Remember the days of constantly seeing young people buried in their hardcover Harry Potter book? It was a huge phenomenon and middle school students and young teens couldn’t get their hands on the latest copy fast enough. And then something happened- their older siblings, and even parents, wanted to read the books, too. Young adult literature is not such a strict genre anymore. Film franchises like The Hunger Games and Divergent have made them popular for a larger set of readers and authors are becoming more adventurous about what they’re tackling in their books. This weekend, authors and fans will converge on the city for the first ever Chicago Young Adult Book Fest, a place for authors, readers and fans to come together and talk about the genre. Ted Geoglein, author of The Cold Fury trilogy, organized the fest and he gives us a preview. (Flickr/Thais Aux)