Books of Wonder & SCBWI to Host Open House at BEA

Books of Wonder and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) invite all ABA member booksellers to an “Open House” at Books of Wonder on Tuesday, May 28, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The event at the iconic children’s store will be hosted by SCBWI’s Executive Director Lin Oliver, herself a bestselling author, and Books of Wonder’s owner and founder Peter Glassman. The party is an opportunity for booksellers to relax and meet many of the children’s book authors and artists who will be attending BookExpo America over the following days.

Oliver and Glassman hope the open house will become an annual event where booksellers, authors, and illustrators can all get to know each other in a relaxed, fun setting. “Authors and artists always have to be ‘on’ when they’re the guests of honor at publisher’s BEA parties,” Glassman noted. “The idea here is for them to just relax, have fun, and meet the booksellers who are their true partners in getting their books into the hands of their readers.”

Oliver agreed, saying, “The partnership between authors and illustrators and booksellers is the basis of our business. Having events like this where we can get to know and appreciate one another is a rare treat. Long live Books of Wonder!”

The idea for this year’s open house arose out of two events: the first, an open house just before the start of BEA 2010 that Books of Wonder and other New York indie booksellers hosted for booksellers, authors, and artists at the request of the American Booksellers Association; the second, Oliver’s appearance at Books of Wonder for the first book in her new Ghost Buddy series with Henry Winkler and the first book in her Sound Bender series with Theo Baker. “When I recalled the open house we had done for BEA a few years back,” Glassman said, “it suddenly occurred to me that this would be the perfect event for Lin and me — and SCBWI and Books of Wonder — to partner on.”

 Books of Wonder is located at 18 West 18^th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues. For directions, call the store at (212) 989-3475 or send an e-mail to [email protected].