Episode 11: Fun at the 2022 NYALitFest

It's time for our June 2022 episode of the Turn The Page podcast!  This month, we hit the road and visited the Northern Young Adult Literary Festival (NYALitFest) in Preston, England for a day of bookish fun! We enjoyed a panel on witchcraft in YA that led to a discussion on female rage, women's rights, and feminism in young adult literature, followed by a panel on diversity and inclusion in YA that demonstrated why young adult novels are so important for readers of all ages.  In the panels, we heard from Ciannon Smart, Mary Watson, Finbar Hawkins, Jennifer Lane, Simon James Green, Sita Brahmachari, Cynthia So, and Kate Weston. We also caught up with YA author, Rab Ferguson, who stopped to chat with us about his debut YA novel, Landfill Mountains, a magical YA adventure that highlights the impacts of climate change.  Sophie and I also share our thoughts on the panels, talk about the books we bought, and give you our slightly chaotic top tips for attending a book festival!  Quick note: This is our very first attempt at recording a podcast "in the field" so we apologise in advance for any sound inconsistencies as we trial new technology and equipment which might not produce our usual recording quality. As this is a longer than usual episode, if you're interested in a particular panel/interview, feel free to jump to the timestamps below - although we hope you enjoy the whole episode!  The Craft panel - 00:01:16 The World We Live In panel - 00:55:13 Interview with Rab Ferguson - 01:47:00 Click here for a list of the books we mentioned in this episode.