CEO Panel Plenary to Kick Off Programming at BEA

BookExpo America and the American Booksellers Association are joining forces for the Opening Plenary session at next month's trade show to create a major event of interest to all convention goers. The plenary will feature seven of the book industry's leading executives in a timely discussion about the "value of a book," an issue of concern to the entire industry.

The Opening Plenary, which will be held from 8:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, May 25, in the Javits Center's Special Events Hall, will help set the tone for the BEA conference tracks and ABA's Day of Education, which will follow.

The subject of discussion, the "value of a book," stems, in part, from a New York Times Op-Ed piece titled "There's More to Publishing Than Meets the Screen" (January 2, 2010) by Jonathan Galassi, president of Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

Galassi will moderate the panel featuring:

• Bob Miller, Group Publisher, Workman
• Esther Newberg, Executive Vice President, International Creative Management (ICM)
• Skip Prichard, Chief Executive Officer, Ingram
• David Shanks, Chief Executive Officer, Penguin Group (USA)
• Oren Teicher, Chief Executive Officer, American Booksellers Association (ABA)
• Scott Turow, Author and Incoming President, Authors Guild

The Opening Plenary is an all-convention event and is open to all BEA badgeholders.

Following the plenary, ABA's education sessions, which are open to all BEA attendees, begin. For more information about ABA's Day of Education, sponsored by Ingram, visit BookWeb.org. For information and reservations for the official ABA hotel at BEA, the Park Central, click here.

For more information about BEA and to register, visit bookexpoamerica.com.