Welcome!
We’re excited to once again bring you the Heartland Fall Forum, a trade show, conference, and celebration of independent bookselling hosted by the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association and the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association.
Our trade associations represent nearly 350 independent bookstores throughout the Greater Midwest. That’s twelve states of bookstores spanning the breadth of country’s Heartland, from the far reaches of North Dakota to Ohio, from Kansas to the tip of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and all states in between. Our independent booksellers form the backbone of literary culture throughout the Midwest. Please view our map to see the full breadth of our region.
We provide a rich environment for anyone allied to the book industry to meet, network, promote new titles, place orders, and learn crucial skills from one another. We are a members-only show. Our attendees include booksellers, publishers, authors, wholesalers, distributors, sidelines vendors, librarians, teachers, media, book bloggers, and more.
Check out what the industry has to say about our first-ever Heartland Fall Forum in 2012.
- “I’ve been back from the Heartland Fall Forum in Minneapolis for more than a week already, and I’m still buzzing with the excitement of that show.” –Lynn Mooney, Only Readers Need Apply
- “Booksellers’ reaction to the show was enthusiastic without reservation.” –Robert Gray, Shelf Awareness
- “Bookish magic’s in the air here.” — Robert Gray, Shelf Awareness
- “The first Heartland forum was described by many as the best regional gathering they’d attended in years.” — Claire Kirch, Publishers Weekly
- “The Heartland forum indeed turned out to be much greater than the sum of its many parts. If there was one word both exhibitors and booksellers used over and over in discussing the show with PW, it was ‘energy.’” –Claire Kirch, Publishers Weekly
- “All in all, I met so many wonderful people; authors, publishers, agents, editors. Whether it was from a big publisher or a small imprint, they were all passionate and delighted to be a part of this event.” –Red-Headed Book Child
Last Year’s Show at The Depot. View more images