BY MAGGIE PERRIER
CHICAGO-The Pathfinder booth at this year's American Booksellers Association (ABA) convention was a big success judging by the steady stream of people who stopped by to talk and to take a catalog or brochure.
At the three-day annual event, bookstore owners, wholesalers, librarians, publishers, authors, and agents gathered to preview new book releases and promote their titles in the $20-billion-a-year U.S. book industry.
This year more than 42,000 people attended the June 3-5 convention and there were some 1,800 exhibits, making the ABA one of the largest book industry trade shows in the world.
A wide range of international publishers also participated. There were exhibitors from Cuba, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Ireland, and Poland, among others. Many come to invite those at the convention to book fairs in their respective countries.
"For Pathfinder, the ABA is the most important event in terms of exposure to the trade," said Maggie Pucci, who staffed the booth and works in Pathfinder's business office. "The show provides us with an avenue to hold business meetings with existing accounts. At the same time we meet hundreds of potential new buyers."
The ABA is an association of independent bookstore owners, but large chain stores and wholesalers also attend, and hundreds of publishers set up exhibits.
"Pathfinder is an integral part of the industry, and its books are seen as valuable and necessary by many bookstores and wholesalers because they offer a unique, working-class viewpoint. This is our sixth consecutive year at the ABA convention," said Michael Baumann, a Pathfinder editor who also staffed the booth.
Colorful wall displays highlighted Pathfinder titles such as Lenin's Final Fight, The Bolivian Diary of Ernesto Che Guevara, The Changing Face of U.S. Politics by Jack Barnes, and February 1965: The Final Speeches by Malcolm X. In addition, the booth had most of Pathfinder's backlist of titles on display. Keeping its older titles in print is a practice that sets Pathfinder apart from many other publishers.
Volunteers from Peoria, Illinois; Minneapolis-St. Paul; Des Moines, Iowa; and Chicago helped staff the booth. "What was striking to me were the large numbers of people who were already familiar with Pathfinder," said Charlene Adamson, a sales representative from Peoria.
Volunteers handed out a promotional brochure on "Fifty years since World War II" that highlights related Pathfinder titles such as Fighting Racism in World War II, In Defense of Marxism, and Out Now! A Participant's Account of the Movement in the United States Against the Vietnam War.
"These books are important, and I think they have a place among the other books on World War II," said one bookseller whose store specializes in this topic. Two visiting filmmakers from Japan asked for a copy of the brochure, noting that the 50th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was approaching as well.
Volunteers also distributed hundreds of brochures featuring Spanish-language titles that Pathfinder publishes and distributes, such as Habla Malcolm X, El Diario del Che en Bolivia, El Manifiesto Comunista by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, and the Marxist magazine Nueva Internacional.
Political debate made it's way into the gathering in other ways as well. Some 200 people gathered outside the convention center June 5 protesting an appearance by Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the House of Representatives, at an ABA "power lunch."
Gingrich was in town to promote his new book, Renewing American Civilization. Many protesters carried signs opposing the Contract with America. The fact that some of the protesters came inside and heckled Gingrich received media attention.