From The Director's Chair: One Month 2 Go!

Photo courtesy of Sophia Simmons


Fresh from our second L.A. Black Book Expo bookfairs with our host sponsor Barnes and Noble featuring authors Sophia Simmons, Michele Waters, Roland Jefferson and Ben Foster, we’re now one month away from the fifth annual Expo. As always, the committee is putting the finishing touches for the event, and even in this bad economy, more authors are registering daily to be a part of the West coast’s biggest black book expo. We appreciate the love and support to this date.

There are a couple of items to address: the late registration deadline is August 14, 2009. If you haven’t paid by that date, the fee will be $100 to get in whether you request a full table or half. Although July 24 is the scheduled last day to register, we’re extending the deadline for interested authors to sign up. We are accepting online payments so on the registration page, we do have a PayPal account, which should make it easier for exhibitors to send their payments in on time.

If you would like to participate in a panel or conduct a workshop, please email us at info@labbx.com for an application. The sooner we receive them, the better our planning committee can assign panelists and workshop facilitators rooms for their sessions.

For the exhibitors who’ve already registered, an informational packet will be mailed to you within the next week. You will have directions on where the Expo Center is located, set up times, break down, food vouchers, etc. We’re still working on a Friday night reception location, which will be announced in the next week or so.

Also, if you’ve registered for LABBX, you will be interviewed for North Bay Media Review. Our interviews will take only 20 minutes and beginning in August, we’ll start running the interviews on the site. We also have introduced a new media site, LABBXTV at http://labbxtv.blip.tv The two bookfairs inside Barnes and Noble are covered. In the future, you can expect more footage from the bookstore and from LABBX 2009.

From the look of things, we’re moving full steam ahead in time for the fifth L.A. Black Book Expo!

Charles Chatmon
Executive Director
Los Angeles Black Book Expo