News & Reviews

WORD: Book industry bigwigs depart to London; New York City conferences in June

Expect a flurry of deals to get announced soon for 2006 publication, as publishers, agents, and various rights acquirers form a mass migration to London. The annual London Book Fair starts March 13 to kick off three days of non-stop pitches and rights negotiations. The industry’s next major series of meetings will be in New York City, from June 2-5 at two different conferences.

An agent at a major New York City firm informed WORD’N’BASS.com that he was leaving for London a week early to get a jump-start on the frenetic LBF, when publishers often gobble up the hottest new titles on offer. Organizers say the event will draw up to 24,000 industry professionals and 700 media.

In addition to the behind-the-scenes deals taking place, LBF scheduled various educational seminars and exhibition booths from publishers worldwide.

Book publishers, agents and authors on the promotional circuit will next meet in New York City from June 2-5 at two different industry conferences.

Book Expo America, the largest book publishing event in the U.S., takes place at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center where organizers say there will be 2,000 exhibits. About 500 authors plan to attend the conference, with John Irving and Umberto Ecco among featured speakers. The three-day conference will include up to 80 sessions covering various industry-related topics.

On June 2 at the Park South Hotel, the Backspace Writers Conference will include panel discussions on how to get a novel published, as well as an intriguing session titled "Violence and Villains: Writing the Dark Side in Fiction." Panelists include Sleeper Cell author Jeffrey Andersen, Rambo creator David Morrell, as well as editors from HarperCollins and Putnam Penguin. Keynote speaker will be agent Richard Curtis, president of Richard Curtis Associates.

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