I am an official blogger for Chapter Con 2017 a YA and NA convention in the UK. I am also the Chapter Con blogger coordinator of which am honoured. Every month I will have a feature all about the con and today I have an interview on all the things you need to know about the con with the creator, Katie John.
Tell us briefly what Chapter Con is all about?
Chapter.Con 2017 is the first of a UK kind. Planned as a holistic residential and day convention with a focus on YA and NA literature, it takes place over 3 days and 4 nights, and is a gathering of like-minded people with a love of YA and NA books of all genres. As well as a public signing, which is an opportunity for Readers and Authors to connect, there are a series of workshops, key note talks, and panels, all designed to share experience and skills.
The inspiration for Chapter.Con came from the U.S style author conventions, in particular the amazing convention UTOPiA founded by Janet Wallace, which I attended in 2015 and will be returning to in 2016, and Penned Con, founded by Amy and Rick Miles. Both these cons have a primary aim of creating a cohesive author community, creating an environment of learning, friendship and inspiration.
Chapter.Con has a very specific ethos; it’s the ethos of acceptance, inclusion and sisterhood. The mission of Chapter.Con is to create a community celebration based on a shared love of reading and writing. It is a safe place to reach out and to share. We hope that Chapter.Con will be inspiring, affirming and practical.
Chapter Con will be set in Teddington area of London. Why this area?
Teddington is my home town and it is a great place to hang out. Ten minutes from Hampton Court Palace, a bus ride to Kew Gardens, and home of Strawberry Hill House, it is a London village full of great and inspiring places, as well as being stacked full of restaurants, coffee shops, galleries and other interesting indie shops. With great transport links to London City, Heathrow airport and Waterloo station, it was a really easy choice.
Where is the venue for Chapter Con and why did you pick it?
It is planned to take place at St. Mary’s University College, where I am an alumni. St. Mary’s university is also home to Strawberry Hill House, designed by Horace Walpole, a godfather of the Gothic Horror Literary movement.
Being a university it has great exhibition space and beautiful Georgian, Gothic rooms for our celebrations and ball. The whole place is imbued with a sense of literary history. As well as this, it has super-value residential options of single en-suite rooms, which in term time are student halls. Although not glamourous, they are clean and on site, offering a real sorority house experience for just £45 a night.
There are also a range of hotels nearby for those that have family with them or fancy something a little more luxurious.
What are some of the things that will be happening at Chapter Con?
The schedule is absolutely packed and we are constantly working on other exciting events. You can find an overview of the complete schedule over at the official webstie www.chaptercon.weebly.com We have an amazing opening Key Note speaker, who will be announced in the coming months. There will be a packed program of educational panels hosted by over twenty panellists from all over the world, Canada, USA, South Africa, Switzerland, and of course our home grown British authors. All of our panellists have a wealth of experiences in different aspects of publishing, marketing, writing and blogging.
On the Saturday we are opening the convention up to the public with an exhibition and signing event, a reading and Q&A event called Opening Chapters, and a gorgeous indie pop up café and restaurant; there are also other events planned, which we are finalising.
As well as all this learning, there are some really fun social events planned, such as the Big Chill Gig Fest on the Friday night featuring the highly successful new-wave folk band, The Frisbys, and their friends.
Then of course there are the Saturday night events, which conclude the con. There will be a reception and glitzy awards ceremony held in the sumptuous Gothic splendour of the Waldegrave suite, which will be followed by The Butterfly Ball, a chance to party until Midnight like any good Cinderella.
Chapter Con is two years away *hurry up* what can we do to help in the meantime?
This is the very first Chapter.Con and we need everybody in the UK book community to be shouting out and showing their support. Tweet, blog, Facebook, Tumlr – any other platform you can think of. Join the Facebook page and engage. Buy a ticket early and take advantage of our discounts so we can put down our deposits, Sponsor us with our conventional and quirky sponsorship releases. Talk about it. Get excited. Say hello by contacting us via the various sites. Help us create such a social media buzz that the national press and media take an interest. Most importantly, join us.
About tickets:
We have costed the con in order that we can keep the ticket prices as low as possible and still put on a con to remember. Ticket prices start at £65* for a full attendee ticket, which gives access to all the panels, workshops, exhibitions, signings and social events.
There are still exhibitor and attendee tickets available. *They are currently on 15% discount until December so grab your now. They are available from the website and facilitated by Eventbrite.
There are whole con tickets, day tickets and residential ticket options. There are also family discount tickets available.
Publishers should contact us to discuss requirements and pricing options.
Get Involved.
We are not making any further announcements about panellist and Opening Chapter selections until January 2016 but please put your name in the hat if you would like to be considered by using the Contact page.
We still have 2 Official Bloggers places open and we are also looking for 3 Official Vloggers, please use the official contact page on site.
Are you going to Chapter Con?
