BookExpo is one of the largest publishing conferences in the world, with thousands of professionals in attendance (booksellers, librarians, executives from the top publishing houses, authors, etc...). It leads into BookCon which is open to the public and provides readers the opportunity to meet their favorite authors. As a newly published author, avid reader and holistic mom who loves to give children a very diverse and broad view of the world, I was very excited to attend. I am also in the process of writing a novel and hoped I would learn a thing or two about the current state of the literary industry, what’s selling, best practices, etc.. So I arrived, pen in hand, ready to learn about trends in the marketplace only to find liberal politics have taken over the traditional written word.
Before I dive in, I should preface this with my own political views. I am not political. I don't like labels of any type - I believe everyone is unique. I'm open to all narratives and believe I can learn something from everyone regardless of where they stand politically. I am not threatened by opinions different than my own. My family and friends represent a wide variety of perspectives, and I am a better person because of it. I believe in acceptance of differences and free expression and meditation and higher self and universal energy and love and light.
Back to BookExpo. My first clue that this was actually a political event should have been the large (like the size of a shipping container large) banner promoting Bill Clinton's book written with James Patterson that hung over our heads as we stood in the registration line. While the book is a thriller, its mere presence made a political impression. Then, as I flipped through the course descriptions, a few of the course titles like "Now go run and Trump that: Black America's Guide to Thriving and Surviving in President Trump's America," caused me to raise an eyebrow. "Okay," I thought. "To each his own. Books are a form of expression and people are entitled to their opinions about things." Moving on.
The keynote speaker, CEO of Barnes and Noble - a known publishing industry disruptor, was one of the few who kept politics out of his talk, as he fondly spoke about his love of bookstores. Perhaps he didn't agree with the narrative that was to come and therefore chose to leave politics out of it completely? On the other hand, Bernie Sanders was the main event. Ironically, he charged an additional fee to attend his event. I had already paid $400 to attend. Apparently his actual education is not free despite his advocacy for free education. Sigh.
Then I attended the Children's Authors Breakfast described as "bringing together some of literatures most prominent Children and Young Adult authors for one of the show's most popular events." I thought it was going to be about storytelling or the writing process and how to reach kids creatively - that I may learn something relevant to the craft.
Boy was I wrong. Instead I was faced with a panel of five disgruntled writers who spent their time with the microphone heralding Hillary Clinton, reliving the dark days that followed the election and bemoaning the horrible conditions of our country and challenges to democracy all because of the man in charge, followed with a whisper of "we don't say his name." Was I dreaming? Had I been whisked away to Hogwarts to join Harry, Ron and Hermione in a fight against Voldemort? At least that would have been relevant to the topic of the breakfast. No, it was actually a panel of influential authors with a biased political agenda and an audience of 1,000 hungry attendees ready to absorb their every word.
As I looked around the room, waiting for some sort of response to what felt like a wildly inappropriate presentation given the expectations that were set by its description, I quickly realized that almost everyone in the room was captivated by the conversation. Only one woman stood up and walked out. I was tempted to leave in search of something more on topic, but wanted to see it play out. Would one of the panelists represent the other side? Was there anyone up on the stage ready to present a middle ground - the place where I lay? The shame of it was no, there would be no other perspective presented, and we would not learn anything of real value.
One of the panelists was an extremely talented illustrator from Mexico who had written a children's book called "Dreamers." As much as I valued her artistry, she lost me when she said something to the effect of, when we woke up and found out who had won the American election, “…the children were crying.” Now perhaps I'm being ignorant, but I have to think the only knowledge children in Mexico have about American politics is imbued by the adults around them. She then went on to tearfully discuss how much immigrants have to offer to America - that they bring lots of things over “in their backpack.” It actually made me very sad to hear her perspective, because I realized that she was lying to herself out of fear. If she could set aside her prejudice and move beyond her fear, she would realize her illusion. Yes, immigrants who bring things of value are welcome - no one, not even President Trump, has said otherwise. Unfortunately, through her storytelling, she had stopped listening and lost truth. She even acknowledged that this has been her best year as a writer. She is now a best selling children's book author in the United States of America as a Mexican immigrant who lives in Mexico. Confusing, right?
Next up was an author from North Carolina whose grandparents were Cuban and helped raise her until she had to take care of them due to their failing health. She chose to spend her time discussing the failures of the American health care system - somehow alluding Trump was responsible even though he didn't put the policies in place that caused her family so much hardship. Viola Davis spoke next, and she was a refreshing departure from the political. She spoke of her love of the theater and her motivation to be a "cool mom" and co-write a book with her daughter's favorite author called "Corduroy Takes a Bow" Thank you for carefully treading around the politics, Viola.
Nonetheless, I could not wait to get out of that breakfast.
I tried to shake off the Trump bashing...err I mean children's book breakfast and moved on to another learning opportunity. As I headed to the next panel, I passed one of the show stages to find John Kerry at the microphone. Seriously? I stopped for a minute to hear what he had to say and at least it was as I expected given his background...political! He was speaking of the urgent need to protect our democracy and the unraveling of our country that's happening under Trump and the institutional threat we face under him... NEXT!
I turned on my heel and quickened my pace to make it to that next event - this one was a leadership roundtable featuring CEOs from the top publishing houses. Awesome! These are the people at the helm of companies that have been a part of my life since childhood. I couldn't wait to hear what they had to say and was excited to learn from the best! My heart fell when one of the the first questions asked was about the cease and desist letter that Trump's attorneys had sent to the publisher of "Fire and Fury." Admittedly I do not know the nitty, gritty details of the book - only that the book portrays Trump's White House in a very poor light. It quickly turned into discussion of censorship and Nazi book burning. Ugh!
As the daughter of a German immigrant who escaped Nazi Germany under Hitler and the subsequent Russian occupation to come to the United States legally, learn the language, raise a family, have a robust progressional career and who took immense pride in becoming an American citizen, I can tell you from my father's first hand knowledge that our current political climate does not come close to what was going on in Germany during WWII.
Irregardless of that debate or any political debate for that matter, the bottom line is that I did not pay $400 to attend a political rally! I understand the need for diversity of thought and culture and was prepared for that - the world of literature should shed light on the wrongs of the world. However if the goal of the show was truly diversity, they failed to achieve it in a political sense. I left the show stunned that so many Americans are falling for these blatant attempts to divide us as a country and a culture. Instead of bonding over a love of literature and well-crafted storytelling, the show runners were shoving their political bias down our throats. Not one time did they invite someone to the stage with an opposing view. Not once did they feature an author who had a different narrative. It was not the world that I grew up loving. As I walked out of the show through banners featuring the faces of Hillary Clinton (yep, she was also there as a speaker), Michele Obama, John Kerry and Bill Clinton, my moderate, purple self couldn't help but feel a little red around the edges. I arrived home more committed than ever to the self-publishing world where story rules and all narratives are welcome.