BookExpo America is one of my favorite conferences, and once again we’ve got some free VIP tickets to give away. It runs from June 5-7 at the Javitz Center in Manhattan.

Every year I go I meet authors I admire, come home with so many autographed books I have to buy new furniture, and I get to eat my favorite pizza every night. I’m hoping to see Michael Chabon, Jo Nesbo, and Lois Lowry. I’ll be hanging around the signing area every day to see what’s up, at least when I’m not attending panels. And I’ll be looking for amazing graphic novels I’ve never heard of, particularly in the French publishers’ area.

This year Bill and I are going to premier a rough cut of our new keynote, “How to Ban a Book.” If you’re a censor, or if you want to know how one could use a library against itself, please check it out. (We’ll post more information on where and when to see this program when the schedule is finalized.)

As I mentioned above, the good folks at BEA are giving us 50 VIP passes for librarians (and library employees doing the work outlined below) who are attending BEA for the first time. One of the 50 winners will also be picked at random to have lunch with Bill and me. (This means means walking to a secret deli near the Javitz Center that we both love and watching us chew our food. No video allowed.)

To qualify for a free pass, you must:

• Be new to BEA (which means you haven’t attended in the past three years) (this is set in stone)

• Work at library systems with at least 3 branches (or at least one big building). (This can mean many things. School librarians can qualify, too.)

• Help select books for your library’s collection.

Just email me from work and let me know, briefly, how you qualify. Please include: your name and title along with your library’s name, address, phone, and fax (if, for some reason, you haven’t tossed it in the dumpster yet).

Passes will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis to qualified professionals. We promise to let you know when we’re out.