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A massive book festival arrives in NYC next week

Written by
Rebecca Fontana
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NYC’s best book festival is back!

BookCon returns to Javits Center on June 2 and 3, and it’s heaven for bookworms. 

The two-day convention gives visitors a first look at the tomes that are coming to bookstore and library shelves in the near future, offering free advanced reader copies of the buzziest unpublished books. Seriously, people have been known to bring along empty suitcases to fill up with paperbacks. 

Event highlights at this year’s BookCon include a hangout with Bill Clinton and James Paterson (yes, they’ve written a book together), a meet-and-greet with Dear Evan Hansen’s Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, and a one-on-one discussion with Abbi Jacobson about her new memoir. Cassandra Clare, Chuck Palahniuk, Scott Westerfeld will be there too…okay okay, we’ll stop dropping names now.

But seriously, you’re going to have to carefully figure out your schedule down to the minute if you want to see everyone: The exhibitors list is a beast, and half the time you’ll only hear about a new stack of books being handed out by word of mouth. It’s okay, though, because you’ll spend several hours waiting on line at the autograph booths with plenty of time to make lots of new friends. And though not quite as vicious as ComicCon’s crowd, you shouldn't underestimate these book lovers. 

There’s also the adjoining BookExpo on May 30 and June 1, also held at Javits Center. That’s targeted at publishers, librarians and educators, for more of an inside baseball look into the world of bookselling. There will be everything from exhibitions to publicist speed dating, and you can find all the info on it here

Tickets start at $30 for adults and $10 for kids for BookCon, and tickets start at $200 for BookExpo. Tickets for the autograph area and writing workshops are available separately. 

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