Advocacy

Since the incidents were reported, BookBar has been the recipient of an “overwhelming amount of e-mails, calls, visits, and comments on social media offering support,” said owner Nicole Sullivan.

Threats of 25 percent tariffs on printed books have subsided for the time being as trade talks between the U.S. and China have resumed.

Jamie Fiocco of Flyleaf Books addressed how imposing tariffs on Chinese goods would would seriously and disproportionately damage small and medium sized businesses in the U.S.

The committee heard from executives of News Corp. and the News Media Alliance, who discussed the power that platforms like Google and Facebook have over the way news today is delivered and consumed.

As is the case every year, proceeds from the auction benefited the American Booksellers for Free Expression (ABFE) and Every Child a Reader. The event was sponsored by ABA, the Children’s Book Council, and HarperCollins Children’s Books.

A variety of children’s book illustrators are donating original art from a published or forthcoming book to be auctioned off to raise money for ABFE and Every Child a Reader.

The eyeglasses wholesale company also donates a portion of its profits on behalf of ABA member bookstores to support freedom of speech through the American Booksellers for Free Expression.