BEA Names Author Stage & CEO Panel Participants

On Monday, May 11, BookExpo America (BEA) unveiled much of the programming for its new show-floor Author Stages. Between 35 and 40 authors are scheduled to appear on the Author Stages, and more than 700 authors will participate in some form of official BEA event. Author Stage interviews, as well as other content at BEA, will be captured on video and uploaded through various channels including BEA's own website, bookexpoamerica.com.

Author Stage interviews kick off on Thursday, May 28, with BEA's Opening Night Keynote, featuring Chuck Klosterman interviewing Steven Tyler and Clarence Clemons. Author Stage interviews continue throughout the show and include:

• John Irving (Last Night in Twisted River) and Pat Conroy (South of Broad) interviewed by Charles McGrath (the New York Times) at the Literary Lions Panel
  
  
• Byron Pitts (Step Out on Nothing) and David Small (Stitches: A Memoir) interviewed by A.J. Jacobs (The Know-It-All, The Year of Living Biblically, and editor-at-large at Esquire) at the Memoirs Panel
  
  
• James Ellroy (Blood's a Rover) and Colin Harrison (Risk) interviewed by Sarah Weinman (Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind) at the Mystery Panel
  
  
• William Mann (How to be a Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood) and Terry Teachout (Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong) interviewed by Ben Moser (Harper's) at the Biography Panel
  
  
• Dr. Cornel West (Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud) interviewed one-on-one by Tavis Smiley at the panel What Really Matters: Living in the Age of Obama
  
  
• Eduardo Galeano (Mirrors: Stories of Almost Everyone) interviewed one-on-one by Lewis Lapham at the panel The Chabez-Obama International Book Club

Other notable interview highlights include Ali Velshi talking about the financial meltdown; Adam Rapp and David Rabe for the panel Stage to Page; MJ Rose interviewing new Emerging Voices authors; a Social Media panel featuring Chris Brogan and Erik Qualman; a Sci-Fi panel featuring China Mieville and John Ringo; a Children's Picture Books panel featuring Amy Hest and Nick Bruel; and several special Authors at Editor's Buzz panels.

Solo Author Stage appearances include Elliot Tiber (Taking Woodstock -- the book and movie); Harvard Professor Michael Sandel (Justice), whose classes will be featured on public television next fall; and Captain Chesley B. Sullenberger III, who will be Guest of Honor on one of the Author Stages on Saturday, May 30.

This week, BEA also announced the participants in its CEO Panel, which will be moderated by Tina Brown, co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast. The high profile event will take place on Thursday, May 28, at 3:00 p.m. in Room 1E14 of the Javits Center. The participants are Brian Murray, president and CEO of HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide; Carolyn Reidy, president and CEO of Simon & Schuster; John Sargent, president and CEO of Macmillan; and David Steinberger, president and CEO of Perseus Books Group. The CEO Roundtable will be followed immediately by the BEA Editor's Buzz at 4:15 p.m. in the same room. The Opening Night Keynote, featuring Steven Tyler and Clarence Clemons interviewed by Chuck Klosterman, begins at 5:30 p.m. in the Special Events Hall.

A full schedule of Author Stage appearances is downloadable from the BEA website, where details of the Author Autographing Program can also be found, and tickets are available for BEA special events.

In other news, BEA announced that the Publishers Weekly Bookseller and Rep of the Year awards will be presented at the Saturday Author Luncheon. This year's winners are Carmichael's Bookstore of Louisville, Kentucky, and Tom Benton of Penguin, respectively. In addition, the 2009 Women's National Book Association Pannell Awards will be presented to winners Joseph-Beth Booksellers of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Mrs. Nelson's Toy and Book Shop of LaVerne, California, at the Friday Children's Breakfast.