Home to Hotel ABA 2007 Named a Lonely Planet Bluelist Destination

Last fall, when registration opened for Hotel ABA 2007 (the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge), the American Booksellers Association noted that in addition to a great room rate and other special amenities, the hotel's Brooklyn location offered booksellers an opportunity to explore the borough's rich literary and cultural traditions. Now, Brooklyn's place as a great travel destination has been confirmed by the travel experts in Lonely Planet's Bluelist: The Best in Travel 2007.

Brooklyn is one of 30 locales featured in the Bluelist's GoLists, which, editor Simon Reeve notes, "will stretch your senses and feed your brain." Among the notable choices awaiting visitors to a "booming" Brooklyn, says the GoList, are visits to the Brooklyn Museum and Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Frederick Olmstead-designed Prospect Park, the beaches of Coney Island, the art galleries of DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), and the bars and live music of Williamsburg.

Hotel ABA's proximity to the Brooklyn Bridge will also enable booksellers to have what the GoList calls a life-changing experience: crossing the bridge towards Manhattan and imagining the skyline before the World Trade Center towers fell.

ABA will offer booksellers opportunities to visit some of Brooklyn's most interesting locations through a series of special events beginning midday on Wednesday, May 30. These include walking tours of Brooklyn neighborhoods immortalized by some of today's best writers, as well as tours to the studios of local children's book illustrators and the offices of small independent Brooklyn publishers. Also on tap is a visit to historic Brooklyn Borough Hall, where booksellers will be welcomed by Borough President Marty Markowitz. At 9:00 that evening, booksellers returning to the hotel will be treated to an evening reception sponsored by Rodale.

On Thursday, May 31, Hotel ABA - Brooklyn will be the site of ABA's full day of educational programming, as well as the Celebration of Bookselling, sponsored by Ingram Book Company/Ingram Publisher Services and featuring the presentation of the 2007 Book Sense Book of the Year Awards and an evening reception sponsored by HarperCollins.

The BookExpo America show floor opens at the Javits Convention Center in New York City on Friday, June 1. Booksellers at Hotel ABA will be able to travel to the trade show via dedicated shuttle bus or public transportation (a complimentary New York subway MetroCard will be included in the Welcome Bag.) The very popular Book Sense Lunch will be held on Friday at the convention center. To cap the day, Beacon Press will host an evening reception at the hotel.

Additional programming sponsored by ABA and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression will be held on Saturday at the convention center. (Watch for details about these and all of ABA's education offerings and special events in upcoming editions of BTW.)

For booksellers who don't want to carry books and ARCs from the trade show floor to Hotel ABA, the convention center will feature a special "Hotel ABA - Brooklyn Book Drop" where they can store and ship their books.

To take advantage of the Hotel ABA's special room rate of $159 per night and extraordinary package of other benefits, ABA members must make their reservations for Hotel ABA via ABA's trade website, BookWeb.org. Reservations will be handled on a first-come, first-served basis. No private reservations will be accepted directly by the hotel.

The deadline for hotel reservations is Wednesday, March 28. Reservations may be cancelled prior to March 28, without penalty; after the 28th, cancellations and no-shows will incur a $159 charge to the credit card holding the reservation. Questions about hotel reservations should be addressed to ABA's Margaret Nafz at [email protected] or (800) 637-0037, ext. 6614.

ABA member booksellers who register for BEA before April 1 will receive $10 off the three-day pass registration price when they enter the special promotion code sent to them on a flier in recent Book Sense mailing and available here. (Members will also need their ABA ID number to register.)

Next week, BookExpo America is expected to launch a newly redesigned trade show website. In addition to a new look, BEA notes that the new design will be cleaner, smarter, and easier to navigate and will feature expanded podcast programming, including industry events and streaming video. -Rosemary Hawkins