Apr 29, 2020
Book festivals are the highlights of the year for book lovers around the world. In Los Angeles there is the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, which is the largest book fest in the country. It often draws more than 150,000 book lovers, book industry professionals, organizations, journalists, businesses, speakers and thought leaders.
There is also the annual Beach Bound Book Bash, of which Books That Make You helps present each year. It is an annual literary tea that features authors reading from their books as well as snacks, prizes and other festivities. Unfortunately, that even isn’t happening in 2020, which would have been the 5th annual BBBB.
In New York there is BookExpo and BookCon which draw thousands of fans and literary professionals. Across the United States, as well as around the world, ComicCons, pop culture conventions, writers conferences and other expos and fairs that feature books are either cancelled or postponed because of Covid-19 and social distancing rules.
There is a solution for people who crave this bookish community. For those who want to come together in unity, there is an option.
The LA BookFest is that event. On Saturday May 9th the event will live stream and feature panel discussions, conversations with authors, publishing industry experts, thought-leaders, activists, creatives, journalists and more.
Plus, there will be author AMAs, videos of authors reading from their books, a huge bookish giveaway presented by Books That Make You, a music-infused after party, and of course, lots and lots of books.
The guests in this episode join host Desireé Duffy to talk about the LA BookFest.
KJ Matthews is an award-winning media and entertainment journalist and regular contributor to BBC News, DW News, and previously was with Extra News and CNN for more than a decade. She is also the founder of Traveler Confidential--an eco-luxury website for travelers.
Deborah Kobylt is an award-winning journalist as well. She is best known for her work on CNN, Fox11 LA, KCAL9 News, Turner Entertainment and her successful podcast Deborah Kobylt Live and president of Kobylt Media.
KJ and Deborah have joined forces to bring together a panel of journalists for the LA BookFest. It is about Integrity in Journalism during the Covid-19 crisis and beyond.
Find out more on LABookFest.com and check out this and other exciting panels.