PublicAffairs' 10th Anniversary Celebration to Inspire Social Change

Independent publisher PublicAffairs, known for its outstanding list of titles on social and political issues, will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a special panel discussion, "Social Entrepreneurs: Changing the World" on Saturday, June 2, at BookExpo America. Moderated by Brian Lamb, founder and chairman of C-Span and author of the Booknotes series, the panel will feature George Soros, chairman of the Open Society Institute and author of The Age of Fallibility; Wendy Kopp, founder and chair of Teach for America and author of One Day All Children; James Wolfensohn, former president of the World Bank and author of the forthcoming A Global Life; Mohammud Yunus, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and author of Banker to the Poor; and Teresa Heinz Kerry, author, with her husband, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), of This Moment on Earth. The session is co-sponsored by the American Booksellers Association as part of its informational programming on Saturday.

The publisher of PublicAffairs, Susan Weinberg, told BTW that the theme for the panel and 10th anniversary commemoration grew out of a discussion around the time that Mohammud Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in the fall of 2006. "We realized [then] that many of our authors have had an impact on society, on investing in and acting on issues that mattered to them," she explained.

Weinberg noted that social entrepreneurship is not just a consideration for the very wealthy -- life-changing ideas can originate from humble beginnings. "If you look at [the list of panelists], you'll see that there is a combination of people who have contributed after becoming wealthy, and people who have contributed as their life's work, not based on their personal fortune. George Soros, James Wolfensohn, and Teresa Heinz Kerry have each used their wealth to focus on changing the world, to focus on an issue that is extremely important to them." In contrast, she said, "Muhammad Yunus was an economics professor who figured out that lending $27 to some extremely poor women in Bangladesh could begin a revolution in finance and social justice.... Wendy Kopp was a college senior when she came up with the idea of Teach for America, an inspiration that she turned into an ongoing organization that recently celebrated its 10th anniversary."

Weinberg emphasized that social entrepreneurship "is about the need to harness money, energy and creativity on all levels of society to address problems that have sometimes been thought to be intractable."

For the past 10 years, PublicAffairs has focused on publishing the work of "people of vision with a compelling story to tell, people who have had an impact by trying something new or by overturning conventions and expectations," said Weinberg. Now, the publisher is inviting all BEA attendees to share in a celebration of that mission at BEA.

The panel discussion "Social Entrepreneurs: Changing the World" will be held on Saturday, June 2, from 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. in Room 1C02 - 1C04 of the Javits Convention Center. --Nomi Schwartz