Book Clubs Unite! Interview with Ann Kent, founder of Book Group Expo
Ann Kent is the founder of Book Group Expo, an annual two-day conference that brings together serious readers and their passions—books, food, wine and conversation. Born out of her experiences with her own reading group, Book Group Expo allows books lovers to spend two days in the company of their peers, discussing all things book-related in intimate, salon-style settings. This year’s conference will take place June 8th – 10th at the San Jose Convention Center in San Jose, California.
We caught up with Ann before this year’s expo to talk about how the event was created, what’s in store for this year, and what book clubs are really about. 
This is the second year you’ve made a significant investment of your time to organize Book Group Expo. Can you tell us more about your motivation behind starting the conference?
My motivation was really to share the rich social experience of a book group gathering. I am a relative “newbie” in the book group world, having only joined a group about 3 years ago. I was intrigued by my own behavior and relationship with my book group. I scheduled my business travel around my book group. I did NOT want to miss a get-together! My own intrigue led me to asking others about books and their book clubs – people I was working with across the country in business. And as I asked more questions, some common themes emerged. What we had in common was a casual gathering of people (mostly women), every 4-6 weeks in someone’s home, at a library or in a restaurant where we had great experiences and unpredictable conversations. We didn’t always agree. In fact, sometimes the conversation could get downright heated! But we openly shared opinions and perspectives and whatever happened, left as friends. We could really disagree, not see eye-to-eye and still enjoy each other’s company. This experience was consistent in EVERY conversation I had. And I found that amazing. Of course what we also had in common was having good food and drink. These gatherings of planned spontaneity, if you will, were so enjoyable and enriching I wanted to broaden and duplicate the experience for others to enjoy. I wanted to bring some of these conversations out in the public space. THAT was my motivation, and with it a celebration of the different things that make our lives, certainly my life, so rich: books, friends, conversations, good wine, more conversations.
How will this year's expo build on the success that you had last year? Are there any specific additions to this year’s schedule that we should look forward to?
Last year was a first time event that we really planned in less than 6 months. Even though the attendee and author feedback was very positive, there are always things we can do better. By design, I did NOT want this to be an author reading or another book fair. Those are great experiences, but they already exist. One of the things I wanted to do last year was re-introduce this concept of a literary salon. We created living room settings on stage with couches and chairs. By duplicating the casual and inviting mood of a book group, the audience was invited “into conversation” with the authors. These salons are topic-specific, not book-specific. I am committed to this modern salon format, as it is key to book group expo and will be a consistent component of anything we do. So absolutely more of that! Attendees liked how we “mixed and matched” authors. Most of our authors have not met each other, so it is a spontaneous opportunity for them as well. An important addition is more salons that are specific to book groups -- the how to’s of book selection, handling conflict and book group behavior topics. Last year, people requested more of that and we are presenting some great salons for them.
What were some of the surprises and highlights of last year’s event?
Clearly last year’s “Book Club from Hell” was a memorable moment. It was an impromptu skit and we were not quite sure how it would go, but it really did rock the room. For those of us in book clubs, there are, indeed, some stereotypes. We had each of those represented on the stage and the biggest nay-sayer of the book being discussed (Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club) was a woman who thought the book was “Over-Done!” “Not Accurate!” and “Mommy Dearest Revisited!” The woman turned out to be the author: Amy Tan in disguise -- poking fun at herself. When she did her reveal, the room roared. What the attendees knew was that whoever was behind this book group expo, really was in a book group. And for me, that was a huge compliment – to be recognized as an authentic book group community member.
We will do something again this year that the audience may not be expecting – humor is a part of our book clubs, too!
This year’s event assembles a tremendous cast of authors – are there criteria you use to decide on whom to invite to the event? Have book groups around the Bay Area weighed in on authors they’d like to meet?
Ahh. CRITERIA! I get that question a lot. Our first year, we were asking people to participate. This year, well, the submissions have been tremendous and it is a wonderful array of choices to sort through. My audience is a book club audience. That is the focus. We all know that those of us in book clubs and reading groups read a variety of works, but for book group expo, it is about the book group. That’s important to remember. The first layer of the decision tree is whether a book is “discussable.” Right? We want to be able to have a conversation about the book. Once we make that decision, then we need to cluster the book into a topic that is of interest to our community. We received a lot of feed-back from last year’s attendees, and the nearly 3000 members of our on-line community. They are telling us about their interests and making requests of what they want to learn more about. And I have my own ideas, too (and I DO get a vote!).
So, we have possible books. Then we have topics and how the books relate within those topics. It isn’t an easy yes or no. We take a lot of time and care to sort through choices. And it’s hard – there are some terrific books that don’t always fit in to the 18 – 20 literary salons.
We started accepting submissions last fall and will do the same starting this September as well. What some people do not realize is that we are fairly secure in our line-up by early March. We have to be! We need to coordinate schedules, and select the right moderators.
We also really want to support emerging authors and first time authors. This is an egalitarian effort and that is reflected in how we put the literary salons together as well.
A lot of preparation goes into book group expo. This is my passion project and what happens in the literary salons is very important to me. It matters to me that the authors and the attendees both leave having had a great interaction.
I get the sense that chocolate and wine are an important part of the event. Can you tell us more about the role food plays during Book Group Expo?
The chocolate and wine are likely as much about Ann Kent as they are about book clubs, reading groups and book group expo. It started when my own group poked fun at itself for being a pour-ly disguised wine-drinking group. We were enthusiastic about the book and seeing each other – and equally enthusiastic about what new wine we might discover! And by the close of each get–together, there was inevitably chocolate on the table. In conversations I was having with people all over the country about their book groups, I would sometimes just ask, “Are you more of a red wine group or white wine?” That ALWAYS got a chuckle! (As if that was the secret handshake or something). One group did say they were more of a martini crowd, though.
So how does this all relate to book group expo? This is an experience for all of the senses. I want to enrich our minds, our hearts and our palates! As with my own book group, I want to stimulate thoughts and conversations. And I want people to have FUN! I want people to really celebrate. And for some reason, good food and good drink seems to pair up with that very nicely.
And just for clarification, there are many reading groups that do not include food or wine as a part of their experience. But that’s the beauty of book groups -- we can create whatever we want them to be! Pretty cool.
Why Book Group Expo and not some other book-related activity?
If you had asked me 5 years ago if I would ever be involved in something like this I would have said absolutely not! Creating a book-related experience was not even on my “Top 100 things I need to do before I’m 50.” So, for me, this isn’t exclusively a book-related activity. I know that sounds odd, but it isn’t just about the books. Books are what bring people – community – together.
This is about creating an experience that relates to community. I really am committed to bringing more of these conversations that happen in our living rooms and dining rooms into a public space. I love to see people connect with each other – laugh, talk, discuss – really interact. That happened last year with readers AND with authors. It even happened within the group of volunteers that helped make all of this happen! Through book group expo, I am able to support small businesses/entrepreneurs (marketplace experience and independent book sellers), introduce readers to authors they might never meet, and help facilitate conversations and relationships that extend far beyond these two days. Pretty cool. Lucky me.
I love facilitating the spontaneous dynamic of interaction – of creating community.
So why book group expo and not something else? Well, this is just a great fit for creating a total experience. And besides, my book group helps me on this one!!
You can discuss Book Group Expo and this interview on the message boards here.