AP’s Hillel Italie picked up on the story that Alan Greenspan, who will be Book Expo America‘s keynote speaker this year, will be interviewed by NBC newscaster Andrea Mitchell, who also happens to be his wife. And some people, like Politics & Prose co-owner Barbara Meade, are taking issue. “I think it would be pretty awkward for a wife to interview her husband,” she said. Not so, says BEA’s special events director Roger Billheimer. “Sure, she’s his wife, but she’s a smart lady and she’s been around the block. I certainly think this is an opportunity for a stimulating conversation.”
And let’s be honest here: anyone going to BEA expecting anything but softball, overly positives directed at any keystone speaker’s way – not just the former Federal Reserve Director – is in for a rude awakening. Besides, if Mitchell can get her husband off-script even once, that would be the “major coup” Billheimer touts in the PA piece…