BookExpo America (commonly referred to within the book publishing industry as BEA) was an annual book

trade fair A trade show, also known as trade fair, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific Industry (economics), industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest Product (business), products and se ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. BEA was 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, had booths and exhibits at BEA, and used 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 attended the event. In later years, it was accompanied by the spin-off event BookCon, a literature

fan convention A fan convention (also known as a con or fan meeting) is an event in which Fan (person), fans of a particular topic gather to participate and hold programs and other events, and to meet experts, famous personalities, and each other. Some also inc ...

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 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 Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. BEA was held in Washington, D.C. in 2006, in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 2007, and in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

in 2008. BEA was held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City from 2009 through 2015. BEA returned to

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 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 and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, 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."

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.

History

See also

References

External links