Booksellers are invited to connect with each other [4] and catch up with American Booksellers Association staff during the 2021 Winter Institute [5] Virtual Hangouts on Thursday, February 18.

From 6:10 p.m. to 6:55 p.m. ET, 15 hangout rooms will appear under the “Sessions” tab on Hopin. Booksellers will be able to click in and out of all 15 rooms as they wish; rooms are divided up by theme and will each be hosted by an ABA staff member.

Themes will include:

• Adaptation Nation: Chat about favorite book-to-movie/TV series adaptations and share what else you’re watching.
• Children’s Books: Picture books, middle grade, and YA — oh my!
• Extraordinary Customer Stories: Share amazing, outlandish, funny, and inspiring stories about your customers.
• Family Friendly Room: Let your kids join the Winter Institute fun in a PG atmosphere.
• Pet Show-and-Tell: Share your furry, scaly, and/or feathered friends with your fellow booksellers.
• Poetry Readers: Discuss your favorite poems and poets with colleagues.
• Random Chatter: No theme, just come to chat with other attendees.
• Readers & Knitters: Come share recent projects, new techniques, and what you listen to or watch while knitting.
• Romance Readers: Join other romance readers and chat about your new favorites, your old favorites, and trends in the genre.
• Scavenger Hunt: The host will call out a random object; be the first to find an example in your home/office.
• Sci-Fi/Fantasy Readers: Join other SFF readers and chat about new favorites, old favorites, and trends in the genre.
• The Great Bookseller Bake-Off: Share your favorite cookbooks and what you’ve been cooking and/or baking this year.
• Wanderlusters: Come talk about the places you’d like to visit when travel isn’t so fraught, and your favorite recent travel writing.
• What We’re Reading Right Now: Come share what you’re reading and loving right now.

The 2021 Winter Institute [5] will be held virtually from Thursday, February 18, through Saturday, February 20. The full Wi16 schedule can be found here [6]. Questions about the event can be sent to [email protected] [7].