Check out the archived interviews from the St. Louis Teen Book Festival 2021.
39 top Young Adult authors, 11 events, 11 days held April 8-18!
Keynote event with Marissa Meyer
Panels featuring Zoraida Cordova, Holly Jackson, Adib Khorram, Marie Lue, David Levithan, and many others!

Presented in partnership by St. Louis County Library, HEC Media and the Novel Neighbor with books available from The Novel Neighbor.
View the archived videos by clicking the links below or the icon in the Related column to the right.

Keynote Presentation:  Marissa Meyer, “Instant Karma”
View the archived interview here.
The St. Louis Teen Book Festival kicks off with a conversation with the #1 bestselling author of the Renegades Trilogy and the Lunar Chronicles series. In Marissa Meyer’s new young adult contemporary romance, a girl is suddenly gifted with the ability to cast instant karma on those around her–both good and bad.  Marissa is in conversation with bookseller and writer Cody Roecker.

Panel Event:  All the Feels
View the archived panel discussion here.
Featuring:
David Levithan, “19 Love Songs”
Emma Mills, “Lucky Caller”
Loan Le, “A Pho Love Story”
Robbie Couch, “The Sky Blues”
Witty, romantic and honest, these young adult authors share the highs and lows of young love. Navigating family expectations, community prejudices, and the dreaded love triangle, the stories take us from that hopeful first spark through all the joy (and potential heartbreak) of falling in love.

Panel Event:  “Body Talk: 37 Voices Explore Our Radical Anatomy”
View the archived panel discussion here.
Featuring:  Kelly Jensen, Anna Marie McLemore and I.W. Gregorio
In “Body Talk,” thirty-seven writers, models, actors, musicians and artists discuss everything from size and shape to scoliosis, from eating disorders to cancer, from sexuality and gender identity to the use of makeup as armor. Together, they contribute a broad variety of perspectives on how their bodies have helped to inform who they are and how they move through the world.

Panel Event:  Magical Journeys
View the archived panel discussion here.
Featuring:
Hafsah Faizal, “We Hunt the Flame”
Kiersten White, “The Camelot Betrayal”
Gavriel Savit, “The Way Back”
Julia Ember, “Ruinsong”
With fresh takes on the legends of Ancient Arabia and Camelot, Jewish folk tradition, and “The Phantom of the Opera,” these top fantasy authors use magic to explore themes of power, identity and romance. Get lost in these dazzling adventures!

Panel Event:  “Vampires Never Get Old:  Tales with Fresh Bite”
View the archived panel discussion here.
Featuring:  Zoraida Cordova, Natalie C. Parker, Laura Ruby, and Mark Oshiro
In this delicious new collection, popular YA authors offer stories about lurking vampires on social media, rebellious vampires hungry for more than just blood, eager vampires coming out—and going out for their first kill—and other bold, dreamy, eerie, powerful creatures of the night.

Panel Event:  I Am a Work in Progress
View the archived panel discussion here.
Featuring:
Desmond Hall, “Your Corner Dark”
Adib Khorram, “Darius the Great Deserves Better”
Trung Le Nguyen, “The Magic Fish”
Natasha Diaz, “Color Me In”
Each of these novels feature characters learning to be true to themselves despite the expectations and misconceptions of their families, friends and communities. With great truth and heart, young adult authors explore complex issues of intersectional identity, racism and religious intolerance, sexuality, and mental health.

Panel Event: “Come On In:  15  Stories About Immigration and Finding Home”
View the archived panel discussion here.
Featuring: Adi Alsaid, Maurene Goo, Misa Sugiura, and Varsha Bajaj
This powerful anthology explores the joys, heartbreaks and triumphs of immigration, with stories by critically acclaimed and bestselling YA authors who are shaped by the journeys they and their families have taken from home—and to find home.

Panel Event:  This Girl Can
View the archived panel discussion here.
Featuring:
Holly Jackson, “Good Girl, Bad Blood”
Yamile Saied Mendez, “Furia”
L.L. McKinney, “A Crown So Cursed”
Aminah Mae Safi, “This is All Your Fault”
Warriors, athletes, detectives and readers, each of these books features strong female characters that refuse to be defeated. Whether facing down a nightmare  or saving an indie bookstore, these girls fight on with pure heart and fierce determination.

Panel Event:  Roller Coaster Reads
View the archived panel discussion here.
Featuring:
Kim Johnson, “This Is My America”
Sara Faring, “White Fox”
Amanda McCrina, “Traitor”
Caleb Roehrig, “The Fell of Dark”
From a variety of genres–including current issues, mystery, historical fiction and paranormal romance–these books keep us up all night reading. This team of masterful authors deliver high suspense that compels us to read on and spread the word.

Panel Event:  Strange Worlds
View the archived panel discussion here.
Featuring:
Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, “Aurora Burning”
Marie Lu, “Skyhunter”
Scott Reintgen, “Ashlords”
Take a trip to another dimension with four of the top writers of young adult science fiction.  These books ask: What does it mean to be human? In a world where everything is strange, who is the villain and who is the hero?

Panel Event:  Family Ties
View the archived panel discussion here.
Featuring:
Nicole Melleby, “In the Role of Brie Hutchens”
Julie Buxbaum, “Admission”
Maria Padian, “How to Build a Heart”
Samantha Mabry, “Tigers, Not Daughters”
Whether it’s the family we’re born into or the family we build for ourselves, we’ve all experienced the ups-and-downs of family drama. These top YA authors present characters asking to be seen and accepted, testing the bonds of siblings, and dealing with uncomfortable truths about their parents.