BEA Offers Podcast of Updike Speech About Books & Bookstores

A podcast of John Updike's speech at the Saturday, May 20, Book & Author Breakfast at BookExpo America (BEA) is now available through the BEA website, www.bookexpoamerica.com, or by going directly to www.bookexpocast.com. Updike, who had been expected to talk about his new book, Terrorist (Knopf), instead delivered a passionate address about books and booksellers. Referring to bookstores as "citadels of light," Updike's speech ranged from memories of the independent bookstores of his youth and college days to a response to "Scan This Book," an article by Kevin Kelly in the New York Times Magazine of May 14, about the transforming effect of technology on books and libraries.

Other Podcasts currently available on the BEA site are this year's BEA Keynote Address by Tim Russert, host of Meet the Press and author of Wisdom of Our Fathers: Lessons and Letters From Daughters and Sons (Random House), and an interview with Pat Schroeder, president and CEO of the Association of American Publishers.

Upcoming podcasts are scheduled to include the entire Saturday Book & Author Breakfast, the Sunday Book & Author Breakfast, and the Saturday Political Lunch. Available to the general public, as well as book industry professionals, the podcasts are being distributed by BEA over the next two months and will be available for up to one year from portals such as iTunes.  A subscription form is available at www.bookexpocast.com.