For a variety of reasons, it's been a long time since I was out on tour, but while I don't see myself hitting the road again any time in the near future, I DID record a video panel interview recently with fellow authors Garth Nix, C. L. Clark and Hafsah Faizal, for YALC -- the UK's official YA Lit Con. The con has been held in London since 2014, as part of the Film & Comic Con. This year, because of COVID, they're running the con online, and I was invited to take part.

Being honest, I don't enjoy virtual events as much as in-the-flesh events, and it's difficult to interact with other authors as naturally and fluidly as it would be if we were all sitting in the same room together -- as you'll see if you watch the video, we pretty much each take turns answering questions, and don't really respond to one another or engage in a dialogue, as we would have at a "normal" event. That being said, you do get four fantasy authors in four different parts of the world (we dialled in from Australia, Ireland, England, and the USA) who probably wouldn't have been able to come together any other way, talking about their books and the worlds they create and their inspirations, and I think it's an interesting, engaging piece, which will hopefully help you pleasantly kill 51 minutes this weekend. :-)

Also -- and this is where virtual events trump their in-the-flesh counterparts -- because it's online, it means a) it can be viewed by anyone, anywhere in the world, and b) although it's normally quite expensive to attend a normal convention, this year's online YALC events are FREE -- hurrah!!!

The video has now been posted to the YALC YouTube channel, and you can watch it in its entirety by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2-aAdvPGfg

And if you want to watch more of the YALC events -- they've programmed a whole weekend's worth of online talks, with dozens of fantastic authors -- click here for the full lineup as it unfolds: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDlliUDi3ucHHujON_WsUQw