On Saturday I was lucky enough to attend a seriously fantastic panel in my hometown of Cardiff! I genuinely never find panels that I want to go to here so I was ECSTATIC when I realised that both Alwyn Hamilton and my new favourite author Katherine Webber were both attending the panel. Ecstatic is probably an understatement actually. I also got to meet my lovely Rosie and we had the BEST time!

The panel was super intimate with probably only about 20 people at the event and I loved that it was held in Octavo’s books, which is a cute little book cafe in Cardiff Bay. I’ve also already adopted this as my new favourite bookish hangout in Cardiff. When we arrived only seats in the front row were left (such a shame….) and so we found ourselves literally sitting about a metre away from the authors. Normally I would find this a little intimidating but all three ladies were so fabulous that it really felt like we were there with friends, at least that’s how I felt!

This panel seriously kicked some ass! I knew I would enjoy it as girl power and being a feminist is definitely something I feel strongly about (I’m writing this whilst cosied up in my Nasty Woman jumper!). There was so much discussed during the panel: their own books and kickass female characters, their dream cast for their books (I LOVED that Alwyn made the point that she would not have anyone other than a POC playing the role of Amani – so important!), feminism in the current state of the world (shout out from Katherine to the #WomensMarch!!), favourite feminist roles in film, tonnes of great book recommendations and discussions on diversity and writing tips. I particularly loved Alwyn’s tip of writing what only you could write, this really resonated with me.

All three authors were inspiring to me and I was super excited to meet Alwyn and Katherine. I finished reading Rebel of the Sands the night before the event and was so thrilled to find out there were copies of Traitor of the Throne for us to buy and get signed at the event too! I had not heard of Sarah Govett’s work before the event but her books certainly sound up my street so they’ve been safely added to my TBR!

Meeting Katherine Webber was such an overwhelming experience in the best way! Both Rosie and I had read and reviewed Wing Jones and I knew that Katherine had read my review as she sent me the loveliest DM on Twitter to thank me, but I wasn’t expecting her to give us so much recognition. She even gave us a little shout out during the panel when talking about Wing Jones. She was such a welcoming and lovely person, as I reached her she immediately asked if she could hug me and said the most lovely things, even that her husband had been excited for us to meet! When she asked for a picture with Rosie and I we were both like ‘We should be asking you that?!’ and obviously said yes before taking a few selfies of our own. Katherine left such a personal and lovely message in my copy of Wing Jones, I think I’ve read it about a million times. To get so much positive recognition from such a talented author and wonderful lady has left me completely overwhelmed and inspired. I’m already looking forward to seeing her again in February.

The girl power feeling in the room was so STRONG and I left feeling so inspired and overwhelmed with happiness and gratitude. Such a fab bookish event to start 2017!

What bookish events are you attending / looking forward to in 2017?

Who has been your favourite author to meet so far?

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