The incredible Austin Teen Book Festival, presented by the Austin Public Library Friends Foundation, took place yesterday at Palmer Events Center.

Author Scott Westerfeld started off the day with a fantastic keynote, focused on steampunk and illustrated novels for young readers. See the complete featured author list.

I had the honor of moderating the “Supernatural Suspense” panel, which featured Heather Brewer, Tera Lynn Childs, Andrea Cremer, Sophie Jordan, and Jackson Pearce.

Highlights included….

a gorgeous hospitality room

with fascinating bookish decor

and famous authors like David Levithan and Jackson Pearce

Coe Booth (David with Andrea Cremer in the background)

Melissa Walker and Varian Johnson

Heather Brewer

plus, zombies (because zombies make everything more fun)

panels, signings, a crowd of thousands–literally

and cover art cookies to go!

Special thanks to festival director Heather Schubert, volunteer coordinator Leslie Wilson, the volunteers and the booksellers from BookPeople. Thanks also to everyone in attendance and/or who otherwise contributed to making the event such a success.

See another photo report from Greg Leitich Smith at GregLSBlog.