In a brief statement yesterday, Christopher Hitchens explained his sudden book tour cancellations: “I have been advised by my physician that I must undergo a course of chemotherapy on my esophagus. This advice seems persuasive to me. I regret having had to cancel so many engagements at such short notice.” News outlets concluded that the treatment is related to esophageal cancer, which is linked to both smoking (Hitchens was a heavy smoker until recently) as well as drinking alcohol. Two-time Pulitzer-winner (most recently in 2009 for the collection The Shadow of Sirius) W.S. Merwin has been named the Library of […]
Book Fairs
Final BEA Stats Use New Measure to Count Almost 22,000 Attendees
BookExpo America (BEA) officials said this morning that verified attendance at this year’s show was 21,919 people. Exhibitors comprised just over 8,000 people, with all other “industry professionals” comprising 13,872 people in all. For the first time, the show is tabulating all people who actually attend the show. In the past BEA has provided a breakout of registrants for their “book buyer” category (which includes librarians), but now spokesman Roger Bilheimer says “we have decided that while the book buyer number is a standard of measurement that is important, it is not the only standard of measurement. In that sense, […]
BEA Basics: No Exhibits until Tomorrow, But a Lot Happening Now
Old habits are hard to break. With BEA’s switch to a mid-week show and just two days of floor exhibits, a number of veteran fairgoers were confused to learn this morning that the show floor does not open until tomorrow. Sufficiently so that BEA pushed out an e-mail reminder on this point. Today is for conferences only (though the Rights Center is open, and remainders buyers are allowed on the floor.) But the conference sessions are crowded indeed. With digital publishing very much top of the agenda, the realignment of the IDBF conference to run concurrently with BEA has been […]
LBF Offers Discounts to Returning Exhibitors
The London Book Fair has contacted exhibitors and rights center table-holders with a “thank you”/”loyalty” package in consideration of the “unprecedented circumstances brought about by the volcanic ash in Iceland.” Customers from the 2010 show are being offered a 30 percent discount on the published 2011 prices for exhibition space and rights center tables, “in recognition of the disruption to the show, and to our 40th birthday in 2011.” Additionally, any pre-registered international visitor in 2010 who was unable to attend and did not transfer their ticket to someone else can attend for free next year.
LBF Attendance Down By a Third
London Book Fair officials estimated that total attendance for the ash-stricken show declined by about a third. Given that typically 45 percent of attendees are from overseas, if you presume that UK-attendance was down slightly based on cancellations, that means international attendance was likely down by two-thirds. Show director Alistair Burtenshaw sent a letter to exhibitors dangling a vague promise of making some kind of amends to exhibitors because of the impairments to the typical fair experience but no further explanation was offered for how. He wrote: “I would not want you to be under the impression that we have […]
BEA's CEO Panel Will Open Conference Day
BEA has rescheduled their “CEO Panel” discussion to make it the opening session on the morning of Tuesday, May 25 (the conference day before the show floor is open to all). For the first time, it will be the opening event for both the American Bookseller Association’s day of meetings as well as BEA’s own Big Ideas conference, bringing booksellers and the rest of the trade together in the room. Farrar, Straus publisher Jonathan Galassi will moderate a discussion of the Value of A Book, featuring: New Workman group publisher Bob MillerICM evp Esther NewbergIngram ceo Skip PrichardPenguin USA ceo […]