BEA at Night

Evening and nighttime events for ABA member booksellers at this month's BookExpo America run the gamut, from the ABA/SCIBA "Welcome to Hollywood" Author Reception and ABA's "Celebration of Bookselling" to a "Celebration of Los Angeles Literary Life" hosted by Skylight Books and City Lights Publishers and a "39 Clues Party" thrown by Scholastic. For those who want to have fun while supporting a worthy cause, there's the Book Industry Benefit, featuring comedian Lewis Black, and "Novel and Memoir Beginnings," produced by the nonprofit WordTheatre and starring world-class actors.

ABA/SCIBA "Welcome to Hollywood" Author Reception

The American Booksellers Association and the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association invite members to a kick-off celebration beginning at 5:00 p.m. at the famed Egyptian Theater, close by Hotel ABA. Booksellers can mingle with colleagues and meet some of their favorite L.A.-area authors while enjoying light refreshments, including special bakery items generously provided by Mni's Bakery and Da Capo Lifelong Books.

For members arriving earlier in the day on Wednesday, ABA has made special arrangements with a local walking tour company, which has added a significant literary edge to its standard Hollywood Walking Tour (space is limited for this unique tour, so members are urged to sign up today). There will also be a shuttle bus to take members for a special tour of the Getty Museum and Bookstore. The list of things to do and see in L.A. is endless, so ABA has also provided a suggested list of alternative activities, but all member booksellers are reminded to be back in time for the Author Reception at 5:00 p.m.

Word Theater's "Novel and Memoir Beginnings"

Doors open at 7:00 p.m. and readings start at 8:00 p.m. for WordTheatre's "Novel and Memoir Beginnings" at M Bar (1253 N. Vine at the S.W. corner of Fountain and Vine). Produced by Lisa Doctor and Cedering Fox and directed by Fox, the event will be a performance of excerpts from new and upcoming novels and memoirs by Carolyn See (Making a Literary Life, Random House), T.C. Boyle (Talk Talk, Viking), Evan Handler (It's Only Temporary: The Good News and the Bad News of Being Alive, Riverhead), and more. Actors performing include Dinah Lenney, Kerry Madden, and Evan Handler.

Tickets are $20; $25 at the door. M Bar has a $10 food minimum. Cash Bar. WordTheatre is a nonprofit organization dedicated to keeping the love of language and literature alive through the ancient tradition of oral storytelling.

ABA's Celebration of Bookselling

ABA's Day of Education, sponsored by the Ingram Book Company/Ingram Publisher Services, at Hotel ABA will come to a grand conclusion with the Celebration of Bookselling, beginning immediately after the last education session ends at 4:45 p.m., in the Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel. This year, the Celebration will include a major announcement about an exciting, new ABA initiative, as well as the presentation of the 2008 Book Sense Book of the Year Awards and the Publishers Weekly Bookseller and Rep of the Year Awards. Booksellers are invited to mingle with their bookselling and publishing colleagues, partake of light refreshments, and enjoy music performed by Putumayo Americana artist Terri Hendrix. This event is free and open to all BEA attendees.

A Celebration of Los Angeles Literary Life Hosted by Skylight Books & City Lights Publishers

Following the Celebration of Bookselling, Skylight Books and City Lights Publishers will host a Celebration of Los Angeles Literary Life at Skylight Books in Los Feliz (1818 N. Vermont Ave). From 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m., booksellers are invited to join City Lights authors David Ulin, Kamau Daaood, Sesshu Foster, Alan Rifkin, Terry Wolverton, and others to celebrate Skylight's store expansion in Los Feliz (only three subway stops from the Hollywood Renaissance Hotel). The event will feature live music, drinks, food (and no readings!).

Directions to Skylight Books from the Hollywood Renaissance Hotel: 10 minutes by car: North one block on Highland to Franklin Avenue; right on Franklin, 2.6 miles; right on Vermont, one block (limited street parking or lot behind store; valet parking 1/2 block south on Melbourne).

Three stops (six minutes) by subway: Take the Hollywood and Highland Metro to the Sunset and Vermont Station; walk four-and-half blocks north to the store.

Scholastic's "39 Clues Party"

Scholastic has issued a "passport" to ABA member booksellers for The 39 Clues Party, with special guest Rick Riordan. From 9:00 p.m. to midnight on Friday, booksellers are invited to enjoy drinks and hors d'oeuvres in the Bowl Ballroom at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel.

Charter buses will pick up guests following the Association of Booksellers for Children dinner at the Hollywood Highland Center, nearby Hotel ABA, starting at 8:45 p.m. Booksellers need to bring their invitation in order to board the bus. Booksellers should RSVP by May 23 to 39cluesparty@scholastic.com.

Book Industry Foundation Benefit

Bestselling author and Daily Show regular Lewis Black will headline the BEA Book Industry Foundation Benefit, beginning at 9:00 p.m. at the Orpheum Theater, near the convention center in downtown Los Angeles. Proceeds from Black's performance will benefit the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression and the Association of American Publishers' Get Caught Reading Campaign.

Black is the author of Me of Little Faith (coming from Riverhead Books in early June). Tickets for Black's performance cost $35 and are available via the BEA website, www.bookexpoamerica.com.