Zephaniah and Heffernan to headline BA Conference

Writer and activist Benjamin Zephaniah and TED speaker Margaret Heffernan are set to deliver the keynote speeches at the Booksellers Association’s conference next month.

The event is taking place from across 9th-10th September at Conference Aston, Birmingham.

Heffernan, a part time lecturer at the School of Management of the University of Bath, speaks to corporations, associations and universities about topics such as continuous innovation and the role of leaders in serving the talent they hire.

Zephaniah is an activist and poet who has recently spoken out about the Windrush scandal.

Other authors to attend will be Anna James, Bridget Collins and Mel Golding, as part of afternoon tea hosted by HarperCollins, while Vaseem Khan will be at the Hodder Author Breakfast.

Meanwhile Christopher Brookmyre and Sarah Moss will feature at dinner on Sunday 9th September, sponsored by The Independent Alliance and on the Monday evening, Pan Macmillan will celebrate its 175th anniversary and reveal the bookshop winners of the Pan 175 Indie Awards.

The two-day event launches with The Gardners Trade Show on Sunday, followed by bookselling sessions in the afternoon, while Monday will feature a full day of business sessions centred around the Skills Labs covering areas including inclusive bookselling, bookshop events and support of staff, sponsored by The Unwin Charitable Trust.

Meryl Halls, managing director at Booksellers Association,said: “We’re looking forward to a full two days of talks, networking and panel discussions, which are sure to get conversations ignited.”