Do you know who Shylah Addante is? Well if you're a Hunger Games fan, this is one die hard super fan you should DEFINITELY be made aware of. First off, she is part of the staff of our favorite fansite, Down With The Capitol. We came to know her through her Twitter handle, JediShywalker. Being a long time Star Wars fan, she definitely stuck out among the tweets. I mean, come on, what a rad Twitter name! Anywho, she also has a great blog talking about really cool thoughts and ideas about The Hunger Games trilogy. The most important of these blog posts being about her charity, Hunger is NOT a Game in which Hunger Games fans can donate to feed the hungry in East Africa. DONATE HERE!

BEHOLD! Josh wears Shylah's scarf!
All this in itself is enough to warrant Shylah as our very first Featured Fan, right? Am I right? Well, yes that maybe true, but the point is that her awesome contributions do not even end there. Shylah does a lot of activity in the podcast world: She is the host of Cinna's Reading Room on PanemRadio.com and is a frequent panelist on the HG Fireside Chat. She also has serious knitting/crochet skills and some of her work can even be purchased on her Etsy site: Shylah's Books and Hooks. You definitely want to check out her DeviantArt too, where you can see the different blankets she has made. Shylah even crocheted a scarf and gave it to Josh Hutcherson himself! Outstanding!

Lastly, if there's anything you should know about Shylah Addante, it should be that she is a fantastic writer. I had first hand experience working with Shylah on The Potter Games and its sequel The Rebellion. One psychotic day, we had an exorbitant amount of work to be done and not a lot of time to do it in. Well, I watched her write the entire main bulk of the story so quickly, I actually could not keep up with her! After experiencing that, it was no surprise to me when I found out Shylah became the writer for Mainstay Productions' Finnick & Annie web series.

It is for these reasons that Shylah deserves to be our very first FEATURED FAN! In celebration of this recognition, we asked Shylah some random Hunger Games questions:

D12: What is it about The Hunger Games that grabbed you when you first read the books?
Shylah: It was definitely the social justice messages of the book. I'd been a fan of Harry Potter (which also touches on a wide range of issues, though in a more subdued way) for years, but the way Hunger Games was so blatant with it's anti-poverty, anti-war, anti-oppression messages was just incredible to me. I was reading it for a graduate class on adolescent literature and I just remember finishing the book, walking into class, and saying: "If I had read something like that at the age of twelve, it would have completely changed my life."

I mean, the series definitely impacted my life anyway, but if I would have read it as a teenager, it would have completely blown my mind.

D12: Are you still selling your HG-themed knitting/crochet projects?
Shylah: Yes- though slowly. Since the Josh Hutcherson GMA scarf incident, I've been working my way through a queue of orders. I'm about halfway through right now.

As soon as those are done, I plan on trying my hand at some more Hunger Games inspired blankets. I still want to make a 'Liam is Gale' blanket (I've already done Jen and Josh), and there's a couple new book cover patterns that I made and want to try out.

Also, I've been working for a long time making tiny crocheted flowers that (hopefully) one day I'll join together for a 'Rue's Lullaby' blanket.

Outside of those, I'm always experimenting. I'm toying with the idea of making sweaters or maybe a new 'District by District' blanket based on TheCapitol.PN seals.

Mostly, I'd just love for other knitters/crocheters to come out of hiding so we can do a Hunger Games square swap!
D12: With all that you do for the Hunger Games fandom, which project was your favorite to work on and why?
Shylah: I love working at Down With The Capitol. It's a really fun group of people (who are all such huge fans of the books), and that makes all of the work fun. Everyone there cares about the fans and just wants to provide the best experience we can. We're working on a lot of behind these scenes stuff right now that (when we roll it out) will hopefully be really useful to our readers.

Really, my favorite part of working at DWTC is the contests. I think it's a really great way to thank the fans for staying involved with us (and the fandom at large). Those are a labor of love (about 90% of the things we offer we purchase ourselves- the other 10% is donation), but seeing fans get so excited over the chance to get that magazine they missed (or an autograph or a poster)- it just gives me warm fuzzies. I'd have a contest on the site everyday if I could.

A close second though is something new that a few people and myself are working on. It's going to take this fandom to a whole new place, and we're putting a lot of love into it.
D12: Would you be running to the Cornucopia?
Shylah: No way. I definitely know where my strengths lie, and it's not in hand to hand combat. I'm more of a Johanna Mason than a Cato.
D12: Let's say you did. What's Shylah's weapon of choice?
Shylah: Are there knitting needles in there because those would be useful and deadly. If not, I'd definitely want something with range: a bow and arrow, spear, or ninja throwing stars.
D12: The orange backpack? Or Seneca Crane's beard? THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE!
Shylah: The backpack but with the beard design painted on the back.
D12: Touche! Would you rather visit the edible insect station OR Greasy Sae's?
Shylah: Greasy Sae's as long as she calls everything beef. I grew up with a grandfather who fed me a delicious Dutch dish for years until one day I helped him make it. It was ground up cow tongue, and that knowledge killed my appetite forever.
D12: If you could only pick from these names for your first born child, which one would you choose? Gloss, Enobaria, Beetee, Wiress, Cashmere, Glimmer, Blight, Woof, Chaff, or Plutarch?
Shylah: They're all pretty awful-- there's not even cute nicknames for them. I guess if I had to choose, it would be...

(Real Life Note: I have been pondering this for 10 minutes, like this decision will really impact the welfare of my unborn children).

Ugh. Okay. I pick Glimmer. But I'm not happy about it.
D12: Finally, Any new Hunger Games projects coming up?
Shylah: Aside from the crocheting, I'm working on super secret project right now with some other names you'll recognize from the Hunger Games fandom. It's going to be a pretty special website that I think fans across the world will be really excited about. It's been in the works for almost a year, and we're in the implementation stages now-- so I guess just keep your eyes peeled!

Other than that cryptic project, I'm always busy with Down With The Capitol, and someday I'll record more episodes of Cinna's Reading Room for Panem radio.

Mostly, I like to stay busy, so the more projects the merrier!

Thanks for answering all our questions, Shylah!

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