Fall Regionals
● As part of its
efforts to shake up
the opening day,
PNBA executive
director and mar-
keting director
Brian Juenemann
says that the board
also decided to
replace the tradi-
tional 10-author
lunch with a
90-minute rep-pick lunch, featuring 10 selections. This so-called Big Pitch is intended
to encourage all 150 attendees to focus on the books, since no programming is planned
opposite it. To create the event, PNBA did have to cut a few education tracks, but it
still has a number of nuts-and-bolts sessions for small and large stores, including ses-
sions focusing on cash flow in the wake of B&T getting out of trade distribution as
well as ones on book clubs and the romance genre, with an emphasis on inclusivity.
As for those 10 authors, they’ve been moved to the next morning’s breakfast, and two
meals will feature an additional author to make sure that booksellers and librarians
still have plenty of opportunities to meet local and national writers from presses large
and small. The total number of authors will remain at just under 100.● This year’s opening author event, Dinner at the Kid’s Table, is one that Juenemann’s
daughters, ages nine and 14, highly recommend, because it brings together some of
their favorite writers and illustrators: Julie Fogliano and Christian Robinson (Just in
Case You Want to Fly, Holiday House), Nikki McClure (What Will These Hands Make?,
Abrams BFYR), Sharon Robinson (Child of the Dream, Scholastic), Rebecca Stead (The
List of Things That Will Not Change, PRH/Lamb), and Raina Telgemier (Guts, Graphix).
It’s followed by the Nightcapper, a Winter Institute–style author reception with more
than 20 adult and children’s authors. They include Lacy Jane Bledsoe (Running Wild,
Holiday House), Vicki Conrad (Just like Beverly, Little Big Foot), and Danielle Dufayet
(Fantastic You, Magination Press) on the kids’ side and J.P. Gritton (Wyoming, Tin
House) and Kathryn Trueblood (Take Daily as Needed, Univ. of New Mexico) for adults.● With breakfasts, lunches, and dinners over the course of the
show, booksellers will have the chance to hear from longtime
favorites such as Matt Ruff, a PNBA Award winner, who will be
presenting his latest novel, 88 Names (Harper), at the “Authors
Over Easy Breakfast,” and from mystery writer Clyde W. Ford,
who will present a memoir of his father, the first black software
engineer at IBM (Think Black, Amistad), at the Signature Dish
dinner (previously known as the Authors’ Feast). The name may
have changed, but the Signature Dish will still feature 20
authors. The biggest difference is that
this year, the authors will rotate for
shorter periods of time so that booksellers
can meet more authors, and vice versa. No
changes are anticipated for the closing
lunch, 7 Coming-Up, which focuses on
those with new books due out early next
year. The lunch is so popular with pub-
lishers that it maxed out within days ofCREATIVITY,
SPIRITUALITY, AND
MAKING A BUCK
David Nichtern
$16.95 | ebook $11.99
A friendly guide
for creatives and
entrepreneurs by award-
winning musician
and beloved Buddhist
teacher David Nichtern.
Find out how to align
your spiritual, creative,
and nancial pursuits
and discover what it
means to truly live well.
EXPLORE MORE AT
WISDOMEXPERIENCE.ORGRebecca
SteadDanielle
Dufayet J. P. Gritton©^ fay eb e n d e r©^ k at yta r ta k o f f