My Dream Bookish Panels

Recently, the team at Eventbrite - a company that helps people find events and even plan and register their own - came up with a challenge for bookworms to come up with my dream author or character panel. Of course, being an avid reader, I jumped right on board with the project and came up with three panels that I would love to see made real.

Featuring authors whose work baffles my mind and limited creativity

Stephen King - George R.R. Martin - Stan Lee

Moderated by Robert Kirkman

For this panel, I'd pick some of my favourite authors and creators and really pick their brains. What inspires them? How do they manage to create such gripping, complex stories and such three dimensional characters? How do they even come up with the ideas for characters? I'd really want to go in-depth into just how they do it. And of course this would have to be held at a convention, as where better do fantasy, horror, and comic writers fit?

Celebrating the toughest females in fiction

Daenerys Targaryen (A Song of Ice and Fire) - Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games) - Allison Sekemoto (The Blood of Eden)

Moderated by Michonne (The Walking Dead)

Now, this is a panel that could only really happen in my dreams (unless the actresses wanted to answer questions in character, which would also be amazing). These ladies are some of my favourite characters from some of my favourite series so I'd love to just talk to them and find out what drives them - aside from what we see in the books - and how they find the courage and strength to keep fighting. And I'd probably just take the opportunity to gush over how badass and inspiring they are, but let's try and keep things professional.

Discussing the importance of accurate mental health representation in fiction

Holly Bourne (Am I Normal Yet?) - Nathan Filer (The Shock of the Fall) - Grace Bowman (Thin)

Moderated by Meg Haston (Paperweight)

And finally I had to have a panel focusing around mental health, seeing as it plays such a big part in my life. I'd love to have a sit down chat with the authors of some of my favourite books about mental health. Bowman and Filer both have first hand experience living and working with mental illness, and I'd love to hear what they have to say about a number of things: daily life, the stigma, living with it, watching others live with it, and so much more. And the fact that these authors tackle a range of different illnesses, from anxiety to schizophrenia, makes it that much more realistic and informative. This could be a really important panel to have at a bookish convention, or even at a school.

Who would be on your dream bookish panel?