BEA Dispatch

Purdy, Director of Publicity, is in LA this weekend at Book Expo America. He will be reporting from the action for those of us left in NYC.

Live from the convention floor of BEA in LA. For those not in the know BEA stands for Book Expo America, the largest convention of publishers, media, bookstore owners, librarians and book lovers in the US and abroad. Super rep George Carroll from the great northwest just entered the OUP booth to say hello. Always great to see George! So far the floor is media lite, but we are encouraged by a steady stream of booksellers, librarians, authors et al who have passed through the booth to pick up an OED 80th anniversary tote with a copy of Reading the OED by Ammon Shea tucked inside. I am happy to say we have some great neighbors here in the 1700 aisle, with Harlequin across the way, HarperCollins a row away, the Perseus Group around the corner.

Darren Shannon, former OUP senior publicist cum Publicity Manager of Cambridge University Press was seen in the OUP booth earlier this morn all shorn and suited. I barely recognized him is his respectable guise. I had to cut our visit short when Donna Freitas, author of Sex and the Soul, made a booth appearance to express her great satisfaction with coverage of her book to date. Kudos to Kelly Hughes and our own Claudia Dizenzo for their great good efforts.

That’s BEA today, baby. More later.