BookExpo America Organizers Introduce New York Book Week to Draw Attention to Authors, Books and Publishing

(PRESS RELEASE) Norwalk, CT, March 18, 2010: BookExpo America (BEA) organizers have today announced the official debut of New York Book Week (May 23-29, 2010), a concept which embraces all literary and book activity in New York City and which is designed to draw attention to authors, books and publishing. The program, which was conceived as a way to expand on the presence of BEA in New York City by making even more authors available to the community, has grown to include a wide range of author events at various literary venues.

BEA, North America's largest book industry event, annually attracts approximately 1000 authors to its convention. Some of the participating organizations and venues already involved in New York Book Week include Times Talks, the 92nd Street Y, The New York Public Library, The Brooklyn Public Library, Symphony Space, Barnes & Noble Booksellers and selected member stores of IBNYC (Independent Booksellers of New York City) including Housing Works, PowerHouse Arena and Book Culture, among others.

"I am thrilled that New York Book Week is poised and ready to debut in a significant and meaningful manner," notes Steve Rosato, Show Manager for BEA. "One of the things that we most wanted to do when we made the decision to keep BEA in New York City for the next few years was to work closely with the community. New York is the publishing capital of the world and there is already an enormous amount of literary activity taking place in the city. It seemed only natural that all of us should band together and call attention to our individual and collective efforts. That's what New York Book Week is all about."

The BEA marketing staff has created a logo for New York Book Week which will be used on web sites, advertising, event programs and listings by all participants in New York Book Week. In turn, BEA has created a dedicated New York Book Week web page on its own site which will feature listings of events and will include participants' own logos. While some venues and bookstores have created their own programming independent of the authors who are appearing at BEA, other venues have utilized the formal "Public Events" Author Submission List which BEA officials requested from publishers in Fall 2009 as part of the official submission process for BEA special events. More than 100 top authors were submitted by publishers to be considered for New York Book Week events.