BTW News Briefs

BookCon Opens Ticket Sales

Tickets are now on sale for the second annual BookCon consumer show, to be held May 30–31, 2015, at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City, immediately following BookExpo America. The event has expanded to two days due to responses from fans and the industry. The inaugural event last year drew 10,000 fans, 250 guests, and 200 exhibitors.

“BookCon 2014 received tremendous feedback from the industry and fans, proving the need for an event that connects authors and fans in unique ways,” said BookCon’s Show Manager, Brien McDonald. “Our goal is to continually make BookCon the ultimate celebration of story by giving fans access to their favorite authors, books, film and television.”

In addition to 250 exhibitors on the show floor and panels, screenings, author Q&As, and quiz shows, attendees will be treated to appearances by Taye Diggs, Meg Cabot, Leigh Bardugo, and more. Additional guests and content will be added in the coming weeks. 

J.K. Rowling’s Harvard Speech to Go to Print in 2015

In April 2015, Little, Brown and Company will release an illustrated edition of J.K. Rowling’s 2008 commencement speech at Harvard University, Very Good Lives: The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination, Hachette Book Group announced this week.

Slated for worldwide publishing in English, the title will be illustrated by Joel Holland and will feature Rowling’s advice for those at any of life’s turning points.

Additionally, 10 percent of Rowling’s proceeds from Very Good Lives will be donated to university-wide financial aid at Harvard and 90 percent of Rowling’s proceeds will go to Lumos, a charity organization founded by Rowling that assists disadvantaged children. Little, Brown will also donate £15,000 to Lumos.

Arizona Anti-Nudity Law on Hold

On Monday, a federal district court entered an order staying enforcement of an Arizona law that restricts the sale or display of nude images, pending the state legislature’s possible reconsideration of the law. The order was issued at the request of the Arizona attorney general and a coalition of Arizona booksellers, book and newspaper publishers, librarians, and photographers who are challenging the law through the federal lawsuit Antigone Books v. Horne.

Arizona Revised Statute 13-1425 was initially passed with the intent of combating “revenge porn,” but the plaintiffs said that the law criminalizes far more than those offensive acts and isn’t limited to revenge. As written, the law criminalizes publication of nude and sexual images that could not possibly be considered pornography or obscene. It also could be applied to any person who distributes or displays an image of nudity, including pictures that are newsworthy, artistic, educational, or historic.

David Horowitz, executive director of the Media Coalition, whose members include the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression and other plaintiffs in the suit, said, “This is a welcome development. Because of the state’s agreement and the court order, publishers, booksellers, librarians, photographers and others won’t have to worry about being charged with a felony for offering newsworthy and artistic images fully protected by the Constitution.”

Bookseller plaintiffs in the suit include Antigone Books in Tucson; Bookmans, which has stores in Tucson, Phoenix, Mesa, and Flagstaff; Changing Hands Bookstore, which has locations in Tempe and Phoenix; Copper News Book Store in Ajo; and Mostly Books in Tucson.

BA’s Tim Godfray Honored

Tim Godfray, chief executive of the Booksellers Association of the United Kingdom and Ireland, has been honored with a position on the Bookseller 100, The Bookseller’s sixth annual compilation of the people who have had the biggest impact across the book trade in the past year. Godfray was named to 2014’s “101st” position, which honors a member of the industry who has had an impact far beyond his or her organization.

Godfray was praised for “upping the ante in recent years, in terms of forcefully representing members’ views on a wide range of topics — from business rates to an unregulated Amazon — in Westminster, Brussels, and in the wider media.”

Godfray is the third person to have been selected as the 101st, after former Pearson CEO Marjorie Scardino in 2012 and Penguin Random House U.K. chair Gail Rebuck last year.

Brian Murray Named PW Person of the Year

Publishers Weekly has named HarperCollins CEO Brian Murray as its 2014 Person of the Year, citing “his role in leading the transformation of HarperCollins.” Murray succeeded Jane Friedman as Harper CEO in 2008, a time when many in the industry expected its parent company, News Corporation, to divest itself of the publishing house, PW said. “Six years later, HarperCollins is coming off a record performance in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2014, and is firmly entrenched as the country’s second-largest trade publisher — with ambitions of becoming an even bigger player in the international market, where it is already one of the largest English-language publishers.”