Highlights from BEA

I just came home from a great week in New York, where I attended Book Expo America. I arrived in New York on Thursday May 31st, just to get some more days to do sightseeing and just experience New York. Here are some pictures from the actual event, I will do a post on books later.

Outside the Javits:

The line to get into the floor when it opened, were insane. If you wanted to get a good spot in line, you needed to be there early, like seven in the morning. Some even came at 6.30:

There was also a huge line to get into the breakfast at the BEA Bloggers Conference (BBC). I had gotten a wrong message about when the registration opened, so I was there early:

The sign at the entrance of the BBC - area:

I was not that fond of the BBC this year. Some of the speakers were, in my opinion, too eager to push their own books on us. I also did not like how the networking breakfast and lunch turned out. We were told in advance that we could sit on tables according to the genre that we reviewed and were interested in, but it turned out that the tables also were visited by authors from other genres, like non - fiction. They did not limit the tables to one genre. Also there were not enough tables to everyone intererested in a particular author or genre. If you were late, you could not choose freely where to sit.

I got to meet a lot of great authors at the show. Here are some of them:

Ruta Sepetys:

I love her book Between Shades of Grey ( if you have not read it, you need to), and she was the author I was most excited to meet at the show. I also was one of the first 100 in the line and got an ARC of her upcoming book Out of the Easy, which is due out in January 2013. One of the books from BEA I am most excited for.

Suzanne Lazear: 

Look at that gorgeous outfit. Suzanne makes her debut with Innocent Darkness in August this year, and I went to her signing and got a signed ARC. So happy for that!

Melissa Marr:

The buzz for Carnival of Souls was big, and the line to attend her signing at the HarperCollins booth were insane. I did not get a signed book, but I stood in line for the galleydrop of the same book, and managed to get a copy.


Flash mob outside the floor, before BEA opened that same day:

Michael Grant & Katherine Applegate:

Their new book, Eve & Adam,  is due out in October, and I can't wait to read it.I was happy to get a signed copy.

Marie Lu:

I waited in line for over an hour to get a signed copy of Prodigy. I also got to talk to Marie at the networking breakfast at the BBC.

Victoria Schwab:

I met Victoria Schwab in the line for the galleydrop of Falling Kingdoms, and she was so sweet. I bought a copy of The Near Witch earlier this year, and now I am even more eager to read it.


Becca Fitzpatrick:

They revealed the cover for the final installment in the Hush Hush series on Wednesday, and Becca signed paperback copies of Hush Hush.

Jo Nesbø:

One of Norway's biggest authors. It was great to see a Norwegian author at the show too. Here he is signing books at the Random House booth.

Karen Thompson Walker: 

I interviewed Karen for my Norwegian blog. Her debut the the Age of Miracles was released in Norway this week, and will be released in English later this month. The book is for adults, but may also appeal to fans of YA. The protagonist is a young girl.

Jessica Khoury: 

The debutnovel Origin by Jessica Khoury was another book that created a lot of buzz at the show. Here Jessica is signing her book.

Another buzz-book: 

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. I was first in line at one of the galleydrops of the book, and was so excited to get an ARC

Power Reader Breakfast at Random House: 

I got invited to attend a breakfast at Random House on Wednesday, and it was an adventure to visit a bit American publishing house. I have never been to one before.

There were a bunch of noteworthy books and classics in glassshelves on the wall:

From the event:

The view was amazing:

Another highlight:


I saw Jane Seymour on the showfloor, and got a little starstruck. She was so pretty in real life:

We could take a picture in the Reached - bubble, but sadly I forgot to do that:

 I also got to meet a lot of great bloggers, like Karen from For What It's Worth and Amber from the Musing of Almybnenr.

All in all I had a blast, and I loved being in New York for the Second time. I visited the Strand, Barnes & Nobles and managed to buy 10 books even before the show had started. I will tell you about those books later. Have a great day everyone!