ABA announces 2019 conference program; Halls to give keynote

The Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) has announced the program for its 2019 conference, to be held at Pullman Melbourne on the Park from 23-24 June.

The conference will be organised around the theme ‘Bookselling with Passion and Purpose’ and will include streams based on on professional bookselling, bookshop communities, sales and marketing, and broader industry issues.

Session topics include healthy workplaces, career bookselling, intergenerational staff, community engagement, sales, return on investment, and instore and online visual merchandising. The members’ forum will be held on day one and the industry forum on day two.

Meryl Halls, managing director of the Booksellers Association UK and Ireland, will deliver a keynote address. New to the role but not to the organisation, Halls will talk to the current revitalisation of the UK bookselling industry, and the organisation’s work to shape a progressive future for booksellers, focusing on diversity and inclusion, green initiatives, benchmarking, and professional development.

Other speakers include authors Elliot Perlman, Sally Rugg, Diane Armstrong, Grantlee Kieza, Andrew Ramsey and Tyson Yunkaporta.

A trade exhibition will be held on Sunday, 23 June, with a mix of publishers, gift and stationery suppliers, and industry-associated businesses. The ABA gala dinner will take place on the evening of the same day and will feature author and singer-songwriter Archie Roach and a surprise guest, along with Benjamin Law as master of ceremonies.

Children’s bookselling and publishing seminar

The ABA will also run its ‘Between the Covers, Behind the Counter’ children’s bookselling and publishing seminar on Tuesday, 25 June, at the same venue.

The full-day seminar is jointly run by the ABA and the children’s publishing committee of the Australian Publishers Association. Tickets to the seminar can be purchased in conjunction with the conference and separate tickets will be made available.

To see the conference program and book tickets, visit the website.

Category: Conferences Local news