Louise O'Neill & Sarah Bannan Book Signing

Hi readers! 


Last Friday I had the absolute pleasure of attending a Q&A and book signing featuring Sarah Bannan , author of Weightless, and Louise O'Neill, author of the award winning Only Ever Yours. 

Check out Sarah's Twitter page here! 

Check out Louise's Twitter page here!

I was so excited for this event, it was all I could talk about for weeks coming up to it. 

I traveled for 3 hours to get to the signing and went with my lovely friend Eimear (who blogs at An Abundance Of Novels) who is as big a fan of Only Ever Yours as I am. 

I am very excited to begin reading Weightless and am going to do so very soon! It sounds amazing and I've only heard great things. 

The signing was a free event held in Easons Dublin and ran by Easons special YA unit Department 51 . 

The area was well laid out with chairs and a speaker so everyone in the audience could see the stage and clearly hear the Q & A.

 I chatted to two staff members in the Easons, David and Jacqueline, and both were so easy to talk to, friendly and funny. A big shout out to Jacqueline as she was so nice and I loved talking about books with her! 

[Image Source: Cormac Kinsella ] 

The Q & A kicked off with Eason's David O'Callaghan chatting to Louise & Sarah and asking them questions both about their novels, their inspirations and about themselves. 

I really enjoyed the Q&A and I thought David was so funny and asked all of the questions I had been wanting to ask!   

I really liked listening to how well Louise and Sarah spoke and really liked the obvious friendship between them as they complemented each others novels. Both Sarah and Louise were so funny and lovely. 

[Image Source: VanessaMarshDraws Instagram]

One of my favourite questions that David asked Louise and Sarah, was what films they thought represented them. I thought this was a really interesting question. 

Sarah said that the two films she felt represented her were Dazed & Confused (1993) as the film reminds her of the town she comes from in the US and the high school she went to, and that other films that she felt represented her were Lucas (1986)  and Friday Night Lights (2004) . 

Louise said that she felt Heathers (1998) and Clueless (1995) accurately reflected her. I can definitely see some parallels between the type of characters in both those films reflected in Only Ever Yours ! 

Both authors also talked about the covers of their novels. Sarah's novel is centered around bullying and bullying in today's society and how social media impacts on this. Sarah said she felt the cover captured the books message as you can see the computer cursor on the girls lip on the front. 

Louise said she loves her novels cover. She said the main inspiration behind the doll on the cover was Nicole Kidmans character in the Stepford Wives, which is all I can think about now when I see the cover. 

I think both covers are beautiful and striking and really get across the messages of the novels. 

[ Image Source: Department 51 Twitter ] 

After the Q&A, the signing began . I was so disappointed my copy of Sarah's novel had not yet arrived as I had purchased it online, so I couldn't get it signed . 

Louise was so lovely and recognized me from our chats on twitter. She signed my book to me and gave me a hug. I asked her a few burning questions I had about Only Ever Yours and we got a photo together. My signed copy of Only Ever Yours is my new prized possession! 

 After most of the people from the signing had gone, Eimear and I chatted some more to Louise. Louise is such a funny and down to earth person, I loved chatting to her! 

I am eagerly awaiting her next novel, Asking For It, which is being published by Quercus in September of this year. 

So then after the Q&A, as if my day wasn't brilliant enough, the lovely people at Department 51 and Easons gave each person in the audience a goody bag!  

Each goody bag contained an I'll Give You The Sun T-Shirt (pictured below with my copy of the novel), a The Fault In Our Stars mug which I love and a novel. The novel I received in my goody bad was Firecracker by David Iserson , who has written for Saturday Night Live and New Girl. This book sounds great! 

The lovely Jacqueline also gave me some more proofs of books I have not read which was so kind and I am so grateful for as they all sound great. I received copies of The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle, The Jewel by Amy Ewing and Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley. 

Again a huge thank you to the wonderful employees of Easons and Department 51, Jacqueline and David. A massive thank you to the lovely Sarah Bannan and the amazing Louise O'Neill. 

And lastly, a big thank you to my partner in crime and great friend Eimear for coming to the signing with me! Check her out on Twitter here and her book blog here !