Dragons Participating in North Texas Teen Book Festival

Calling all lovers of teen literature – a new teen book festival is coming to North Texas. Tweens, teens, and the young at heart will celebrate teen literature together on Saturday, March 7 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Irving Convention Center as the Irving Public Library and its partners, Half Price Books, the Friends of the Irving Public Library, local school districts, museums, other local libraries, and the DFW chapter of the Forever YA book club, host the first annual North Texas Teen Book Festival (NTTBF).

This free, one-day festival will highlight Middle Grade and Young Adult (YA) literature by connecting the North Texas reading community to more than 40 well-known, best-selling, and emerging teen authors. Bookending the festival will be a keynote and endnote speaker with a full day of panel sessions, book signings, book sales, and more in between. NTTBF will expose attendees to new authors, new stories and new characters while getting them excited about reading.

“The festival will be an exhilarating way for pre-teens, teenagers, and adult fans of teen literature to meet and speak with authors who write many of their favorite books.” says Kristin Trevino, Irving Public Library teen librarian and festival coordinator. “And, we have such a wide variety of authors scheduled in our inaugural year that everyone will be able to find something to suit their reading tastes and inspire them.”

With strong sales of fiction books aimed at readers, ages 12 to 18, today’s marketplace is in one of the most fertile periods in the history of YA literature. The North Texas community mirrors the increased interest in teen literature found at the national level. As the popularity of series like the Hunger Games and Divergent bring YA literature into the forefront of mainstream culture, teens and adults show a growing excitement for YA literature. The North Texas Teen Book Festival is created to connect local tweens and teens with authors to foster an enjoyment of reading and improve literacy, while meeting the entertainment needs of older YA readers in an environment that inspires reading for pleasure.

The North Texas Teen Book Festival is funded (in part) by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services and Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

To find out more about the festival, visit northtexasteenbookfestival.com. Accompanying graphics for use in print are available by request, nttbfest@gmail.com.