BEA will be held at the Javits center in New York City between June 5 and June 7. Here's all our coverage of the show, beginning with our preview issue.
The Pre-BEA Issue
BEA Unbound: BEA 2012
Three years ago, when Steve Rosato took the helm at BookExpo America, the book world and the country were still reeling from the economic collapse of 2009. Amid questions about the show’s future, it retrenched that year into a two-day, midweek event, designed to save attendees and exhibitors money. But Rosato subtly expanded the show, too, offering a day to self-publishers and aligning itself with literary events around the city, steps that broadened the BEA’s relevance beyond traditional industry folk.
We’ve written about the reduction in giveaways and we’ve beaten the bushes about the end of publishing as we know it, but life does go on, and this year at BEA publishers are once again handing out galleys, bringing hopeful debut authors to sign and schmooze, and parading their bestsellers, believing that lightning will strike twice, or three, or 50 times. We’re crazy about all of it because despite the wonders of digital and the brave new world, there’s nothing like the excitement of watching an author finding the page to sign, or the fans waiting to meet that author whose book has broken their heart.
Lots to pick up at publishers’ booths this year: favorite authors like Rachel Cohn, David Levithan, and Libba Bray are exploring new genres; some popular series are drawing to a close; and stars of other media (incuding Hunger Games director Gary Ross) are trying their hands at fiction.
In response to reader requests, we offer a master list of exhibitors, in numerical order. You will also find here the companies as they are grouped in the Digital Zone, Meeting Rooms, and the Rights Center.
“We finally dug ourselves out of the recession,” says Toby Cox, owner of the 44-year-old Three Lives & Company, giving voice to a sentiment expressed by a number of New York City booksellers. He ranks 2011 as one of the store’s best since he purchased it 11 years ago.
To those of you who will be attending the BEA in June, know that you will be standing on hallowed ground. Not because of the rich mineral content of the soil, or because of the area’s dollar value per square foot. No, you are trodding the path of ghostly royalty for one simple reason: right here, in the area surrounding the Jacob Javits Convention Center, enough storied history has unfolded to fill a New York City version of Edward Gibbon’s multi-volume The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
Two weeks after BEA ended last year and all the booksellers left town, something magical happened in New York: 10 more blocks of the High Line, our beloved “park in the sky,” finally opened to the public, doubling it in size.
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