Google Exhibits Author Portal, at L.A. Times Book Festival

Google Exhibits Author Portal, at L.A. Times Book Festival

Los Angeles, California - May 2, 2007 - After recently launching its new Authors@Google portal, search engine, Google, exhibited at the 12th Annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on the UCLA campus.

Notable book authors at this year's event included: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, David Baldacci, Elayne Boosler, T.C. Boyle, Ellen Burstyn, Stephen J. Cannell, Don Cheadle, The Children's Museum of LA, Mary Higgins Clark, Robert Crais, Bruce Dern, Kirk Douglas, James Ellroy, Arianna Huffington, Lee Iacocca, John Lithgow, Leonard Maltin, Frank McCourt, Dr. Phil McGraw, Walter Mosley, Ralph Nader, Phil Rosenthal, Richard Schickel, The Simpsons, Gore Vidal, Joseph Wambaugh, Kenneth Turan, and Henry Winkler.

As the largest book-related event in the U.S., the best way to describe this free book festival, is to liken it to a Superbowl-sized celebration of Book Publishing. Visiting reminds one of an amusement park, without the thrill rides. However, there are plenty of ''thrills'' of other kinds, at the two-day event celebrating the written word, through panel discussions, poetry readings, cooking demonstrations, book signings and music.

According to information released by Google, Ricky Opaterny of the Authors@Google team commented, ''For over the past year, we've invited some of the most prominent and promising thinkers, artists, leaders, and personalities of our time to give talks and have discussions at Google about their recently published books. We call the series Authors@Google, and we've posted videos of many of our events online. And now, the program has grown out of our Mountain View headquarters to include seven U.S. offices as well as our London and Dublin offices.''

The Festival affords book lovers the chance to meet best-selling authors, publishers and other literary figures. The hundreds of exhibitor booths, stage events and popular children's characters keep it entertaining for all ages, featuring:

• 130,000 attendees
• 400+ authors
• 300+ exhibitors
• 900+ volunteers
• 97 author panels
• 6 outdoor stages
• 2 large arenas dedicated to children