SPOOKTOBER 2020

September 28, 2020October 5, 2020 The YA RoomLeave a comment

It’s that time of the year again – the time when horror films are aplenty, pumpkin spice lattes are back on the menu, and you feel a sudden desire to string fake cobwebs across your bookshelves. Ahh, Halloween. How we’ve missed you.

Because Halloween is one of our absolute favourite times of the year (shh, don’t tell the other holidays), we’ve decided to celebrate it in style this year with all of you! We have so many epic things lined up for the month of October. We can barely contain our excitement!

Hands up if you’re excited too!

Book of the Month

We’re so thrilled to be reading None Shall Sleep by Ellie Marney with all of you during October!

None Shall Sleep

The Silence of the Lambs meets Sadie in this riveting psychological thriller about two teenagers teaming up with the FBI to track down juvenile serial killers.

In 1982, two teenagers—serial killer survivor Emma Lewis and US Marshal candidate Travis Bell—are recruited by the FBI to interview convicted juvenile killers and provide insight and advice on cold cases. From the start, Emma and Travis develop a quick friendship, gaining information from juvenile murderers that even the FBI can’t crack. But when the team is called in to give advice on an active case—a serial killer who exclusively hunts teenagers—things begin to unravel. Working against the clock, they must turn to one of the country’s most notorious incarcerated murderers for help: teenage sociopath Simon Gutmunsson. Despite Travis’s objections, Emma becomes the conduit between Simon and the FBI team. But while Simon seems to be giving them the information they need to save lives, he’s an expert manipulator playing a very long game…and he has his sights set on Emma.

Captivating, harrowing, and chilling, None Shall Sleep is an all-too-timely exploration of not only the monsters that live among us, but also the monsters that live inside us.

Onto the activities…

First up, we have…

Bingo!

Bingo is back, baby! And this year, it’s spookier than ever. From carving pumpkins to reading a book with a ghost in it, there’s a variety of Halloween-themed activities to check off your list!

Not only does completing five tasks in a row (horizontal, vertical or diagonal) give you major bragging rights, we’ll also be giving you the chance to win a book of your choice (up to $25AUD) in our giveaway! There’s one prize for people who complete one row and another prize for all you high-achievers who complete the entire board. You got this!

All you have to do is complete the tasks you want to complete, post about it on social media, and use the hashtag #YASpookRoom! We can’t wait to see all the spooky challenges you accept in October.

The only rule is that you have to read / watch different things for different tasks! No doubling up! We’ll be posting recommendations all throughout the month, so make sure you follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook if you’re in need of some spooky inspiration.

The giveaway is open internationally and will be drawn in the first week of November. Time to get spooky, YA Roomies!

Here are all the prompts from the above graphic, in order of horizontal rows, with prompts from left to right.

ROW ONE: share a spooky story, dress as a book character for a day, read a queer spooky story, watch a foreign language horror film, read a book with murder in it.

ROW TWO: set up Halloween decorations, join a YA Room movie night, watch a horror film with a female protag, read a book with fog on the cover, (virtually) visit someplace haunted.

ROW THREE: read a spooky #LoveOzYA book, watch a spooky horror film from your childhood, read None Shall Sleep, carve a pumpkin, share a spooky shelfie.

ROW FOUR: watch a classic horror film, read a book with a black cover, wear a costume, eat Halloween-themed food, read / watch something with a ghost in it.

ROW FIVE: read a spooky short story, spell your name with spooky book titles, share your top 5 spooky movie recs, read a spooky 2020 YA release, recreate a spooky book cover.

We’ll also be hosting a ton of…

Netflix Parties!

We’ve been loving all our Netflix Parties every Friday night since lockdown began. This October, we’ll be watching a spooky film each week and talking all about them! Some of them are brand new, others are older, but we can’t wait to watch them with you.

