Together in Courageous Conversation: Politics of Curation

This is an opportunity for booksellers to come together to discuss meaningful and often difficult topics. The goal for this conversation is not to find a solution or to provide active take-away steps, but to practice active listening, contributing, and considering other points of view on complex issues facing our industry and society. This session will focus on the politics of curation. What social or economic factors do you consider when you buy, merchandise, hand-sell, and cultivate specific author and publisher relationships? Do you choose to exclude certain titles or authors from your inventory? This conversation will be facilitated by a professional moderator. Panelists: Lexi Beach, Astoria Bookshop (Astoria, NY), Luis Correa, Avid Bookshop (Athens, GA), Kenny Brechner, Devaney Doak & Garrett Booksellers (Farmington, ME) , Valerie Koehler, Blue Willow Bookshop (Houston, TX), Robert Sindelar, Third Place Books (Lake Forest Park, WA)