Booklovers' bonanza: the world's largest book club meeting lets black readers and authors fellowship.

PROFILE

What: National Book Club Conference 2005

Where: Intercontinental Buckhead Hotel, Atlanta, Georgia

Who: 400 to 500 attendees; 70 clubs, more than 25 authors.

When: August 5-7, 2005

How often it meets: Annually

Highlights: Awards ceremony sponsored by BIBR, book signings, sessions with authors.

Organizer: Curtis Bunn

To Register: http://nationalbookclubconference.com

For the third consecutive year, the founder of the National Book Club Conference (NBCC), Curtis Bunn, is perfecting ways to honor and celebrate the authors whose works resonate with African Americans.

You see, at the NBCC, held the first weekend of August each year in Atlanta, readers and writers can have real connections.

"Here, you'll have lunch with J. California Cooper at your table," Bunn says. "You'll have poolside chats with Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant. You'll walk the halls with Walter Mosley. You'll have breakfast with Bebe Moore Campbell and really kind of establish a rapport over two days because the authors enjoy it as much, if not more, as the participants."

Each year, the goals of the conference remain the same: a level of intimacy and access to a variety of authors--household names, lesser known and self-published ones--plus a learning experience. This year, however, Bunn will offer another list of 25 authors to those who are returning or coming for the first time. The conference attracted 212 readers in 2003 and the 322 in 2004. This year, nearly 500 people are expected, including representatives of 70 clubs spread over 20 states, according to Bunn.

Bunn, a newspaper sports writer, got the idea for the conference while he was promoting his first novel, Baggage Check (A&B Books, September 2001).

"I had no idea people were so passionate about books until I became an author," Bunn reveals. His experiences sparked his second novel, Book Club (A&B Books, October 2003), and he's obviously taken it one step further.

"One day I was just thinking about how much fun I had at the book club meetings--the food, the laughter, the learning--and how that could be heightened," he says.

Eleven months later, the first NBCC was held in 2003 with Walter Mosley among those in attendance. "I am completely indebted to Walter Mosley because he legitimized the conference," Bunn reflects. "I think he just understood the value of book clubs, and the idea of getting avid readers together to discuss books is something that is a great thing--it's far more than just showing up to get your books signed and taking pictures."

It's also for individual readers of both genders too, Bunn adds.

At a dinner sponsored by Black Issues Book Review, Terry McMillan will receive the Walter Mosley Author of Distinction Award for her contributions to African American book publishing. Her latest book, The Interruption of Everything, being published July 17 [see "Worth the Wait," on page 44]. Her other works include, Mama, Disappearing Acts, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, A Day Late and a Dollar Short and Waiting to Exhale.

It was the long-running, best-seller status of Waiting to Exhale (and its later success as a film) that broke barriers in publishing by alerting mainstream houses there was a market for black books, and that it extended beyond African American readers.

For more information about the conference and registration, visit www.nationalbookclubconference.com.

Jill L. Cox works for CNN and is a freelance writer based in Atlanta, Georgia.