BookExpo America (commonly referred to within the
book publishing
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
industry as BEA) was an annual book
trade fair
A trade fair, also known as trade show, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products and services, meet with industry partners and c ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. BEA is almost always held in a major city over four days in late May and/or early June. Nearly all significant book publishers in the United States, and many from abroad, have booths and exhibits at BEA, and use the fair as an opportunity to showcase upcoming titles, sell current books, socialize with colleagues from other publishing houses, and sell and buy subsidiary rights and international rights. Authors, librarians, and buyers for book retailers also attend the event.
In later years, it was accompanied by the spin-off event
BookCon
BookCon is an annual fan convention established in 2014 in New York City. Taking the name format from other fan conventions such as Comic-Con, BookCon was established to combine pop culture and the book industry. Many authors, celebrities and pub ...
, a literature
fan convention oriented towards the general public.
History
The event was founded as the
American Booksellers Association Convention and Trade Show in 1947 and continued under this name until 1994, when
Reed Exhibitions
RELX plc (pronounced "Rel-ex") is a British multinational information and analytics company headquartered in London, England. Its businesses provide scientific, technical and medical information and analytics; legal information and analytics; ...
purchased a 49% share of the event. The following year, 1995, Reed took 100% control and renamed the convention BookExpo America.
From its beginning until 1970, it was held in Washington, D.C.
Starting in 1971, it rotated through different cities (1971 Boston, 1972 Washington, 1973 Los Angeles, 1974 Washington, 1975 New York, and so on). In the 1990s and early
2000s, BEA was often held in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
. BEA was held in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
in 2006, in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
in 2007, and in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
in 2008. BEA was held at the
Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City from 2009 through 2015. BEA returned to
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
in 2016.
The 2015 book fair featured
Chinese publishers for the first time.
For a time, DigiCon from the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) ran concurrently with BEA. However, the IDPF was absorbed into the
W3C
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web. Founded in 1994 and led by Tim Berners-Lee, the consortium is made up of member organizations that maintain full-time staff working to ...
in 2017;
no further DigiCon events have been announced, though the W3C holds other conferences on digital publishing.
The 2020 edition was initially delayed from May 2020 to July 2020 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, but was later canceled.
In December 2020, Reed Exhibitions announced that BookExpo America and sister events BookCon and Unbound would be "retired" indefinitely in order to "explore new ways to meet the community's needs through a fusion of in-person and virtual events."
See also
*
Books in the United States
References
External links
*
BookExpo America coverage at C-SPAN
{{Reed Elsevier
Book fairs in the United States
Recurring events established in 1947
1947 establishments in Washington, D.C.
2020 disestablishments in Washington, D.C.