Goodbye, NYIBC?

Publishers Weekly reports that New York is Book Country, the annual festival held in the city during the fall, may be no more:

In news that’s unlikely to shock insiders but will probably come as a

surprise to large swaths of the book industry, the famed New York Is

Book Country will probably soon disband itself as a non-profit and will

likely not hold an event this year, only the third such time since its

founding in 1979.

The tale of the show’s demise is a long one: Sources say

there’s practically no money in the coffers–there’s even some

debt–and no current director. The fair’s most recent chief, former

Borders publicity director Anne Binkley, left the non-profit several

months ago; she has moved over to direct the Quills (an awards ceremony

run by Reed Elsevier, the company that owns PW).  She is not expected to be replaced. Binkley declined to comment.

Most significantly, the group’s board will soon vote on the question of

consulting lawyers about a disbanding. The answer is likely to be yes,

say insiders.

Although I’m not surprised to hear about this either, I sure am sad because NYIBC holds a special place in my heart. It was the very first book festival I ever attended, and even though I’ve been to countless signings, conventions and launches since then, the Sunday afternoon in September 2000 I spent walking up and down 5th Avenue was a very memorable day. I’d been a serious crime fiction fan for perhaps a year and was thrilled to have a chance to meet many of my favorite writers all in one location.

So I do hope the festival can be resurrected, but if it does, it’ll be markedly different.