The Booksellers Association and Gardners have today announced the programme for the annual BA Conference and Gardners Trade Show, which will take place on 18^th and 19^th September 2022 at Jurys Inn Hinckley Island, Hinckley, Leicestershire.

The Gardners Trade Show on Sunday 18^th September will open with a speech from Nigel Wyman, Sales and Marketing Director at Gardners, followed by guest speakers Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, Raynor Winn and Andrey Kurkov and then lunch sponsored by Usborne Publishing.

During the afternoon there will also be signing sessions from the authors. The Gardlink team will be on-hand for introductions, demonstrations and advice, and over 50 publishers will be showcasing their new titles. Gardners will also be launching the hugely popular 12 Weeks of Christmas Promotion. Immediately after the Gardners Trade Show there will be a BA Afternoon Tea and New Voices session, sponsored by HarperCollins, presenting three exciting debut authors, along with an Independent Alliance Conference Dinner for all delegates. 
Chaired by author Cathy Rentzenbrink, the BA Conference on the 19^th will open with an Author Breakfast, sponsored by Bloomsbury, followed by a welcome and introduction by Hazel Broadfoot (Village Books, Dulwich), the newly appointed President of the Booksellers Association. Meryl Halls, Managing Director of the Booksellers Association, will provide an update on the BA, followed by keynote speeches from Waterstones’ James Daunt and bestselling author and broadcaster Graham Norton.

Nielsen will present the findings of research, commissioned by the BA, looking at how books fared in the late-noughties recession and consumer attitudes to books in the current and emerging economic situation
The Booksellers Association will host two Skills Labs sessions, sponsored by Bookshop.org, which will offer development training for booksellers, with session themes to be announced shortly. The afternoon will see publishers present their key Autumn and Spring titles to booksellers, with the day closing with the Booksellers Awards and a drinks reception. A closing night dinner will be held for BA members only, sponsored by Pan Macmillan.

Based on positive feedback from the 2021 event, the combined event will also have an app that delegates can access. The app, sponsored by Edelweiss, will give customers additional information, house the programme, schedule, speaker information and much more, all building towards a greener event. More information on the app will be made available to delegates and exhibitors closer to the time.
 
Meryl Halls, Managing Director of the Booksellers Association said: “We are delighted to welcome booksellers and publishers back to the BA Conference and Gardners Trade Show this September. This year’s programme offers a range of networking and learning opportunities, with bestselling author Graham Norton delivering the author keynote, and James Daunt sharing his unique global bookselling insights. Our popular Skills Labs will also be returning, offering booksellers tailored training opportunities to help propel and equip their bookshops for the current retail landscape After several challenging years, we hope this year’s event offers booksellers the chance to come together to share stories, offer insights, and reconnect as a community.”

Nigel Wyman, Sales and Marketing Director at Gardners added: “The Trade Show is one of our favourite events in the calendar, we can’t wait to get together with both our existing, and new customers once again. We have built a stellar line up of guest authors, and over 50 exhibitors on board, including some non-book suppliers. The Gardlink team will be on-hand for all of your stock control and epos needs. We are delighted to be working with the BA on this event once more, we firmly believe the partnership between Gardners and The BA gives booksellers a value packed few days.”

As in previous years, Gardners will sponsor booksellers to attend this annual event for free. On the 18^th September, the BA Afternoon Tea and New Voices will be sponsored by HarperCollins while the Drinks Reception will be sponsored by BatchLine and National Book Tokens. On the 19^th Bloomsbury is sponsoring the Author Breakfast, Nielsen the registration coffees, Litalist the lunch and Bookshop.org the Skills Labs. The BA Afternoon Tea, New Voices, Author Breakfast and the closing dinner are open to BA members only.

Booksellers interested in attending the BA Conference and Gardners Trade Show can register - baconference22.eventbrite.co.uk.

Booksellers signing up on for the Trade Show only can register here - www.gardners.com/exhibitions/trade-show.