BookCon Announces First Wave of Panels for 2020

Nicole
4 Min Read
Courtesy of BookCon

BookCon, the ultimate convention for anyone who loves pop culture and reading, just announced its first wave of panels.

On Saturday, May 30, attendees will have the opportunity to attend three different Buzz Panels! “Since the dawn on time, BookExpo, the largest event in publishing, has had industry professionals searching for the next big hits! Previous titles like Room, The Maze Runner, Everything, Everything, Fangirl, Such a Fun Age and more first started their launch as BookExpo Buzz finalists. For the first time ever, BookCon proudly presents a Meet the Authors of Buzz 2020! Here will be your chance to meet your next favorite author before their book is even released. Join this thrilling session and hear authors share their excitement and passion for the Fall’s biggest potential breakout releases!”

Adult Buzz Panel featuring Nadia Owusu (Aftershocks: A Memoir), Tiffany McDaniel (Betty), Charlotte McConaght (Migrations), Emily M. Danforth (Plain Bad Heroines), Robert Jones, Jr. (The Prophets), and Sara Seager (The Smallest Lights in the Universe: A Memoir).

Young Adult Buzz Panel featuring Kiku Hughes (Displacement), Darcie Little Badger (Elatsoe), Sarah Goodman (Eventide), Trung Le Nguyen (The Magic Fish), Hayley Krischer (Something Happened to Ali Greenleaf).

Middle Grade Buzz Panel featuring Uri Shulevitz (Chance: A Memoir), Kelly J. Baptist (Isaiah Dunn Is My Hero), Aida Salazar (Land of the Cranes), Kate Alice Marshall (Thirteens), Jamie Summer (Tune It Out).

Another exciting Saturday Panel includes the Raise Your Voice Panel featuring Angie Thomas (On The Come Up), Kelly Yang (Parachutes), Lamar Giles (Not So Pure and Simple), and Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed (Yes No Maybe So). The authors will “talk about the importance of using your voice and fighting for what’s right, one step at a time” and how they tackle “some truly complex ideas in new and accessible ways.”

Sunday, May 31 panels include:

Korean Young Adult Icons Panel featuring Jenny Han (P.S. I Still Love You), Mary H.K. Choi (Permanent Record), David Yoon (Frankly In Love), and Kat Cho (Wicked Fox). The panelists will “discuss how Korean and Korean-American experiences shape and inform their best-selling novels.”

Hill House Horror Panel featuring Joe Hill (Basketful of Heads), and Carmen Maria Machado (Her Bodies and Other Parties and The Low, Low Woods) with moderator Mark Doyle. The authors will “share spooky, nail-biting insights into their acclaimed books.”

Don’t Blow It: A Conversation with Jen Atkin, a panel where attendees will “join celebrity hairstylist, social media influencer, and entrepreneur (founder of OUAI and Mane Addicts) Jen Atkin for a conversation about her remarkable journey, in which she will discuss her fierce, funny, and inspiring forthcoming book, Blowing My Way to the Top (December 2020). From growing up in a conservative religious community to striking out on her own and breaking all the rules to build an innovative, one-of-a-kind business, Atkin will reveal how she defined success on her own terms — and how readers can use what she’s learned to create their own dreams.”

An Olympic-Sized Mystery Panel featuring two-time Olympic bronze medalists, three-time world medalists, Four Continents Champions, and two-time U.S. National Champions, Maia and Alex Shibutani. The siblings will “discuss their incredible journeys to stardom and how it led them to write KUDO KIDS: Mystery of the Masked Medalist, a fun-filled, fast-paced mystery inspired by the Shibutanis’ own familial bond and experiences traveling the world with Team USA.”

You can find the BookCon 2020 panel list here and be sure to keep checking back as they add more panels and guests in the coming months!

Nerds and Beyond is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Share This Article
By Nicole
Nicole joined Nerds and Beyond in 2019 and is excited to finally get back into writing. As a life-long nerdy fangirl from New Jersey, she loves Supernatural and its fandom as well as anything Wayward, Kings of Con, Lucifer, Wynonna Earp, and the musical Bandstand. She’s constantly listening to Louden Swain, The Station Breaks, Briana Buckmaster, The Avett Brothers, The Mots Nouveaux, or any of Aaron Mahnke’s podcasts. When she’s not [procrastinating] on Twitter, you can usually find her binging Netflix with her dog, reading fanfic, or daydreaming about being back in Arizona or Disney World!
Leave a comment