New Voices New Rooms
Atlanta, August 3–6
The third in-person collaboration between the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association and Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance once again kicked off the fall regional bookselling association trade show season, drawing 335 booksellers to Atlanta. Though NVNR has concluded, its programming often sets the tone for the season, so we’ve included some highlights here.
Highlights
• A celebration of SIBA’s 50th anniversary and its rebranding as a forward-thinking organization that excels at overcoming challenges, at which SIBA attendees received commemorative mugs emblazoned with SIBA’s new logo.
• A screening of the Banned Together documentary about the student-led Diversity Awareness Youth Literacy Organization (DAYLO).
• An opening breakfast keynote emceed by American Booksellers for Free Expression associate director Philomena Polefrone, “Heroes on the Front Lines of Book Banning,” honored DAYLO members Brea Parker and Kate Selvitelli, booksellers Cristina Nosti and Alison Rudolph, and authors Silas House, Nic Stone, and Angie Thomas.
• A debut authors panel featuring Jeannine Cook, Tiffany Crum, Maddie Martinez, and Mirta Ojito.
• Three evening author receptions: Sunday’s Early Bird, with 14 authors; Monday’s Indie Press, with 17 authors; and a second Monday evening event, Sip & Sizzle Romance, featuring 13 romance writers.
• A Day of Education with 15 sessions, including children’s bookselling and profitability tracks and “industry deep dive” panels.
• A Focus on Editors Tuesday evening reception.
• A Moveable Feast Breakfast with 20 authors, including Erin Entrada Kelly, T Kira Madden, and Tochi Onyebuchi.
• A NAIBA Awards Dinner, at which Jason Reynolds received the NAIBA Legacy Award and the Book of the Year Award for Twenty-four Seconds from Now: A Love Story.
New England Independent Booksellers Association Fall Conference
Manchester, N.H., September 9–11
NEIBA for years held its fall conference in Providence, R.I., but last year it took the show to the Boston area; this time around, it is going to the Granite State. Organizers expect approximately 600 attendees at the organization’s 52nd annual gathering, including more than 300 booksellers from the six New England states and New York. New this year is what executive director Beth Ineson calls “choose your adventure” programming, with two breakfast keynote options each morning: booksellers can focus solely on adult authors, focus solely on children’s authors, or mix and match between them.
Highlights
• An opening keynote with Jon Meacham (Democracy, Dissent, and the Pursuit of a More Perfect Union, PRH, Feb. 2026).
• An evening reception featuring two dozen authors, including Jenna Blum, Liz Gotauco, Andrew Krivak, Tom Perrotta, and debut novelist Dan Simon, publisher of Seven Stories Press.
• A Wednesday adult breakfast keynote with Christopher Castellani, Jenny Lawson, T Kira Madden, and Cheryl W. Thompson.
• A Wednesday children’s breakfast keynote with C.L. Herman, Wunneanatsu Lamb-Cason, Jenan Matari, and Kate Messner.
• A Thursday adult breakfast keynote with Stefan Merrill Block, Edward J. Delaney, Quiara Alegría Hudes, and Victoria Redel.
• A Thursday Children’s breakfast keynote with Annie Cardi, Brian Lies, and Scott Rothman.
• Adult and children’s editors buzz panels and lunches.
• A discussion featuring committee members on how selections are made for NEIBA’s “Windows & Mirrors” list of diverse and inclusive children’s books.
• A virtual merchandising intensive led by Lisa Uhrick, co-owner of Franklin Fixtures and Plenty Downtown Bookshop in Cookeville, Tenn.
• The New England Book Awards Banquet.
• A closing keynote lunch featuring Alix E. Harrow (The Everlasting; Tor, Oct.)
California Independent Booksellers Alliance Fall Fest
South San Francisco, Calif., September 17–18
This year’s show, held near the SFO International Airport, will span two days jam-packed with programming for the 200 booksellers expected to attend. The schedule includes education panels, rep picks sessions, and events featuring more than 40 authors, all designed to highlight California’s vibrant literary community. Booksellers are encouraged while browsing the exhibits to let publishers’ reps know their personal preferences for Golden Poppy Award nominations for authors and illustrators.
Highlights
• An opening breakfast keynote panel, featuring Golden Poppy Award winners and finalists: Rex Ogle, Claire Oshetsky, and Kelly Yang.
• A nonfiction author panel with Sue Aikens, Shannon Michelle, and Nikki Nash.
• An author panel focusing on books about the drama of family life, with Aja Gabel, Justinian Huang, and Sonya Walger.
• A panel on humor in children’s picture books, with Matthew Diffee, Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic, and Katherine Pryor.
• An adult author showcase featuring Brian Barth, Grant Chemidlin, Grant Ginder, Luke Goebel, Marie Lu, Jyoti Mukharji with Auyon Mukharji, and Jessica Riskin.
• A children’s author showcase featuring JaNay Brown-Wood, Nidhi Chanani, Claribel Ortega, Billy Ray, and Lynn Smith.
• An exhibit hall opening reception featuring apps from Snacking Dinners by Georgia Freedman (Hardie Grant, out now).
• A Sourcebooks-led “Love, Lore, and the Unknown: The Expanding Universe of Genre Fiction” panel.
• “The Transformative Power of Books for Readers of All Ages” author lunch, featuring Isabel Campoy, John Freeman, and Oliver James.
• A closing reception sponsored by Collective Book Studio, featuring bites from two upcoming offerings: The New Café Beaujolais Cookbook by Julian Lopez (Feb. 2026) and Heartland Masala by Jyoti Mukharji and Auyon Mukharji (Sept.).
