Amid rumors of a possible last-minute appearance by former President Bill Clinton, BookExpo America has announced that comedian Jon Stewart, NPR host Terry Gross, authors David Sedaris and Scott Turow and actress/author Jamie Lee Curtis are among the celebrities and writers who will appear at this year's BookExpo America.
In addition to releasing the speakers list, BEA announced that Borders will hold its spring district managers' meeting at the show and that BEA has worked with a number of black indie presses to set up an African-American Publishers pavilion on the convention floor.
BookExpo released the names of the hosts and speakers who will be at book and author breakfasts and luncheons over the course of the convention. Jamie Lee Curtis (When I Was Little, Harper) will join Ursula K. LeGuin (Gifts, Harcourt) and Jack Gantos (Hole in My Life, FSG) at the children's book and author breakfast on Friday. Saturday's book and author breakfast will feature the popular Sedaris (Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, Little, Brown), Alexandra Fuller (Scribbling the Cat, Penguin) and Alexander McCall Smith (Sunday Philosophy Club, Pantheon) on a panel hosted by Terry Gross, who has her own book, All I Did Was Ask (Hyperion), coming in the fall. Saturday's luncheon, hosted by Brian Lamb (On American Character, Public Affairs), will feature Donna Brazile (Cooking with Grease, S&S), Janeane Garofalo (For Those About to Salute (S&S), P.J. O'Rourke (Peace Kills, Grove) and Linda Chavez (Betrayal, Crown).
Scott Turow (Ultimate Punishment, Audio Renaissance) will appear at Saturday's audiobook tea, along with Augusten Burroughs (Magical Thinking, Audio Renaissance), Kinky Friedman (The Great Psychedelic Armadillo Picnic, Random Audio) and Amy Tan (The Opposite of Fate, Brilliance Audio). Vanity Fair's Graydon Carter (What We've Lost, FSG) will host the Sunday book and author breakfast panel, which includes Stewart (The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America the Book, Warner), Tom Wolfe (I Am Charlotte Simmons, FSG) and Gish Jen (The Love Wife, Knopf).
Borders to Meet at Show
Borders will increase its show participation by holding its spring district managers' meeting at the conference. BEA said in a statement that "the gathering will take advantage of BEA's exhibitor base by involving publishers in various activities with Borders staff, including on-site meetings, author breakfasts and luncheons, as well as receptions and dinners." One BEA official estimated that the number of Borders employees attending the show this year could run as high as 500.
New Black Publisher Pavilion
The African-American Pavilion has been organized by three houses, Genesis Press, Amber Communications and Black Issues Book Review. The new pavilion will occupy about 1,400 square feet in McCormack Place South (level 3, exhibit hall A, booths 4148—4157) and has attracted about 12 black publishing houses.
Niani Colon, associate publisher at Genesis Press, a multicultural house based in Columbus, Miss., that publishes about 30 books a year, told PW that her fellow black publishers were feeling "too spread out last year." Colon said the three publishers "worked with the people at BookExpo on pricing and on targeting black indie presses."
Colon acknowledged that "not all black publishers will be in the pavilion, but we hope it will grow. We think it can be a showplace for black books." Among the publishers in the pavilion are Third World Press, BlackBoard Times, Strebor Books, Walk Worthy, Just Us Books and Red Sea/Africa World Press.
Colon said the pavilion has "brought in several first-time exhibitors and convinced some publishers that had stopped coming to return. We think it will give black publishers a lot of exposure."
