Book Expo America To Be Postponed Until At Least July
Conferences are now getting canceled faster than the Dixie Chicks after they criticized George H W Bush. Virtually every public event in May has been canceled, and now Book Expo America is taking a breather.
Reedpop sent out an email Thursday afternoon, announcing that this year Book Expo America would be delayed until July.
After many hours of conversation, we have decided to postpone BookExpo, UnBound and BookCon from May to July 22-26 at the Javits Center. We have been closely monitoring the outbreak of COVID-19 in New York and around the country. Following the guidance of health officials, we are now complying with the State’s request that large gatherings be postponed to ensure the well-being of everyone involved with our event.
For as long as I have been covering the book publishing industry, Book Expo America has always been held at the end of May or beginning of June. For a while there it was accompanied by one or more conferences, but even when it wasn’t one could still block out the same couple weeks every year for going to, being in, and coming home from New York City.
Not this year, however.
Now we’re going to have to go to NYC in July. No offense to its residents, but the city was hardly bearable in May; in July it is going to be both hotter and more humid.
I for one will be wearing shorts when I go; how about you?
image by Ajay Suresh via Wikipedia
Comments
Chris Meadows March 20, 2020 um 10:46 am
I wouldn’t necessarily hold out hope for BEA to happen in July, either.
They’re rescheduling rather than canceling because they won’t be able to get refunds unless they are required to cancel by circumstances beyond their control (such as a governmental order).
Fans of the Gen Con gaming convention in Indianapolis have gradually been shifting from holding out hope this will all be over by then to gloomily predicting things won’t have improved enough to make it feasible.
Also, someone at the downtown office complex where I worked until they sent me to work from home a few months ago just tested positive for COVID, and they closed the whole complex for a week of deep cleaning. Never have I been so glad to work from home…
Nate Hoffelder March 21, 2020 um 8:56 am
I don’t expect it to happen either. The epidemic will still be going on.
Allen F March 20, 2020 um 10:56 am
The whole idea of the self-quarantine most places are doing isn’t to stop the spread (already far too late for that) but to try to 'slow' it and the number of critical cases to something the hospitals might be able to handle, which means that this super-cold is going to be with us for a while. (I know there are those claiming it will die down once things warm up, but in that case my friend in Australia wouldn’t be in state mandated self-quarantine and his stores wouldn’t be out of TP …)
Be safe people, I fear we are in for 'interesting times'.
Disgusting Dude March 20, 2020 um 8:14 pm
Covid spreads by contact and by droplets coming from coughs or sneezes.
It endures on surfaces for a few hours.
What warm weather can do is dry the droplets faster and killing environmental viruses but not touch transmission. It won’t *stop* the infections but it might reduce the rate of spread.
Reduce it enough and it’ll be just another infectious disease and managea until an effective treatment is developed.
Influenza is definitely heat sensitive but it still endures.
That is the best we can hope for with Covid.
Harald Johnson March 23, 2020 um 10:18 pm
PLUS: the Javits will now (announced today) be home to 2,000 hospital beds for COVID-19. So I wouldn’t count on anything happening at the Javits for quite a while.
Nate Hoffelder March 23, 2020 um 10:20 pm
I hadn’t thought of that possibility, but you’re probably right.