BookPeople 2024 conference program announced

BookPeople has announced the program for its 100th anniversary conference and trade exhibition, to be held at Pullman Melbourne on the Park on 14 to 17 June.

Yuwaalaraay storyteller and performer Nardi Simpson, author of the forthcoming novel The Belburd (Hachette, October), will give the opening keynote; an international bookseller keynote will be presented by Nic Bottomley, of Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights in Bath, UK; and author Robbie Arnott will give the closing keynote address.

Bookseller-focused sessions include ‘Voices of Experience’ with booksellers David Gaunt, Mark Rubbo, Fiona Stager and Suzy Wilson; a session where booksellers Laura Sedgwick, Nic Bottomley and Anna MacDonald will discuss each of their bookshop’s story, history, values, and specialties; and a children’s bookselling session with bookseller and teacher librarian Erin Wamala, author Judith Rossell and Children’s Laureate Sally Rippin. The inaugural BookPeople ‘Hypotheticals’ session will be hosted by Robert Skinner, who will present a series of ‘what if scenarios’ to a panel of authors, booksellers and publishers; and the interactive bookseller ideas exchange session will give conference delegates the opportunity to share ideas that have become a success for their business.

Several sessions will also focus on the books themselves. A romance panel will feature novelist and creative writing associate professor Amy Matthews; and a crime panel will see bookseller and crime author Aoife Clifford chatting to authors Angie Martin, Christian White and Michael Robotham.

The gala dinner and awards night will feature guest speaker Tim Winton, who will talk about his forthcoming title Juice (Penguin, October). Singer-songwriter and country musician Kasey Chambers will also perform at the event, which will be hosted by cookbook author, food guru and broadcaster Alice Zaslavsky.

Noni Hazlehurst is the special guest speaker at Saturday’s cocktail party, where she will be in conversation with her publisher about her forthcoming memoir (HarperCollins, October), while Helen Garner is the special guest speaker for the Sunday pre-dinner drinks, where she will discuss her forthcoming book, The Season (Text, December).

There will also be update sessions by Nielsen, Australia Reads, and the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, as well as a member forum and the BookPeople AGM. The trade exhibition will run from 12pm to 3pm on the Saturday (15 June).

The full program can be found on the conference website.

Category: Local news