

Register before September 1 for the early bird rates for this event. (True confessions; I still have to register. I also still have to make airline reservations. I have, however, made hotel reservations.)

YALSA members get a discount; but here's the thing. If you join YALSA at the same time as you register, the total paid is the same as non YALSA members. (NonYALSA registeration rate = (YALSA registration rate + ALA/YALSA membership).

If you're going to pay the higher fee as a non-YALSA member, why not join at this point and get the benefits of YALSA membership?

Don't work in a library? There is a category for non-library types: it's the Trustee/Associate rate. This application (warning, it is a PDF) has the specifics.

As the conference gets closer, I'll post more; including, hopefully, having some kind of blogger get together.

If you think you're going, let us know; and if you have any questions/comments/thoughts on our fannish program, let us know.

Edited to add: The Program is up, in a PDF, with a full description of all programs and presentations along with times.

Our presentation:

A teen's experience with a book doesn't just begin on page one and finish with the book's conclusion. From birthday parties and proms to fanfiction and role-playing games, teens find many ways to recreate a book's universe in their lives, forming fandoms. Avid fandomers Liz Burns and Carlie Webber will demystify the weird and wonderful world of fandom and show you how to use the elements of participatory culture to plan interactive, teen-friendly programs for your libraries and classrooms. Included on the panel will be a representative from Narrate Conferences, Inc., an organization that plans Harry Potter symposia.

Liz & Carlie are presenting at the YA Lit Symposium!

YALSA is holding its first YA literature symposium in Nashville from November 7-9, 2008, and the theme is "How We Read Now." During the infamous weekend where I introduced Liz to her TV boyfriend, Don Eppes, we put together a proposal for the symposium. We thought that with the popularity of teen participation in book worlds (check out the Twilight fandom and/or Stephenie Meyer's website for a shining example of this), this conference would be a great time to discuss fandom, fan life, and what Henry Jenkins calls "participatory culture." We wrote up a proposal and it was accepted. We're very excited and honored, because YALSA only chose 14 of the 40 proposals they received.

The plan (subject to change as the date of the conference draws closer) is: At the symposium, Liz and I will talk about what fandom is, who writes fanfiction and why, and how librarians can do easy, fun fandom programming at their libraries that will encourage teens to participate in a book's world. Our third panelist will be Amy Tenbrink of Narrate Conferences, Inc., who will talk about planning Harry Potter conferences and how they encourage participatory culture. Who knows, we might even have a drabble contest.

(And of course, we already know what we're wearing.)

Sometimes, People Are Awesome

So, in a nutshell: there was the big Firefly fan convention planned in Burbank. People had paid money & made hotel reservations & plane reservations; rumors circulated that the convention would be canceled; the group running the convention insisted it would go on and then canceled the day before the convention was to start.

You are thinking, and this makes people awesome?

Why people are awesome: the local Firefly fans acted and basically put together things for the attendees; planning a convention at the last minute AND with only their own resources and donations.

Why people are even more than awesome: the Firefly actors -- and other Whedon actors -- and other actors showed up anyway. To quote Why we love the Firefly/Serenity crew, Daytona Beach News Journal Online, "without appearance fees or the autograph cash that usually get stars to show up, they came anyway". Even people not scheduled to appear came. It is so refreshing to see that it's not just the fans who care about the actors and the fandom; the actors care about the fans.

More coverage here. Ongoing coverage at Whedonesque.