Teen Lit Con was hosted by Edina High School for the first time on Saturday, April 27. It featured a welcome panel of headlining authors hosted by Emmy-winning journalist and author Shayla Michelle. It also included various breakout sessions where middle and high schoolers played games, interviewed acclaimed authors, and attended workshops for fiction, visual storytelling, memoirs, and more. 

Junior Inga Kunze-Williams attended Teen Lit Con as part of the Model UN team, which volunteered at the event. “We were all asked to come and help out and I was happy to,” she said. “It’s really fun to see everyone excited about books and reading because that’s lost in today’s generation. They’re all on their phones and watching TV and movies, but everyone’s genuinely excited to be here with their friends. It’s a happy environment.” 

The cafeteria and gym were filled with pin-making, cozy places to read, book recommendation tables, book-signing lines, books for sale authored by featured authors, and games for prizes like stickers or free books. 

While there were several authors and illustrators there, some noteworthy names included Nick Brooks (an author and filmmaker known for his “Ethan Fairmont” series and new book: “Promise Boys”), Jarrett Krosoczka (notable for the “Lunch Lady” series), Krystal Marquis (bestselling author of “The Davenports”), and Marie Lu (who famously wrote the “Legend” series and her latest hit, “Stars and Smoke”). The event concluded with an interview of Lu by a panel of three students, hosted by Dakota County librarian Katie Polley. 

For Valley View Middle School sixth grader Adrian Bach, Teen Lit Con was a space to grow his passion for reading. “I’m here because I love reading books,” he said. Bach is also a part of the VVMS Library Council, which has similar objectives of encouraging students to read. “We help out the library and do projects to make it thrive and get kids to read more,” he said.