If you haven’t joined a Netflix Party before, it’s really easy to use! All you need to do is download the free Netflix Party extension on Chrome, restart your browser, and then click the link to the viewing session we’ll be sharing before each film. Keep an eye out on our social media 10 minutes before the start time of each film to get the link and join the stream! There’ll be a chat bar at the side of your screen so we can all converse during the film.

Shaun of the Dead, Friday 2 October, 8pm AEST
Hubie Halloween, Friday 9 October, 8pm AEDT
A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting, Friday 16 October, 8pm AEDT
Rebecca, Friday 23 October, 8pm AEDT
DOUBLE FEATURE! A Quiet Place @ 7.30pm, followed by Bird Box @ 9.30pm AEST, Friday 30 October

We’re also lucky to be hosting a…

YA Spooktacular!

Hear Astrid Scholte, Michael Pryor and Anna Morgan talk all about their work and share their favourite Halloween memories on Zoom on Saturday 17 October from 7 – 8pm AEDT!

We’ll be discussing the dark and creepy aspects of their work, hear a little bit about what they’re currently writing, and learn how they get in the mood for writing all of the spookiest scenes.

Tickets now available! Click here to register.

Letter to a Villain

This month we’re (un)lucky enough to be joined by four literary villains, ready and waiting to answer your burning questions! Have you ever wondered where Count Olaf does his costume shopping? Or maybe you’d like some tips from Jadis the White Witch on garden ornaments?

Send your questions for Count Olaf, Jadis, the Queen of Hearts, and Smaug to theyaroom[at]gmail[dot]com or use the below form for a chance to have your question answered! We’ll be posting one question and answer from a villain each week on our social media.

And finally, we’ll be having a…

Halloween Zoom Chat!

Join us (AND ELLIE MARNEY!) on Saturday 31 October AT 6.30pm AEDT for a spooky Zoom Chat! We’ll be doing a Q&A with Ellie all about her latest novel, None Shall Sleep, and there’ll be plenty of time for you to ask your spine-tingling questions as well.

Following the Q&A, we’ll be having more of an in-depth discussion about our Book of the Month. Make sure you pick up a copy of None Shall Sleep ASAP to join in the fun! We hope to see you there.

Tickets will be released in the middle of October, so keep an eye out on our social media!

We hope you’re as excited for Spooktober as we are!

Don’t forget to use the hashtag #YASpookRoom and tag us in all your social media posts! You can find us on Twitter @ TheYARoom_MELB, Instagram @ theyaroom, and Facebook @ facebook.com/theyaroom.

Stay spooky, YA Roomies!

Throwback Month

December 1, 2018 The YA RoomLeave a comment

It’s finally here! Say hello to Throwback Month – AKA the month we get to reread all our trashy faves and gush about them! It’s okay, we know you love them, even though you’re still pretending you’re over your The Fault in Our Stars phase. We’ve all been there.

Join us this month to read some of the best (and worst) YA novels published before 2013 and relive a simpler time. A time before the trashfire of a movie Allegiant came out (well, half of it, at least). A time before Instagram’s algorithm wrecked havoc on our bookstagram likes. A time where our biggest memes were Nyan Cat and Grumpy Cat. I wonder how those cats are doing.

Anyway! We hope you’ll be participating by reading some older YA novels and attempting to complete a line of the #ThrowbackBingo board! Don’t forget to check out this post to find out the rules and to hear about all the prizes up for grabs. Exciting!

Today we’ll be sharing the books we’re planning on reading this month in case you need a little bit more inspiration. But it’s pretty simple. If the book you want to read is generally counted as YA (and yes, we’re counting all the Harry Potter books as YA) and it was published before 2013, you can read it for this challenge!Read More »

YA Day 2019

December 1, 2018 The YA RoomLeave a comment

YA Day is back in 2019! We’re thrilled to announce that the event will take place on Saturday 9th February from 10am – 4pm at the Wheeler Centre, in partnership with Writers Victoria. With five epic panels and fifteen incredible authors, it’s going to be an unmissable day.

Book your tickets here.

