Late last year, McNally Jackson Books in New York City hosted Love Letters to the Dead author Ava Dellaria for a reading of her novel, released in April. McNally Jackson children’s/YA book buyer Cristin Stickles reached out to the Manhattan contingent of Forever YA, a national Internet-based book club. For adult readers of YA books, both the online component of FYA and their regional contingents offer an organized and playful source of camaraderie. Stickles invited the group to co-host the Dellaria event after their regular and heavily participatory attendance at many of McNally Jackson’s YA events.

Two of the members of the 40-strong FYA-NYC book group hosted the Dellaria reading, with many more in attendance. The night kicked off with a bingo game that continued throughout the reading. Audience members created their own game boards using words from a list of suggestions drafted by the group including character names and thematic words important to the book (sisters, sneaking out, Nutter Butters). As Dellaria responded to questions, audiences ticked off keywords and two winners walked away with bags of galleys donated by McNally Jackson. FYA-NYC member Anna was the first winner, and exclaimed, “This is my first time playing bingo!”

The FYA-NYC host’s questions for Dellaria were also particularly inspired. Dellaria, who had previously worked on the film adaptation for The Perks of Being a Wallflower, answered questions about the script she was writing for the film adaptation of Love Letters for the Dead, music that inspired her writing, and even about the recent real-life campaign inspired by her novel. In the book, the protagonist Laurel is assigned by her English teacher to write a letter to a deceased person. In the wake of the recent loss of her sister, Laurel writes to the dead figures her sister loved, including Kurt Cobain. While on tour for the book’s release in Los Angeles, a local English teacher was so moved by the novel that she made the same assignment for her own class, and the response was so overwhelming that the letters are now shared on Dellaria’s website with teens from all over the country sending in their own.

McNally Jackson and FYA-NYC plan to collaborate on many events in the future. Particularly, Stickles is interested engaging FYA-NYC on “YA events with strong adult crossover potential,” adding, “I’ve been a big fan of the Forever YA blog for a long time and I feel really lucky that they have such a great presence in NYC.”

Growing Offline

FYA brings together unapologetic grownup YA readers. What started as an online blog with the tagline “for YA readers who are a little less Y and a bit more A,” FYA regularly posts irreverent book reviews (featuring dream casts of the movie), as well as stories on recent trends and reviews of YA film and TV adaptations. The popularity of the blog has grown, and regional book groups have gathered offline. The New York area has two groups affiliated with FYA, one in Manhattan and the other in Brooklyn. The Manhattan-based group, which is the group specifically collaborating with McNally Jackson events, has met since 2012. The group draws anywhere from 10-20 members at a time to individual meetings, usually at cafés or restaurants around the city.

After a scavenger hunt originated from the website last summer, the group garnered a lot of attention, and with it many new recruits. Recently, the growth of the FYA online presence and the local group has attracted the attention of publicists and agents, and authors have made appearances at club meetings while on book tours. Recently, Wildlife author Fiona Wood, on a visit to New York from her native Australia, joined the group on Saturday, November 15, answering the group’s questions and signing books.

The structure of the club may be part of the key to its success. Each meeting starts with a prepared “ice-breaker,” usually related to the theme of the book. At the discussion of Wildlife, which takes place at a summer camp, the icebreaker invited each member to share a summer camp experience. Discussion got rolling quick. With the group energetically engaged with each other and the author, two hours passed quickly.

The Manhattan group is composed primarily of young women in their late 20s and early 30s, about half of which work in publishing; some are aspiring writers themselves. The December book club selection was the short story collection My True Love Gave to Me, edited by Stephanie Perkins. McNally Jackson hosted a large number of authors included in the book in December, including Holly Black, Ally Carter, Gayle Forman, Jenny Han, David Levithan, Kelly Link, Myra McEntire, Stephanie Perkins, Rainbow Rowell, and Kiersten White. FYA-NYC was there to keep the revelry going with an ugly Christmas sweater contest.

The first meeting of 2015 is slated for January 31, and Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith as well as Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater will be discussed. Potential members are encouraged to engage with the group via their Facebook page. Regular outings to readings and movie adaptations (including the recent Mockingjay) have created an enthusiastic group, which newly partnered with a beloved local indie, can only grow.