Recap: Nassau/Suffolk Joint Meeting with Gayle Forman

Yesterday's joint Nassau/Suffolk YASD meeting was a success! We had a great crowd attend, who were all looking forward to catching up with each other, meeting new people across both counties and getting the opportunity to listen to Gayle Forman speak. During the refreshments, before Gayle took the stage, there was a lot of chatter across the room, a lot of laughs and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, especially once they had a delicious cupcake! Once Gayle began to speak, notebooks came about, the room silenced and everyone gave her their full attention. Taking a different spin on a discussion of her books, Gayle talked about the books we wouldn't read, or that were likely to never get published, the writing she has done, that has lead to her currently best sellers. She was an engaging speaker and gave the audience a real insight into her writing process. After her presentation and few quick readings from her most popular books If I stay and Where She Went, along with glimpses into those pieces we will never see, she opened the floor to questions. The YA librarians love a good Q&A session. There were many questions ranging from musical impacts on writing, discussions on her editors and other popular YA authors, and how eBooks are changing the way people read and the way books get published. Overall, the discussion was robust.

After, Gayle was very generous to stick around and signed books for everyone. The line was long, but she stayed, and everyone had the pleasure of quickly speaking with her, a great capstone to an excellent program.

A job well done to the Suffolk and Nassau YASD members who put together a wonderful event. And a huge thank you to Gayle Forman!