Chicago Skyline aerial view

After seven years in New York, BookExpo America (BEA) heads to Chicago’s ­McCormick Place, where it will run from Wednesday though Friday, May 11–13. With a focus on BEA’s new partnership with the American Library Association (ALA), the Library Insights track will feature sessions by Libraries Transform: ALA@BEA, which is sponsored by Libraries Transform, ALA’s national public awareness campaign, and digital provider OverDrive. Also added to the 2016 schedule are tracks on children’s publishing and self-publishing, two of the hottest segments in the industry today. And, of course, there will be plenty of books to pick up and author signings to attend. To help librarians plan their time at the show, my LJ/School Library Journal (SLJ) colleagues Stephanie Klose, Kiera Parrott, Shelley Diaz, and Luann Toth have chosen programs and events that caught their interest.—Wilda W. Williams

WEDNESDAY, MAY 11

10–10:50 a.m. The Post-Digital Book Landscape: Print and the Importance of the Physical Shelf (Rm. W179A) Print books continue to dominate the market, while ebook sales are declining. The Codex Group will report on phenomena (digital fatigue, discovery quality erosion, etc.) driving this trend.

1–1:50 p.m. The New Digital Audio Landscape: The Digital Intersection (Rm. W179A) An expert panel on what streaming audio’s new prominence means for print and digital publishers, publicists, authors, librarians, and those in the indie arena.

2–3 p.m. Best in 2016 Graphic Novels (Uptown Stage) Learn about forthcoming graphic novels from Box Brown, Emil Ferris, and Raina Telgemeier.

4:15–5:30 p.m. BEA Editors’ Buzz (Rm. W183) Check out hot titles from Nation Books (Gary Younge’s Another Day in the Death of America), Atria’s 37 INK (Thomas Mullen’s Darktown), Grove Atlantic (Emily Fridlund’s History of Wolves), Hachette (Emma Flint’s Little Deaths), River­head (Brit Bennett’s The Mothers), and Knopf (Nathan Hill’s The Nix).

6:30 p.m. Tenth Anniversary BEA Librarians’ Dinner (Palmer House Hilton, Empire Room) Don’t miss the Association of American Publishers’ (AAP) exciting lineup: Maria Semple (Today Will Be Different, Little, Brown), Abby Wambach (Forward, Morrow), Glennon Doyle Melton (Love Warrior, Flatiron), Paul Krueger (Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge, Quirk), Terry McMillan (I Almost Forgot About You, Crown), and George Saunders (Lincoln in the Bardo, Random). To request an invitation, please email Tina Jordan (­tjordan@publishers.org).

6:30 p.m. Fifth Annual BEA Children’s Librarians Dinner (Monroe Room, Palmer House Hilton) Cohosts AAP and SLJ present five popular children’s authors. To request an invitation, please email Tina Jordan (­tjordan@publishers.org).

THURSDAY, MAY 12

8–9:30 am BEA Adult Book & Author Breakfast (Special Events Hall) Break bread with Master of Ceremonies Faith Salie (Approval Junkie: Adventures in Caring Too Much, Crown Archetype), Sebastian Junger (Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging, Twelve: Hachette), Colson Whitehead (The Underground Railroad, Doubleday), and Louise Penny (A Great Reckoning, Minotaur: St. Martin’s).

9–9:50 a.m. Libraries Transform: ALA@BEA, Embrace the Innovative Future of Readers’ Advisory (Rm. W183) In tracking the latest RA trends, the focus here will be on methods for delivering personalized, immediate, and mobile-friendly recommendations.

10–10:50 a.m. BEA Young Adult Editors’ Buzz (Rm. W184BC) Hear editors from Flatiron Books, JIMMY Patterson, Cinco Puntos Dutton Books for Young Readers, and Dial Books for Young Readers introduce five potential breakout releases for the fall.

10–10:50 a.m. Creating a Safe Space for Genre Readers in Traditional Literary Strongholds (Rm. W186) Romance readers of the world unite! Though this session is geared toward booksellers, libraries often face a similar issue when it comes to promoting genre fiction. It can wind up sequestered haphazardly on spin racks or be poorly integrated into a larger fiction collection. Learn some clever merchandising tips from our bookstore counterparts.

