Blue Bicycle bookstore in Charleston, SC, hosts an annual YALL Fest celebrating young adult and middle grade literature. At this year’s festival, we crossed paths with some up-and-coming writers as well as big name authors like R.L. Stine and Veronica Roth.
But those weren’t the only participants with connections to Hollywood.
Here are YALLFest’s top 10 connections to Tinsel Town.
#10 – Adam Gidwitz
While there’s no movie or TV show based on Gidwitz work, his latest book is based on a movie. A big movie at that. Titled So You Want to be a Jedi?, it doesn’t take one to figure out which movie.
Here’s a clip of the author talking about working within a galaxy far, far away.
#9 – Danielle Page
A former writer for Guiding Light, Paige now pens the Oz related Dorothy Must Die book series.
#8 – David Levithan
At 19, Levithan started working in literature as an intern on The Babysitters Club series. Now, he has almost two dozen novels published, including Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, which was adapted for the big screen in 2008.
#7 – Kody Keplinger
Keplinger wrote the novel The Duff at the age of 17. It was released as a film in 2015 starring Mae Whitman and Robbie Amell.
#6 – Gayle Forman
Forman’s novel If I Stay topped the New York Times best seller list of Young Adult Fiction and was made into a film starring Chloe Grace Moretz.
#5 – Melissa de la Cruz
The author has multiple successful YA series’, including one about a family of witches that the Lifetime network adapted into the series Witches of East End. She also pens Disney’s Descendants, the first of which was made into a Disney Channel film.
#4 – Meg Cabot
Cabot is the creator of best selling series The Princess Diaries, adapted into two films for Disney starring Ann Hathaway and Julie Andrews.
Here’s a clip of Cabot talking about Andrews role in the film.
#3 – Daniel Handler
Creator of the Series of Unfortunate Events, Handler will once again see his character Lemony Snicket come to life on screen. Netflix has purchased the rights to the series.
#2 – R.L. Stine
The Stephen King of children’s literature, Stine has written hundreds of horror fiction novels including the Goosebumps series which was released in theaters last month starring Jack Black. Stine has a cameo in the film.
#1 – Veronica Roth
Roth is the author of the wildly successful Divergent series. She’s 27!
Pretty sure I was drinking around the world at Epcot and stalking boy banders when I was 27.
Oh, sh!t. I’m still doing that.
On a related note, the final Hunger Games film hits theaters Friday.
Featured photo of Meg Cabot and Melissa de la Cruz.