From the queen of creeps, Sarah Epstein, the fantastic Fleur Ferris, and Adult and YA author Anna Snoekstra, find out how to give readers nightmares in the best possible way.

Sarah Epstein is an author, illustrator and designer who grew up in suburban Sydney and now lives in Melbourne with her husband, two sons and a doggo called Luna.

After achieving a design degree and enjoying a 25-year graphic design career, Sarah returned to her first loves of writing and illustrating. Her debut novel Small Spaces, a YA psychological thriller, was shortlisted for The Readings Young Adult Book Prize.

Fleur Ferris spent sixteen years working in Police and Ambulance Services in Victoria and South Australia before her debut, Risk, was published by Penguin Random House Australia in 2015. Risk was nominated and won numerous awards, was published internationally and became an Australian Top 10 Bestseller. Risk was adapted to stage by a secondary school in Sweden and that adaptation, Risk: the play, is licensed and available to schools and drama clubs. Fleur’s second book, Black, came out in 2016 and quickly became Australia’s number one bestselling YA “new release” of 2016 and was optioned for film. Wreck, Fleur’s third crime thriller for young adults, was released in 2017. Found, another action thriller, will be released in July, 2018. Fleur has recently undertaken studies in screenwriting, is co-writing the screenplay adaptation of Black and is working on her next novel which will be released in July 2019.

Anna Snoekstra was born in Canberra, Australia to two civil servants. At the age of seventeen, she decided to avoid a full-time job and a steady wage to move to Melbourne and become a writer. She studied Creative Writing and Cinema at The University of Melbourne, followed by Screenwriting at RMIT University.

After finishing university, Anna wrote for independent films and fringe theatre and directed music videos. During this time, she worked as a cheesemonger, a waitress, a Christmas elf, a nanny, a receptionist, a cinema attendant and a film reviewer.

Anna now writes novels, teaches storytelling at RMIT University and Co-ordinates the Write Club at 100 Story Building. Her non-fiction has appeared in The Guardian, Filmme Fatales and she is a regular contributor to Lindsay. Her first novel Only Daughter was released in 2016, and is currently in the works to be turned into a feature film with Universal Pictures. Her second, the acclaimed Little Secrets, was released in 2017. Her first novel for Young Adults, the best selling Mercy Point, is out now.Read More »

Throwback Bingo Challenge

November 25, 2018 The YA Room2 Comments

It’s hard to believe that we’re almost at the end of 2018! But before we bid this year adieu, we want to celebrate surviving the last 11 months by doing a bit of fun reading with all of you. Last year, we had #LoveOzYA Month – which was heaps of fun – and so this year we wanted to do something equally exciting!

Say hello to Throwback Month! That’s right! We’re going to be rereading some of our favourite YA novels and reminiscing about what we read years ago. Remember the days of The Hunger Games and Divergent and Twilight? The days where we all fangirled over the movie release of City of Bones and cried over the ending of Allegiant? We’re going to be experiencing those feels all over again next month during Throwback Month!

Whether you read those novels as a teen or if you’ve never read them before, we hope you’ll join us for our month of fun. There’s going to be a bingo challenge, and virtual viewing parties, as well as special content! We’re super excited about Throwback Month, but today we’d like to introduce the main element of the month – the bingo challenge!

If you’ve participated in a bingo challenge before, you’ll probably know how this works. But for those of you that haven’t, please scroll down to check out the rules. There are also prizes to be won, so make sure you get involved!Read More »

5 YA Books with Asexual Representation

October 27, 2018October 27, 2018 The YA Room4 Comments

If you’re an avid reader of YA, chances are you’ve read a book with a queer protagonist. Take Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda for example, or The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice & Virtue. While there’s still an overwhelming amount of YA books published with allocishet main characters, we’ve definitely come a long way in terms of representation in the past five years.

