Sophia Stewart reports BookCon's return to New York after years away, with ReedPop framing the weekend as a pop-culture-forward celebration of reading rather than a quiet literary salon. Programming leans into romance, fantasy, romantasy, and other genre communities that have blown up online, plus interactive "con culture" add-ons like trivia and craft workshops.
The piece also covers friction: an open letter targeting ReedPop's parent RELX over LexisNexis's government contracts led some high-profile authors to withdraw, and ReedPop responded with a statement distancing event operations from other subsidiaries. For authors, it's a case study in how trade-show politics now travels at social-media speed - long before doors open.
(Shortened and summarised to avoid devaluing the source)