Pacific Northwest Independent Booksellers Association Fall Trade Show
Spokane, Wash., September 28–30
PNBA is expecting 250 booksellers to gather in Spokane to hobnob with 80 featured authors at various venues around the downtown area, including the majestic Central Library. PNBA’s Brian Juenemann describes Spokane as “a hotbed of literature that nobody knows about,” and urges booksellers, when they “roll into town,” to “find us where we are—we will have some stuff for you to do.”
Highlights
• The ad hoc Lilac City Welcoming Committee of local authors—Travis Baldree, Kelly Milner Halls, Sarah Mackenzie, and Maya Jewell Zeller—will host a preshow event at the Central Library. That evening, booksellers are invited to an open house at Auntie’s Bookstore.
• An opening keynote with DEI consultants KJ Williams and AJ Williams of Rise with Us presenting “Bookselling: Conflict, Care, and Community in Bookstore Workplaces.”
• An Authors on Display dinner will include local favorite Maria Semple as well as Carson Ellis and Sonora Jha.
• A Nightcapper autographing reception featuring 20 authors, ranging from children’s book author Erin Soderberg Downing to rapper Mopreme Shakur.
• An Authors on the Map keynote breakfast featuring 10 emerging voices from the Pacific Northwest.
• BuzzBooks, during which booksellers vote on their favorite conference galley; the winner will be announced at Signature Dish.
• A Readers Recess with Jessixa Bagley, Matt Dinniman, Erin Entrada Kelly, Brandon Mull, and Judd Winick.
• The Signature Dish feast, featuring 20 authors, including Alan Gratz, Paula McLain, and Laini Taylor.
• A Morning Marquee breakfast featuring Sue Aikens (North of Ordinary: How One Woman Left It All Behind for Wilderness and Wonder in Alaska’s Frozen Frontier; Sourcebooks, Mar. 2026).
• A Books Around the Bend lunch with 10 authors whose books will be released in late winter or spring 2026, including a $750 scholarship raffle for next year’s show in Portland, Ore.
Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association’s FallCon
Denver, October 5–8
Mountains & Plains booksellers will once again convene at a conference hotel on the outskirts of the Mile High City for close to four days of rubbing shoulders with authors and other booksellers from all over MPIBA’s geographically immense and incredibly diverse territory. This year’s gathering offers a stimulating mix of tried-and-true events beloved by MPIBA booksellers, such as author speed-dating and the literary trivia quiz, and new programming, including an open mic for booksellers to share their success stories and an Editors Buzz breakfast.
Highlights
• A bookseller success stories open mic on Sunday, before the traditional welcome reception at Station 26 Brewing Co.
• A Children’s Author and Illustrators keynote breakfast, featuring Tami Charles, Bryan Collier, Shannon Hale, Theresa Howell, Brandon Mull, and Sara Pennypacker.
• Memoirs & More, a new luncheon author event that spotlights nonfiction, featuring Rick Bass, Lindsay Linton Buk, Philip Connors, Devon O’Neil, and Jazmine Ulloa.
• An Editors Buzz keynote breakfast, another new event, featuring six editors discussing their mission-driven publishing programs and key frontlist, including Kirsten Johanna Allen (Torrey House), Emily Bell (Astra House), Rosemary Brosnan (Heartdrum), Safon Floyd (Callisto), Emi Ikkanda (Tiny Reparations), and Matt Weiland (Norton).
• A Coloring and Conversation event, with crayons and pages from Coloring with Coco: Rest and Reflect by Andrea Ballo (Callisto, Sept.) as well as other coloring books.
• A Smorgasbord of Authors lunch, featuring 12 adult and children’s authors.
• Fast Fiction Author Speed Dating, featuring 14 adult and children’s fiction authors.
• A Literary Trivia Quiz event, with teams randomly assigned (rather than teaming up by state as in previous years).
• A Feast of Fiction keynote breakfast, featuring Johnny Compton, Terah Shelton Harris, Nina McConigley, David R. Slayton, Gabriel Tallent, and Rebecca Thorne.
Heartland Fall Forum
Indianapolis, October 14–16
This is the 12th in-person gathering of the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association and the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association since their first joint show in 2012 in Minneapolis. The show moves between the MIBA and GLIBA territories each year, and this marks the first time that Heartland has been held in Indianapolis. Indy was chosen for this year’s gathering, GLIBA executive director Larry Law says, because of the proliferation of new bookstores there, as well as its vibrant literary scene.
Highlights
• An opening night party held off-site at the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library, a 15-minute walk from the conference hotel.
• The Heartland Booksellers Award Ceremony, emceed once again by the irrepressible and irreverent Isaac Fitzgerald.
• Two Marquee Author breakfasts: Wednesday’s, with Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Shaka Senghor, and Kao Kalia Yang; and Thursday’s, with John U. Bacon, Jennifer Eli Bowen, Anika Fajardo, and Terah Shelton Harris.
• “Crawling Together,” a collaborative session on organizing successful bookstore tours and crawls.
• “Be Ready for the Spotlight,” an event centering such viral moments as Serendipity Books’ human book chain in Chelsea, Mich., during which panelists will explain how to respond when media attention strikes.
• A panel on banned books featuring Nicole Lintemuth of Bettie’s Pages in Lowell, Mich, plus a librarian, a student, an author, a publisher, and a school board member.
• A Moveable Feast, with 40 authors rotating among tables of booksellers, who are welcome afterward to grab a copy of as many of the featured authors’ books as they’d like to haul away.
