By Naomi
It’s Friday August 1st, 2008. My mom is picking ten-year-old little me up from a week-long dance camp. I get in the car, and she has Breaking Dawn on the passenger seat, even though it’s not supposed to come out until the next Monday. The tiny newspaper shop in my home village doesn’t much care for the embargo and already has the book on sale. Life is wonderful*.
Fast-forward seventeen years, and 27-year-old me is now working at a bookstore, preparing for the 20th anniversary of the Twilight Saga. I haven’t read the books in many, many years, but I still remember the cultural impact of them. Like it or not, Twilight created a lot of trends in publishing. Suddenly, love triangles were a must in young adult fiction. Vampires and werewolves became the most popular supernatural beings for a love interest. (After a hiatus it seems like they’re back, as readers are embracing paranormal romances again.) The Twilight Saga spawned 50 Shades of Grey, which was originally Twilight fanfiction and created a whole ‘nother phenomenon (of publishers pulling fanfiction from fan forums, rewriting it and publishing it). Twilight was truly everywhere. And now, it’s almost everywhere again. The Twilight-renaissance is well and truly underway. From parody accounts on TikTok, to the Cullen house LEGO set, to Twilight marathons at movie theaters, it’s on a lot of people’s minds this fall.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary, a gorgeous deluxe collector’s edition will be published, in addition to a deluxe hardcover collection and the 20th anniversary paperback. Hoa hoa hoa hoa
*Don’t quote me on any of this, it was a long time ago and I was but a child.
