Books On Tape

Event Rewind: Highlights from BookExpo, BookCon, and Day of Dialog Submitted by BOT Contributor on June 18, 2018

by Alexis Patterson
Strategic Events & Special Projects Manager

We were thrilled to celebrate audiobooks at BookExpo and BookCon 2018! From May 30th to June 3rd, authors, booksellers, distributors, librarians, literary agents, publishers, and book lovers from all over the country gathered in New York City to share their passions for reading and listening, and to discuss the book business.

We kicked off five straight days of audiobook love on May 30th with two librarian-centric events: School Library Journal and Library Journal Day of Dialog.

At SLJ Day of Dialog, children and teen librarians were eager to hear about our new and upcoming titles. We learned that must-listens for the season include:
• Bob by Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead, read by Nora Hunter and Rob Dircks
• Al Capone Throws Me a Curve by Gennifer Choldenko, read by Kirby Heyborne with a Note read by the Author
• The Penderwicks At Last by Jeanne Birdsall, read by Susan Denaker
• A Reaper at The Gates by Sabaa Tahir, read by Fiona Hardingham, Katharine McEwan, Steve West, and Maxwell Caulfield

At LJ Day of Dialog, PRHA producer/VP of content Dan Zitt presented on a Mystery and Thriller panel, focusing on Janet Evanovich and Lee Child, and our This is the Author podcast. At our display table, librarians were most excited about:
• Florida written and read by Lauren Groff
• There, There by Tommy Orange, read by Alma Cuervo, Kyla Garcia, Darrell Dennis and Shaun Taylor-Corbett
• Thriller author bookmarks to share on their check-out desks featuring Janet Evanovich, Stuart Woods, and Randy Wayne White. Request some for your library here.

On May 31st, narrators, authors, and audiobook producers gathered at the beautiful New York Historical Society for the Audio Publishers Association’s 23rd Annual Audie Award Gala. This year’s gala was hosted by Simon Vance, the most decorated audiobook narrator in the history of the APA and last year’s winner of the Best Male Narrator Award. Penguin Random House Audio was proud winner of Best Audiobook of the Year for George Saunders’s Lincoln in the Bardo, featuring an unbelievable cast of 166 narrators including David Sedaris, Nick Offerman, and the Saunders himself. We also took home awards for Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine (Best Fiction), See You in the Cosmos (Middle Grade), The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye (Mystery), and American Wolf (Non-Fiction). It was truly a magical way to start our weekend!

On Saturday and Sunday, BookCon visitors stopped by the Penguin Random House Audio booth to play corn hole and test their wizarding world knowledge with our Harry Potter Audiobook Trivia game. We also hosted a notebook giveaway where one lucky listener won our grand prize: a note from Matt Boren, author of Folded Notes from High School, and a whole bunch of audiobook swag.

We had a blast meeting so many enthusiastic book lovers including bloggers, Booktubers, and Bookstagrammers who shared their excitement about audiobooks over ice cream sundaes! Yum! Be sure to check out our Instagram and share your audio love with us, too! We love to connect with listeners everywhere.

We wrapped up BookCon on June 2nd with our popular game show “I’ll Take Quidditch for $500, Please!” where host and beloved Star Wars narrator Marc Thompson quizzed bestselling YA authors Nic Stone, Kiersten White, Renee Ahdieh, and Sabaa Tahir on a variety of bookish categories.

Overall, this year’s Book Expo and BookCon was incredibly rewarding and inspiring and we’re already looking forward to Book Expo and BookCon 2019! Will we see you there?