Having already locked in Rudolph Giuliani for its opening night event, BookExpo America has announced that Al and Tipper Gore will also be appearing at the show. The two will speak at Sunday's author breakfast, promoting their books Joined at the Heart: The Transformation of the American Family and Between Us: The Spirit of Family. Also dropping by will be Christopher Reeve, Jean Auel, Walter Mosley and others.
FRIDAY, MAY 3
Children's Book & Author Breakfast
Maurice Sendak and Tony Kushner, Brundibar, Hyperion Books for Children
Kate DiCamillo, Tiger Rising and Because of Winn-Dixie, Candlewick Press
John Lithgow, Micawber and The Remarkable Farkle McBride, Simon & Schuster
Audiobook Tea
Brad Meltzer, The Millionaires, Time Warner AudioBooks
Walter Mosley, Bad Boy Brawly Brown, Audio Renaissance
Janet Evanovich, Hard Eight, Audio Renaissance
SATURDAY, MAY 4
Book & Author Breakfast
Queen Noor, To the Kingdom: A Memoir, Talk Miramax Books
Reynolds Price, Noble Norfleet, Scribner
Stephen Carter, The Emperor of Ocean Park, Knopf
Book & Author Lunch
Christopher Reeve, Nothing Is Impossible, Random House
Pete Hamill, Forever, Little, Brown
Roone Arledge, Roone, HarperCollins
SUNDAY, MAY 5
Book & Author Breakfast
Pat Conroy, My Losing Season, Doubleday Broadway
Jean Auel, The Shelters of Stone, Crown
Al Gore and Tipper Gore, Joined at the Heart: The Transformation of the American Family and Between Us: The Spirit of Family
Literary Luncheon
Tim O'Brien, July, Houghton Mifflin
Francine Prose, The Lives of the Muses, HarperCollins
Paul Auster, The Book of Illusions, Henry Holt
Oscar Hijuelos, A Simple Habana Melody, HarperCollins
Despite the general economic recession and lingering impact of the September 11 terrorist attacks, BEA v-p and show director Greg Topalian expects "a big hit." He told PW, "So far, the indication seems to be that people want to come to New York City to show support. Patriotism is giving the show a bit of a boost. Though everyone has been hurt by the economy and some folks have cut back on what they spend at the show, they still feel strongly enough about needing to be there that nobody has said that they can't come."
He anticipates a show similar in size to those held in Chicago in recent years, with about 2,000 exhibitors, but expects more independent booksellers from the Northeast.
The biggest changes will be on the show floor, where the Spanish-language pavilion, sponsored by Críticas magazine, will be double the size of last year. A new area, the Mind, Body, Spirit section, will bring together spirituality and health publishers in one space. The multimedia segment of the show, focusing on music and video sidelines for booksellers, has been brought into the main exhibition space.
With New York a relatively easy flight from Western Europe, BEA should attract much larger numbers of international scouts, buyers and agents than in previous years. Topalian is looking for the rights side of this year's show to be "literally twice the size."
