Tuesday, March 1, 2016 11:30 am

A one-of-a-kind book festival will connect area teens and the general public to authors of young adult literature with its launch in Murfreesboro March 11-12, 2016.

The details for the 2016 SE-YA in the 'Boro Young Adult Book Festival are as follows:

Friday, March 11: 9:00 AM-2:30 PM

Saturday, March 12: 9:00 AM-4:00 PM

Location: Middle Tennessee State University Student Union Building, Murfreesboro, Tenn.

The Southeastern Young Adult Book Festival, sponsored in part by Humanities Tennessee, is being organized by a group of Rutherford County school librarians in collaboration with Sharon Cameron and Courtney Stevens, two local authors of young adult literature.

It is a free event that will place teens and lovers of young adult literature in an environment where they can interact with renowned YA authors and celebrate the love of reading and writing. The ultimate goal of the festival is to encourage and develop literacy in young adults and advance education in the community.

According to one of the co-founders of the festival Erin Alvarado, "The importance of the book festival to the community, and to the lives of the young adults in it, cannot be overstated. We know that meeting an author is one of the most powerful connections a young person can make, and it can have a profound influence on their choice to continue reading. For those young adults who have never developed a love for reading or have lost their interest, this book festival can reignite that spark and create lifelong readers. The potential ripple effect for improving literacy in the community is vast."

This year, the SE-YA Book Festival will bring 37 prominent authors of YA literature to Murfreesboro to take part in sessions such as panel discussions and writing workshops. Each author will have a designated time to meet fans and sign books during the event, and all books written by the authors will be available for purchase on site at the festival bookstore or by preorder from www.parnassusbooks.net/SEYA. Proceeds from both on-site and preorder sales will support the festival.

The SE-YA Book Festival will take place over two days and, unlike most book festivals, this one will feature a special "teens only" day on March 11, where schools from all over the state will bring groups of middle and high school students to the MTSU campus. The public is invited to attend the Festival on Saturday, March 12. All events are free.

Author and festival collaborator Sharon Cameron says, "I am thrilled to help bring the SE-YA Book Festival to Tennessee! I was one of those kids who didn't even consider writing as a profession. If I had the opportunity to listen to an author speak, how would that have affected my choices? It could have been potentially life changing for me. That's what I want for Middle Tennessee. I want the kids in the community to talk about books, discover new books, and have their eyes opened to all the possibilities that are out there. Sometimes we limit ourselves because we just don't know what's there."

For more information about the Festival, including school registration for Friday, March 10, a list of participating authors, the daily schedule, and panel topics, visit http://www.seyabookfest.com.

About Southeastern Young Adult Book Festival

SE-YA in the 'Boro is a one-of-a kind of event designed to place teens and authors of young adult literature in a setting to interact about what they love most. The primary goal of the Southeastern Young Adult Book Festival, a 501 (c) (3) organization, is to encourage and develop literacy in young adults by connecting them with authors in a fun setting, thereby advancing education in the community.

For more information, email info@seyabookfest.com, visit online at www.seyabookfest.com, or connect on Facebook at www.facebook.com/seyaintheboro or on Twitter and Instagram @seyabookfest.