Thursday, March 12th, was the day where everything you were going to see or do was canceled. No hockey season, basketball, soccer or baseball, no Broadway and Off-Broadway theater, no Disneyworld, Disneyland or Universal Studios. All closed.
New York’s Governor decreed that all gatherings of more than 500 people should be canceled. In California and Washington State, the cut off number is 250.
So some of our favorite romance events have been postponed as a result.
The Book Lovers Con, which was to take place next week in Nashville, announced today that it would have to be postponed. The Researching the Romance Conference that was scheduled for April 22nd has announced that it will be canceled with refunds issued to all registrants.
Larger book fairs and events have also been canceled or postponed. The London Book Fair was canceled on March 3 just days before it was to start, and the Bologna Book Fair, which focuses on children’s books, was originally rescheduled from the end of March to the first week of May, but has now been canceled completely. The Paris Book Fair, which was scheduled to take place March 12, has also been canceled, as was the Leipzig Book Fair in Germany.
Right now, the largest annual book gathering, Book Expo America and Book Con, is still scheduled for May 27-31 in New York City.