Thread by @biblioracle

So BookExpo is no more. I've got a nearly 50 year personal history with the event, going back to its progenitor, the American Bookseller's Association annual meeting. Thoughts that may turn into something someday. publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/in…

My mom owned an independent bookstore and would travel to the convention most years in the 70's and 80's. I remember those weeks as the one time of the year where Dad was in charge of the kids. Once we ran out of pre-made meals, dinner was at Dairy Queen.

There was a year when the ABA was in Atlanta, before PopRocks were available in Illinois and my mom filled her suitcase with a supply of the stuff to bring home to my brother and I.

Every year when she'd get home, I'd be excited to see what goodies and swag she had for us. If I was lucky there was a new Asterix or Tintin title. I remember when the Klutz series got big and she brought home juggling stuff.

The ABA convention almost also killed my mother. She was scheduled to fly on Flight 191 out of O'Hare to LA in 1981, but switched her ticket a couple days before because her partner got tickets to the Tonight Show and they left early. The plane crashed killing everyone.

They didn't say anything to me, but the family friends who were looking after me thought my mom was on that flight because they had the old info. I didn't know the whole story until after we knew she was ok.

When she arrived home after the convention, she had frosted her hair while in LA and I remember being upset by how odd it looked. Only years later did I appreciate how upsetting all of it must've been for her.

Later, as a writer, I attended BookExpo a few times, speaking at the Writer's Digest conference before it, doing a signing for my writing parody book (Fondling Your Muse). I signed in the cattle chutes on the convention floor next to Bill O'Reilly. His line was overflowing.

My last time at BookExpo was with @jasonroeder and @swalks for the launch of their books under the banner of a humor imprint I was overseeing. They had a joint galley where one side was one book, and you flipped it over and it was the other. That was the most fun BEA ever for me.