ALA Con: Part 2 (With Photos) and Giveaway Winners

I figured too many photos all at once might get a little overwhelming but mostly boring, so I decided to break this post up into two parts. You can check out PART ONE of my ALA Post, if you like. This is the second half of my trip to New Orleans in June for the ALA Annual Conference.

Last post, I left off with pictures taken at the conference on Saturday, but neglected to post this fun one:


From left: Cristin Teril, Alexandra Shostak, Sara McClung, PJ Hoover, Jessica Lee Anderson, and Me. <3 <3

Sidenote: I had to type Hoover four times before I stopped typing it as HOOver. I don't know why.


Saturday night, I attended a Blogger event hosted by Stacked Books and YA Highway's Kirsten Hubbard and Kate Hart. Arrived at Tommy's Wine Bar to find a group of authors sitting outside. In the heat. My first words were: "OMG, it's so good to finally meet you Elana, holy bazooka it's hot whyareyouguyssittingouthere????"

Here I am with the fabulous Elana Johnson.

Dark and mysterious

Bright and shiny

She's just as lovely and beautiful in real life as she is online, by the way.

And with the super sweet Kate Hart. I finally remembered to snag a shot just with her. In fact, I think I might have cried, "KATE!!! WE HAVE TO TAKE A PICTURE!" and then reached longingly for her hand and tugged her to me, holding her close.

Or something like that.

Awwww, look at Sara and me. <3 <3
See you in October!



From left: Tere Kirkland, me, Cristin, Sara, and Alexandra. So fun! Loads of laughs.

A few of us capped off the night with a trip to Cafe du Monde for some beignets (more), and then we saw this guy...






Okay, so, the best thing about this picture is not the guy in the fancy feather suit, but the guy on the cell phone behind him who's totally oblivious.





Sunday, I headed back to the convention, where I got to meet up with more cool people.

Here I am with the super supremo Mike Mullin, author of ASHFALL. So fun to meet him and his wife. Lovely people. I look forward to reading Mike's book and attending his launch party in October. The line at his signing was ridiculous long. End.Less.



With the amazing Medeia Sharif, author of BESTEST. RAMADAN. EVER. I talked and laughed with her for ages, and then when I walked away, I forgot a bag of books on the floor. Doh.*





Here I am with Tere Kirkland. Love her. We spent most of the day together on Sunday. One of the kindest people I know.




Sunday evening, we met up with a large group of people for cocktails at the Newberry Reception. From left: Jenny Moss' daughter, Jenny Moss, me, Sara, Stephanie Pellegrin, Cristin Teril, Shannon Messenger, and PJ Hoover. In front: Jo Whittemore and E Kristin Anderson. (Not pictured: Michelle Hodkin, Elana Johnson, and Jessi Kirby)



 After the Newberry Speeches, around 11 o'clock, some of the Bookanistas (those present) and a few others met up at the W Hotel.From left: Michelle Hodkin, Jessica Martinez, Elana Johnson, Shannon Messenger, me, Kirsten Hubbard, Kate Hart, Kari Olson, and Jessi Kirby. (Veronica Roth left early Saturday AM)



Monday morning, all the Bookanistas who were present in NOLA at the time met up for breakfast at Cafe Adelaide in the Loewes Hotel. From left, Jessi Kirby, me, Elana Johnson, Michelle Hodkin, and Shannon Messenger (Kirsten Hubbard had left super early in the morning to catch her plane).



After breakfast, we all headed back to the convention. Jessi and I went around taking pictures with all the books written by Bookanistas that we could find. There were loads, but here are a couple:


Left: With THE LIAR SOCIETY (Lisa and Laura Roecker) Right: With DIVERGENT (Veronica Roth)
By the way, this involved having to hunt strangers down and torture them with puppy dog eyes into taking the pictures for us.

Tuesday morning, before everyone took off for the airport (I was staying until Wednesday), a few of us met up for beignets one final time. Gobble gobble.

Cristin, Elana, Jessi, me, and Sara

I'm pretty sure Jessi wins for being covered in the most powdered sugar.

The End.

PS. Miss.

*You can stop hyperventilating. I recovered my bag of books.





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WINNERS!

Huge thanks to all who entered my recent giveaways. I've got some winners for you.

ARC of BETWEEN by Jessica Warman

Marisa H.

ARC of THE NEAR WITCH by Victoria Schwab

Theresa M.

ARC of AFTER OBSESSION by Carrie Jones and Steven E Wedel

Sophia C.

Signed ARC of PETER NIMBLE AND HIS FANTASTIC EYES by Jonathan Auxier

Lenny

ARC of THE BEGINNING OF AFTER by Jennifer Castle

Valerie

Please email me with an address to which I can send your book. Thanks again to all who entered. Rest assured, I'll be having another giveaway soon. Err, really soon. So check back.

And if you haven't yet entered my latest giveaway, ANOTHER THREE ARC GIVEAWAY to win ARCs of  THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS (Rae Carson), THE ELEVENTH PLAGUE (Jeff Hirsh), and LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR (Stephanie Perkins), you still have a chance. Ends Thursday, July 28 at midnight EST. Oh, and it's open internationally! I've had winners from all over the world. Most recently Mexico, Canada, and India. Will you be next?