Industry Events

The American Booksellers Association announced that it will postpone Children’s Institute, its annual conference of children’s book publishers, authors, and retailers, until 2021.

Citing the impact of the pandemic, O’Reilly Media president Laura Baldwin announced that the publisher and technology education platform is canceling all future in-person symposiums and closing that portion of its business.

The fourth annual On Air Fest, held earlier this month in Brooklyn, prominently featured a number of figures and institutions from the book world, reflecting a growing publishing and literary presence in the podcast sector.

With book tours, festivals, conferences, and other literary events being canceled around the world due to COVID-19 concerns, the tech-friendly west coast literary community has begun creating digital events to keep authors and readers connected during the coming weeks of social distancing and quarantine.

The Loft literary center in Minneapolis is not canceling its second annual Wordplay literary festival. Instead, it is partnering with other literary organizations to hold a two-month virtual celebration of books and authors.

A list of canceled events, closed facilities, impacted industry functions and policies, and more to help book business professionals navigate the new coronavirus and its impact on the industry.

The MoCCA Arts Festival, an annual festival of indie and self-published comics and graphic novels organized by the Society of Illustrators, has been postponed due to the continuing spread of the new coronavirus.

The threat of the new coronavirus lead to a loss of attendees and exhibitors at the AWP conference in San Antonio, but the show went on and gave a boost to local writers and organizations.

Concern over travel to pop culture conventions as well as delays in printing due to the new coronavirus are growing among comics publishers.

The new coronavirus is causing global panic, and the publishing industry has proved far from immune.