Sign Up for Virtual Winter Institute to See Notable Keynote Speakers and Chat With 120+ Authors

The American Booksellers Association has announced the keynote lineup as well as the appearing authors for the 2021 Winter Institute, which will be held virtually from Thursday, February 18, through Saturday, February 20. Registration is open now. Winter Institute is once again supported by lead sponsor Ingram Content Group.

Day one will feature a special opening day keynote address, to be announced soon.

On day two, bestselling authors Lauren Groff, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Colson Whitehead will discuss the state of literature and what the future holds for the novelist in the aftermath of political upheaval in the keynote “Novelist as Citizen,” moderated by Michelle Malonzo from Changing Hands Bookstore in Phoenix and Tempe, Arizona.

Day three will feature futurist and author Brian David Johnson and ABA CEO Allison K Hill in the conversation “How to Think Like a Futurist,” about the future of bookselling and how we can help shape it. Topics related to this keynote will be announced in the coming weeks for booksellers to use as prompts in the bookseller breakout sessions. Booksellers can send questions ahead of time via video or email to [email protected]; video questions may be played during the Q&A, but all questions will be answered during or after the keynote.

ABA has also invited a number poets to read during poetry interludes throughout the three days, including Amanda Gorman, who presented a poem at President Joe Biden’s inauguration, as well as Ross Gay, torrin a. greathouse, Chris Martin, and Warsan Shire.

The lineup of more than 120 authors includes names such as S.K. Ali, Alison Bechdel, Sayantani DasGupta, Shannon Hale, Simon Hanselmann, Zakiya Dalila Harris, Erin Entrada Kelly, Jenny Lawson, Kwame Mbalia, Brittney Morris, Julie Murphy, LeUyen Pham, Natasha Pulley, and Nicola Yoon.

Booksellers can visit the Winter Institute landing page at that time to register for the event, which costs $35 per person. Booksellers will also have the opportunity to register for the February 17 Paz & Associates “Introduction to Retail Bookselling” workshop, which costs $149 and includes admission to Winter Institute. There is no cap on attendance to Winter Institute, and registration closes January 29.

Just before the event, each attendee signing up with a unique email address will receive a unique link to sign in; attendee links cannot be used by more than one person, so all booksellers who wish to attend should be sure to sign up individually and with a unique email address. Rep picks, keynote presentations, and educational sessions will be available as recordings in the weeks following Winter Institute, but all other Winter Institute programming (including the publisher and vendor expo, poetry interludes, discussion groups, virtual hangouts, and interactive chats) are only available to those attending live.

American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation services will be provided for education sessions, keynotes, and rep picks sessions; closed captioning will be available on these recordings following the event. American Sign Language (ASL) interpreting services are provided by Handwriter Ink and brought to you in part by Biblio.com and the Book Industry Charitable Foundation.

Questions about the event can be sent to [email protected].

Booksellers should also mark their calendars for March 17-18, when the virtual IndieCommerce Institute will take place. Registration is slated to open at the start of February; watch BTW for details.