10–10:50 a.m. Libraries Transform: ALA@BEA, Nurture Local Writers at Your Library! (W183) One of the first stops for new self-­published authors is their local public library. Gain insight from fellow librarians on how to support local writers and writing programs, and offer guidance on self-publishing.

11:30–12:30 p.m. New York Times Best-Selling Novelist Amor Towles in Conversation with Ron Charles (Downtown Stage) The author of Rules of Civility talks with the Washington Post book critic about his new novel from Viking, A Gentleman in Moscow.

noon–1:30 p.m. Annual BEA Adult Librarians’ Author Lunch (Rm. W. 185) Chow down with Jodi Picoult (Small Great Things, Ballantine) and five other authors. Email Tina Jordan (tjordan@publishers.org) to request an invitation.

12:30–1 p.m. In Search of a Book Buyer—African American Women Top the List (Downtown Stage) According to a recent Pew Research Center study, black women represent the highest percentage of U.S. readers. This panel will discuss the study, how to find these readers, what they buy, and the lack of books that serve this ­demographic.

1:45–3:15 p.m. AAP Annual Librarians’ Book Buzz—Part 1 (Rm. 184B) Fall selections from library marketing people at HarperCollins, Perseus, Sterling, Macmillan, S. & S., Bloomsbury, Sourcebooks, and Workman.

2–2:30 p.m. Favorite Book Group Authors  from Abroad: Chris Cleave & Fredrik Backman (Downtown Stage) British author Chris Cleave (Everyone Brave Is Forgiven) and Swedish writer Fredrik Backman (Britt-Marie Was Here) sit down for a thoughtful discussion of their works.

FRIDAY, MAY 13

8–9:30 a.m. Children’s Book & Author Breakfast (Special Events Hall) Sitting on the dais will be Jamie Lee Curtis (This Is Me: A Story of Who We Are and Where We Came From, Workman), Gene Luen Yang (Secret Coders: Secrets & Sequences, First Second), ­Sabaa Tahir (A Torch Against the Night, Razorbill), and Dav Pilkey (Dog Man, ­Scholastic).

9:30–10:20 a.m. Strategies for Selling Diverse Books (Rm. W. 180) The Children’s Book Council Diversity Initiative joins with booksellers and librarians to share thoughts on how to sell diverse books and meet reader needs.

11-11:45 a.m. What’s New in YA? (Downtown Stage) Authors Lauren Oliver (Replica, Harper), Alyson Noel (Unrivaled, Harper), Kendare Blake (Three Dark Crowns, Harper), and Melissa de la Cruz (Something in Between, Harlequin) chat with moderator Veronica Roth.

12:15–12:45 p.m. Hot Fall Fiction 2016 (Downtown Stage) Reps from Bloomsbury, Liveright: Norton, Grove Atlantic, and Sourcebooks share their big autumn titles.

1:30–2:20 p.m. We Need Diverse Books Diverse Editors Panel: How Do We Diversify the Publishing Industry? (W179A) Be part of the solution. The WNDB leadership has helped bring issues of diversity to the forefront over the last few years. As librarianship largely mirrors the homogeneous demographics of the publishing industry, many librarians may pick up practical, actionable ideas here.

2–3:20 p.m. AAP Annual Librarians’ Book Buzz—Part II (Rm. W184B) The second installment features the season’s picks from Norton, New York Review Books, Other, Quirk, Consortium Book Distribution, Soho, Pegasus, and Hachette Book Group.

3:30–5 p.m. Eighth Annual Librarian Shout ’n Share @BookExpo (Rm. W184B) Come prepared to shout your favorite show finds with your colleagues at this lively session, cosponsored by AAP and LJ. Panelists include Vicki Nesting (St. Charles Parish Lib.), Tracy Babiasz (Chapel Hill PL), and Lesa Holstine (Evansville Vanderburgh PL).