BookExpo, one of the most important annual events in the publishing industry, and BookCon, an annual fan convention, have cancelled their 2021 events due to rising Covid-19 cases around the country.
Image via Lion Forge
ReedPop, the pop culture event–focused subdivision of Reed Exhibitions and organizer of BookExpo and BookCon said that they have decided “that the best way forward is to retire the current iteration of events as they explore new ways to meet the community’s needs through a fusion of in-person and virtual events.”
Earlier this year, Reedpop postponed their 2020 events from May to late July, and later decided to hold six days of free virtual programming from May 26-31, the original dates of BookExpo and BookCon.
Their announcement read: “With continued uncertainty surrounding in-person events at this time, the team has concluded that the best way forward is to retire the current iteration of events as they explore new ways to meet the community’s needs through a fusion of in-person and virtual events that will reach larger audiences than they ever could before. The ReedPop team is actively engaging in conversations with publishers, booksellers, and other partners, and with their feedback and ideas they will together agree on how to best rebuild the events in the future.”
image via publishing perspectives
Jennifer Martin, the event coordinator, said: “While we missed not seeing old friends and colleagues in person this year, we believe that cancelling our in-person BookExpo, BookCon, and UnBound 2020 events was the correct decision to make. BookExpo Online and BookConline brought us together virtually to celebrate our love of books and remind us that there are other, new ways to gather to support the stories and community we hold dear. The pandemic arrived at a time in the life cycle of BookExpo and BookCon where we were already examining the restructure of our events to best meet our community’s needs. This has led us to make the difficult decision to retire the events in their current formats, as we take the necessary time to evaluate the best way to move forward and rebuild our events that will better serve the industry and reach more people than we were able to before. We remain committed to serving the book community and look forward to sharing more information in the future.”