But when thinking about books with queer characters, most of the time I’ve found that people are likely to recommend novels with gay, lesbian, or bisexual protagonists – not ones who are of different identities from what people perceive as ‘more common’. I want to read more books about aromantic characters, or people who are nonbinary, or those who are pansexual. I just want more representation in general – and I do believe we’re getting closer to that.

But today, I’m going to share my top five recommendations for YA novels featuring asexual characters! While not all of these books feature asexual protagonists, all the characters I mention play a major role in the novel and are explicitly on the asexual spectrum.

Meet our Teen Representative: Rosie

October 21, 2018 The YA Room1 Comment

Just when you thought you’d met your new YA Room facilitators, we have another surprise for you!

Here at The YA Room, we’re passionate about bringing readers together and making a space for likeminded young people. We aim to be an accessible space for teens in particular, so we’ve decided to bring on board our very first Teen Representative!

Rosie, our Teen Rep, will be assisting The YA Room in countless different ways – from event organisation, to social media campaign strategies, to sharing her recent favourite reads with us. We’re so excited to be working with such a passionate YA aficionado, and we hope you’ll help us in welcoming her to the team.

Without further ado, here’s a little piece from Rosie!

Hello, I am Rosie, a fourteen-year-old book nerd, aspiring physicist, philosopher and novelist. When I am not found utterly engrossed in a book, you can find me watching a period drama, eating an abundant amount of chocolate or daydreaming about fantastical lands and alternate time periods.

I am so grateful to be a part of The YA Room team and am incredibly excited to be a part of the running of such a wondrous book club. Through my position at The YA Room I hope to advocate for the importance of reading amongst young people, and further the accessibility of The YA Room amongst teenager readers.

I am very passionate about young-adult literature and am so excited to be apart of a community also ardent about the genre.

Let’s get reading!

Twitter • Facebook • Instagram • YouTube • Eventbrite

Welcome to the New Era

October 14, 2018October 14, 2018 The YA RoomLeave a comment

It’s the start of a new chapter at The YA Room, and we can’t wait to go on this journey with you. Get ready for even cooler events, more content, and some new friends. We hope you love what we have in store for you!

And with this new era, we’ve decided to expand our YA family! Get to know our two new co-hosts below, and come along to our upcoming Book Meets and events to meet them in person! We’re so excited for you to meet our new friends.

PRODUCT COLLABORATION REVEAL

August 23, 2018August 23, 2018 The YA RoomLeave a comment

We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve teamed up with Nook & Burrow to create three new products that allow you to have a tiny piece of The YA Room in your very own home!

We’ve been working together over the past few months to create two soy wax candles and a recycled, handmade bookmark. We’re so excited to finally share these products with you, and we hope you love them as much as we do.

Grab your candle and bookmark today from Nook & Burrow and receive 15% off when you use the code YAROOM15 at the checkout! Happy shopping.

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before with The YA Room

August 1, 2018 The YA Room1 Comment

What’s better than finally getting to see one of your most anticipated YA adaptations of the year? Seeing it with a group of people who are just as excited as you are! And that’s what we’re here for. The YA Room: providing shoulders to cry on over fictional crushes since ’17.

We’ve been dying to watch everyone’s much-awaited adaptation of Jenny Han’s To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, so we thought we’d celebrate its release by doing something extraordinary. Skip the whole “small screen” business of watching it all alone at home and come along to The YA Room’s YA Movie Night bonanza! Mark Saturday 18th August in your calendars, because this is an event you won’t want to miss.

Pride Picnic

May 27, 2018 The YA RoomLeave a comment

We’re hosting a Pride Picnic in celebration of Pride Month! Come along for an afternoon of feasting on rainbow-coloured food (and Oreos, duh) and talking about all your favourite queer YA novels.

We’ll be meeting at the top of Fed Square (near ACMI), and if it’s raining or cold, we’ll be moving inside The Atrium. Please bring a rug and something yum to share! Bonus points if it’s cake. Everyone loves cake.

We hope to see you there!

The YA Room

Melbourne

Tag: The YA Room