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Blast Off to BookExpo

Get ready for the big show!
BookExpo America (BEA) is the publishing industry's premier trade show. The annual event is an opportunity to peek inside the world of books at the biggest national bookselling event of the year. Aside from the trade show floor (where publishers exhibit their fall titles), there are education and information sessions, author breakfasts and lunches, special events, and many opportunities to network with booksellers and publishers.



BEA has announced special programs and the line up of authors who will be participating in this year's event at the Los Angeles Convention Center, May 30 - June 1, 2008. BEA’s speaker program is a convention highlight and brings attention to new books by accomplished writers from many fields of endeavor.

Thomas L. Friedman to Present BEA Keynote

Three-time Pulitzer Prize winner and National Book Award recipient Thomas L. Friedman will be BookExpo America's 2008 keynote speaker. Friedman's new book, Green Is the New Red, White, and Blue (FSG, August), proposes an ambitious national strategy, called "Geo-Greenism," that will not only keep the planet from overheating, but will "make America healthier, richer, more innovative, more productive, and more secure."

Friedman will appear at the convention on Friday, May 30, at 11:00 a.m. at a non-ticketed event open to all BEA badge-holders.

Other authors participating in BEA’s special events programming include Sherman Alexie, Judy Blume, Eoin Colfer, Andre Dubus, Philippa Gregory, John Hodgman, Dennis Lehane, and Azar Nafisi. In addition, special Introductory Remarks will be made at the Children’s Breakfast on Friday, May 30 by Jon Scieszka, the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. As previously announced, Thomas Friedman will be BEA’s Conference Keynote speaker and Lewis Black will perform exclusively for BEA’s annual fundraising event to benefit the American Booksellers’ Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) and the Association of American Publishers’ Get Caught Reading campaign.

Tickets for BEA’s ’08 Special Events are available for purchase through the BEA website. The line up of speakers and events includes:

FRIDAY, May 30, 2008

8:00AM – 9:30AM CHILDREN’S BOOK & AUTHOR BREAKFAST (Concourse Hall)

Presented in cooperation with the Children's Booksellers and Publishers Committee [A cooperative committee of the American Booksellers Association (ABA), Association of Booksellers for Children (ABC), and the Children's Book Council (CBC)] this opening-day breakfast will feature Sherman Alexie, author of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers); Judy Blume, author of Going, Going, Gone! with the Pain and the Great One (Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers); and Neil Gaiman, author of The Graveyard Book (HarperCollins). Eoin Colfer, author of Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox (Hyperion Books for Children/Disney Book Group) will be the Master of Ceremonies. Introductory Remarks by Jon Scieszka, National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. General Admission: $15. Breakfast Admission: $35.

SATURDAY, May 31, 2008

8:00AM – 9:30AM SATURDAY BOOK & AUTHOR BREAKFAST (Concourse Hall)

Saturday morning will feature Magic Johnson, author of Magic Moves: 32 Lessons on How to Be an All-Star in Business (Crown Business), Philippa Gregory, author of The Other Queen (Touchstone/Simon&Schuster), and Andre Dubus III, author of The Garden of Last Days: A Novel (W.W. Norton). Alec Baldwin, author of A Promise To Ourselves: A Journey Through Divorce and Fatherhood (St. Martin’s Press) will be the Master of Ceremonies. General Admission: $15. Breakfast Admission: $35.

12PM – 2PM SATURDAY BOOK & AUTHOR LUNCHEON (Concourse Hall)

This year's lunch will, once again, focus on political and social issues and will feature Richard Engel, author of War Journal (Simon&Schuster), Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, author of Taking on the System: Rules for Radical Change in a Digital Era (Celebra), Jon Krakauer, author of The Hero (Doubleday), and Michael Moore, author of an as yet untitled work (Grand Central). Christopher Buckley, author of Supreme Courtship: A Novel (Twelve) will be the Master of Ceremonies. Admission $50.

4PM – 5PM THE HEARD WORD: BEA’S AUDIOBOOK & AUTHOR TEA (Room 403)

Come hear Robert Crais, author of an Untitled Elvis Cole Novel (Brilliance Audio), T. Jefferson Parker, author of LA Outlaws (Brilliance Audio), and Michael Connelly, author of The Brass Verdict (Hachette Audio) talk about their recent and upcoming audiobooks and the experience of hearing their works translated into audiobook format. Hosted by the Audio Publishers Association. Admission $20.

SUNDAY, June 1, 2008

8:00AM – 9:30AM SUNDAY BOOK & AUTHOR BREAKFAST (Concourse Hall)

Sunday morning will feature Ted Turner, author (with Bill Burke) of Call Me Ted (Grand Central), Azar Nafisi, author of Things I’ve Been Silent About: A Memoir of Family (Random House), and Dennis Lehane, author of The Given Day (William Morrow). John Hodgman, author of More Information Than You Require (Dutton) will be the Master of Ceremonies. General Admission: $15. Breakfast Admission: $35.

BEA Offers Ambitious Digital Publishing Program

“It’s a Book Publishing Conference About Technology, Not a Technology Conference About Publishing!”

BookExpo America convention officials have announced details of a conference program which they note is unprecedented in scope and magnitude. Specifically, a conference track devoted to digital technology, and entitled The Dawn of Collaborative Publishing, will offer 30 sessions and feature over 30 top industry professionals discussing a range of issues of immediate concern to publishers and book industry professionals alike.

BEA’s educational programming, which is included in the cost of a badge for all attendees and costs only $49 for exhibitors, provides entrance to over 125 sessions through the course of the weekend.

BEA’s Director of Education, Mark Dressler, notes: “The thing that truly sets this program apart, aside from its notable participants, is that this is a book publishing conference about technology, not a technology conference about publishing. At BEA we are all about books and publishing and so I like to think that we are creating a program that works from the inside out, rather than the outside in! I truly believe that we have put together a conference track that is unique in scope and focus, and will be enormously beneficial to a range of publishing executives and staff.”

A few of the industry change-makers who will be participating in The Dawn of Collaborative Publishing include:

Clay Shirky, consultant, NYU adjunct professor and author, Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations

Bill Tancer, GM – Global Research, Hitwise and author, CLICK: What Millions of People are Doing Online and Why it Matters

David Pakman, CEO, eMusic

Jeff Howe, contributing editor, Wired magazine, author, Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd is Driving the Future of Business

For complete information on BEA conference programming, including a schedule of all events and activities, visit the website at www.bookexpoamerica.com.







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