May 18, 2001 African-American Booksellers Schedule BEA Activities The African American Booksellers Conference (AABC) will begin at BookExpo America at 11:30 a.m. Thursday May 31, and continue all day, but numerous opportunities exist for booksellers to discuss marketing and to network with other African American and specialty retailers throughout the show. Clara Villarosa, fomer owner of The Hue-man Experience in Denver, and founder of the new Hue-Man of Harlem in New York City, will welcome the booksellers with opening remarks. Following a luncheon, author Bertice Berry (The Haunting of Hip Hop, Doubleday) will deliver the keynote address. Workshops, including "Financial Accounting for Businesses with Low Equity," will fill the afternoon sessions. From 3:45 p.m. to 5:15 p.m., Robin Green-Cary of Sibanye, Inc. in Baltimore, will moderate a panel discussion on "The Changing Face of the African American Reader: New Methods for Reaching New Markets." Innovative tactics to reach customers, media promotions, cyber-marketing, and consumer changes will be discussed by William Cox, president/editor-in-chief of Black Issues Book Review; L. Peggy Hicks, Triacom Enterprises; Pam Walker-Williams, The Good Book Club; and Nicole Bailey-Williams, WDAS-AM Radio, Philadelphia. As a fitting close to the conference, Ingram Book Company is sponsoring a reception from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. that will showcase 10 authors. In another opportunity to network and meet other booksellers, at one of the ABA-sponsored Specialty Roundtables on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. Terry Jones from Awakening News Plus, Arlington, Texas, and Sibanye's Green-Cary will moderate the discussion on African American bookstores. To suggest agenda items, e-mail to Scott McKinstry at [email protected], who will forward them to the moderators. From 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, in an event co-sponsored by QBR The Black Book Review, panelists will discuss "Retailing to the African-American Interest: How to Meet a Thriving Market." The session, moderated by Max Rodriguez, publisher of QBR, will have panelists confront the dilemma of publishers dramatically increasing African American imprints while black-owned bookstores are facing challenging economic times. Panelists include Karen Torres, director of marketing, Time Warner Trade publishing; Manie Barron, publishing manager, Amistad Press; Andrew Hubsch, editor, barnesandnoble.com; and others to be announced. On Sunday, June 3, the Blackboard Book of the Year Awards and the Blackboard Bookseller of the Year Award will be presented at the Book & Author Breakfast in the Grand Ballroom. Quincy Jones, David McCullough, and Isabel Allende will be the featured authors. Topics: Awards, About Bookselling, BookExpo, African American, Marketing,