January 13, 2017
By KEITH RYAN CARTWRIGHT
Rutherford County Schools
What separates SE-YA Book Fest from other young adult festivals isn’t simply that it is the effort of a trio of librarians — Liz Hicks, Erin Alvarado and Barbara Collie – from Rutherford County Schools, it’s the intimate connect the festival creates between readers and writers.
New York Times bestselling author Sharon Cameron has been to more festivals than she can remember.
And yet the Nashville native is quick to recognize SE-YA as having done a “great job of connecting teens and adults with reading.”
This year’s festival takes place March 10-11 with authors visiting schools throughout Rutherford County on March 9.
Last year’s festival drew close to 2,000 attendees from 40 different Tennessee schools and 12 states. More than 1,000 students from 22 middle and high schools represented Rutherford County Schools.
Alvarado said they promoted the first-year of the festival mostly through word of mouth and social media platforms. In addition to www.seyabookfest.com, they can be found on Facebook and Twitter.
Local and bestselling authors Courtney C. Stevens and Cameron have served as advisors for the past two years.
Cameron is currently finishing The Knowing, which is a companion piece to last year’s The Forgetting. The No. 1 bestselling author has also written The Dark Unwinding (2012), A Spark Unseen (2013) and Rook (2015), which have all been released by Scholastic Press.
The Knowing is scheduled to be released in October.
Cameron, a Nashville native, spoke with Rutherford County Schools to talk about what the SE-YA experience is like for both readers and writers.
You’re one of the 11 authors returning for the second year.
Yeah. I helped do a lot of the organizing last year too because … Courtney Stevens and I helped do a lot of the author organizing to bring people in for the inaugural year. My experience was from both the author side and the organizational side. I do a lot of festivals and author events in different places in the country and I really think what sets SE-YA apart from any of the other festivals that I have gone to is the incredible enthusiasm of the organizers of this event. I talked with those librarians when this was just a concept and they were trying to find a way to make this dream of theirs happen. It’s a really great opportunity in sort of an intimate setting where you have a lot of access to interact with authors and readers.
What brings you back? I would imagine it has a special spot in your heart.
Oh yes, it does. First of all, it’s local. A lot of these readers who come and meet you, they come back to other events that are local. I’ve had readers come to the launch of my next book and so it’s a wonderful way to connect with my readers who are right here in my backyard. That’s one thing, but also SE-YA is providing a lot of one-on-one, or I should say, author-on-reader time. It’s a lot of access. A lot of festivals, you go and do your panel or you speak or you do a signing and you have a small window of time to do that, they’re in line and they kind of shuffle them through. SE-YA is providing long periods of time where groups of readers can just come up and discuss books. Last year, I had so much fun talking about all our other favorite authors that were in the room. The books we love to read. We just got to interact with the readers, and I think that’s different than the other festivals.
SE-YA is open to the public, but it’s also different in that Thursday is dedicated to school visits and then Friday all the different schools bus their students to the festival. It’s not until Saturday that it’s open to the general public.
It is very different in that it’s such a specific goal of this festival to expose teenagers to becoming readers. Some of them are readers and some of them aren’t yet. That exposure to authors is something that I really believe in. I was a very passionate reader as a teen and I still am. I never had that opportunity as a kid. I never had that opportunity to see or meet someone who writes books for a living. It’s a funny thing in your mind that you don’t realize sometimes, as a kid, that these are real people. This is a viable thing that you can do. Writing was something that did not occur to me until I was well in my 30s. While I was very happy with the choices I made, I do wonder what that exposure would have changed.
SE-YA is very collaborative experience. Talk about going into a festival like that hyper-aware of being able to inspire someone to read or impacting them in such a way they too think about writing.
It’s hard to speak for everyone, but I think the (young adult) community of authors in particular does tend to be hyper-aware of that. The YA community is very supportive, very tribal. We are very connected, very different people who come from all different backgrounds … but we are very connected by a passion for books and story and literature. But when you really get down to it, it’s just fun to meet other people who are as passionate about books and stories as you are. When you meet someone who’s eyes light up over the same books that make your eyes light up, you’re instantly friends.
How powerful is it to know your decision to pursue a second career might inspire someone to pick up a book and read for pleasure?
That’s part of the participation art — whether it’s reading, writing or music or painting or whatever that is. The participation in an art always begets other participation in an art. It is the ripple of the pond. I am inspired by others. I inspire others. They inspire others. You never know where that is going and it’s a beautiful process to be part of.
Speaking of inspiration, you met, befriended and became a mentor for Carma Sharp.
Yes.
Tell me how that came about and what made her stand out? Or maybe you just do this for everybody.
Carma, I met because she was one of the very, very early volunteers for SE-YA. … I’ll tell you what will make someone stand out is when the first time you meet them, they burst into tears and tell you how much they loved your book, which is exactly what happened. I felt like Elvis or something. I couldn’t believe it. She is just such a passionate lover of story and so the first thing we did was we sat down and talked. We had a long conversation. After that, we were friends.
Authors scheduled to appear at this year’s SE-YA Book Fest:
Becky Albertalli, Mindee Arnett, David Arnold, Tracy Barrett, Brooks Benjamin, Jenn Bishop, Ashley Herring Blake, Kym Brunner, Nicole Castroman, Cindy Williams Chima, Melanie Conklin, Katie Cotugno, M. Tara Crowl, Tobie Easton, Jennifer Eaton, Lauren Gibaldi, Brittany Goodwin, S.E. Green, I.W. Gregorio, Bridget Hodder, Sheba Karim, E. Katherine Kottaras, Sarah Lariviere, Andrew Maraniss, Mindy McGinnis, Kathryn Ormsbee, Amy Christine Parker, Shaila Patel, C.J. Redwine, Julie A. Reece, Beth Revis, Monika Schroder, Victoria Schwab, Lois Sepahban, Megan Shepherd, Adam Silvera, Laurel Snyder, Rick Starkey, Kristin Tubb, Stevens and Cameron.