BookExpo America Announces Roster of Special Events Speakers

Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, comedian Stephen Colbert, novelist Khaled Hosseini, and Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus will be among the notable personalities featured at BookExpo America's (BEA) special events this June. Show Director Lance Fensterman noted that this year's lineup offered a broad range of accomplished writers from many different fields.

"This group of authors is as strong as any in recent memory at BEA, and I'm exceptionally proud to present them to our audience of book lovers," said Fensterman.

Other speakers include Alan Alda, Paulo Coelho, Paul Krugman, Ian McEwan, Rosie O'Donnell, Alice Sebold, Lisa See, and Russell Simmons. In February, show organizers announced that former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board Alan Greenspan would be this year's keynote speaker. Greenspan will be interviewed by his wife, Andrea Mitchell, chief foreign affairs correspondent for NBC News.

The BEA trade show will be held from Friday, June 1, through Sunday, June 3, at New York City's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. The American Booksellers Association's programming will begin on Wednesday, May 30, with a special series of literary events planned in and around the exclusive hotel for ABA member booksellers, The New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge, in Brooklyn. ABA's Day of Education and the Celebration of Bookselling will both be held at Hotel ABA on Thursday.

The BEA trade show special events lineup announced today includes:

FRIDAY, JUNE 1

8:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.: Children's Book & Author Breakfast (Special Events Hall)
Presented in cooperation with the Children's Booksellers and Publishers Committee (a cooperative committee of the American Booksellers Association, Association of Booksellers for Children, and the Children's Book Council), this opening-day breakfast will feature Mo Willems, author of Knuffle Bunny Too! A Case of Mistaken Identity (Hyperion Books for Children); Jacqueline Wilson, author of Candyfloss (Roaring Brook); and Daniel Pinkwater, author of The Neddiad (Houghton Mifflin Children's). Libba Bray, author of The Sweet Far Thing (Delacorte), will be the Master of Ceremonies. General Admission: $15. Breakfast Admission: $35.

11:00 a.m.: BEA's Conference Keynote With Alan Greenspan (Room 1E12)
Former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board Alan Greenspan will discuss his upcoming memoir, The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World (Penguin), in an on-stage interview with Andrea Mitchell, chief foreign affairs correspondent for NBC News.

SATURDAY, JUNE 2

8:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.: Saturday Book & Author Breakfast (Special Events Hall)
Saturday morning will feature Ken Burns, author (with Geoffrey C. Ward) of The War: An Intimate History, 1941 - 1945 (Knopf); Lisa See, author of Peony in Love (Random House); and Khaled Hosseini, author of A Thousand Splendid Suns (Riverhead). Stephen Colbert, author of I Am America and So Can You (Warner Books/Hachette), will be the Master of Ceremonies. General Admission: $15. Breakfast Admission: $35.

12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.: Saturday Book & Author Luncheon (Special Events Hall)
This year's lunch will focus on political, cultural, and social change and will feature Muhammad Yunus, author of More Than Profits: How Social Business Can End Poverty and Change the World (Public Affairs); Paul Krugman, author of Conscience of a Liberal (Norton); and Russell Simmons, author of Do You!: 12 Laws to Access the Power in You to Achieve Happiness and Success (Gotham). Alan Alda, author of Things I Learned While Talking to Myself (Random House), will be the Master of Ceremonies. Admission $50.

4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.: The Heard Word: BEA's Audiobook & Author Tea (The Galleria, River Pavilion)
Roy Blount Jr., author of Long Time Leaving: Dispatches From Up South (Highbridge Audio); Jennifer Egan, author of The Keep (BBC Audiobooks America); John Lithgow, author of The Poets Corner: The One and Only Poetry AudioBook for the Whole Family (Hachette Audio); and Tom Perrotta, author of The Abstinence Teacher (Audio Renaissance) will discuss their work and the experience of having their books translated into audio format. Hosted by the Audio Publishers Association. Admission $20.

SUNDAY, JUNE 3

8:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.: Sunday Book & Author Breakfast (Special Events Hall)
Sunday morning will feature Paulo Coehlo, author of The Witch of Portobello (HarperCollins); Alice Sebold, author of The Almost Moon (Little, Brown); and Ian McEwan, author of On Chesil Beach (Doubleday). Rosie O'Donnell, author of Celebrity Detox (Warner Books/Hachette) will be the Master of Ceremonies. General Admission: $15. Breakfast Admission: $35.

Registration for the BEA trade show and special events ticket purchases are via the BEA site at www.bookexpoamerica.com. ABA member booksellers must register for Hotel ABA via the association's trade website, www.BookWeb.org. Hotel ABA is now almost booked to capacity. Booksellers who want to take advantage of the Marriott's special room rate of $159 per night and an extraordinary package of benefits should register for the hotel as soon as possible. (Watch for details regarding ABA programming at BEA in the March 15 edition of Bookselling This Week.)