The mission of the National Book Club Conference is to create the world's largest book-club meeting once a year, to promote the value of reading and formulating book clubs among adults and in the nation's public school systems for the purposes of advancing literacy, broadening youths' minds and knowledge through reading and dialogue.

"Reading promotes learning, which promotes growth, which promotes prosperity."

* Curtis Bunn (chairman), founder and chief executive officer.: The author of Essence No. 1 best-seller, "Baggage Check," and the "BookClub" - a collection of short stories about the lives of the members of five different book clubs. Inspired to create the National Book Club Conference after meeting with several reading groups and leaving each inspired by the experience. He's been a sports journalist for 22 years and is currently one at the Atlanta Journal Constitution. The Norfolk State University graduate's vision is to support the essence of book clubs and to inspire youths to turn off the television and video games and turn the pages of books - and then discuss them.

*Carol M. Mackey is Editor-In-Chief of Doubleday Entertainment's Black Expressions Book Club, a club founded in 1999 to celebrate the voices and visions of African Americans. Black Expressions has seen unprecedented growth and success in its short history, making it one of the most successful new clubs in the Bookspan portfolio.

Under Mackey's editorial leadership, Black Expressions was voted Best Book Club by the African American Literary Awards Show in 2006. The club won the same honor in 2004 during Mackey's tenure. Recently, she has been featured in Heather Covington's Literary Divas: The Top 100 + Most Admired African American Women in Literature, a compilation of biographies about African American women who have powerfully impacted America's literary history.

Widely recognized as a leading expert on African American literature, Mackey has appeared on the CBS-TV Morning Show in New York to promote African American books. She is frequently interviewed by Publisher's Weekly on the state of African American publishing and in 2005 was named one of the 50 Most Powerful African Americans in Publishing by Black Issues Book Review.

* Linda Duggins is a Senior Publicist at Warner Books. As Co-founder of the Harlem Book Fair, she has helped to create a nationally recognized venue that promotes literacy and literary expressions with writers of the Diaspora.  An avid booklover, she is also the Co-leader of the African Diaspora Literary Group in New York City. Her work at WBAI Radio in NY brings relevant current events to the listening community on a weekly basis. Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., Terrie Williams, Dexter Scott King and Deborah Mathis are among the many great authors represented by Duggins at Warner.

* Terrie Williams: Owner and president of The Terrie Williams Agency, one of the foremost publicity firms in the United States, and author of New York Times best-sellers The Personal Touch: What You Really Need to Succeed in Today's Fast-Paced Business World and Stay Strong: Simple Life Lessons for Teens. Among Williams' clients are attorney Johnnie Cochran, actor/comedian Chris Rock, music mogul Sean "Puffy" Combs, among countless others. Williams initiated the Stay Strong Foundation in 2001, an organization that empowers youths.

* Derek T. Dingle: Vice president and executive editor of Black Enterprise magazine, Dingle is the author of Lessons From the Top: Success Strategies from America's Leading Black CEOs. For more than a decade, he has covered the B.E. 100s, which profile the 100 largest black-owned businesses, and he recently served as writer for B.E. 100s Exclusive, a newsletter for CEOs of these companies. In addition to his role as the managing editor of BE several years ago, he served as president and CEO of Milestone Media, Inc., which was the nation's largest black-owned comic book company.

* Pat Houser is an associate editor of Black Issues Book Review.  Her bi-monthly column showcases a diverse array of literary discussion groups.  She is a frequent guest speaker at literary events and her interactive   workshop, All About Book Clubs, is presented to reading groups across  the nation.  She is the Scholarship Committee Chairperson and a New York City Chapter Facilitator for the 300 member Go On Girl! Book Club, as well   as the founder of the Ebony Book Club.  She serves as a judge for the Gold Pen Awards issued by The Black Writers Alliance. Her articles, author interviews, and book reviews have appeared on Essence.com and in Parents, Mosaic and Web  Guide.