At Chicago’s BEA-Lite: A Meaningful Discussion on Publishers and Authors

In what may be BookExpo America’s (BEA) most forgettable outing in many years, Chicago’s McCormick Place seems a Fringe alternate to New York City’s Javits Center.

“Yesterday, it was really tumbleweedy,” a fellow journalist says, pointing out that the main exhibition floor has a lower silhouette. It’s a pedestrian prairie this year, with not much “skyline” where the big houses’ pavilions should be. Those bright carpets aren’t getting very dirty. Even the Starbucks line is almost manageable most of the time.