"Upstairs at the Square" Elizabeth Gilbert + Jen Chapin June 21, 2006

BARNES & NOBLE TO PRESENT NEW EVENT SERIES, "UPSTAIRS AT THE SQUARE," STARTING WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, WITH EAT, PRAY, LOVE AUTHOR ELIZABETH GILBERT AND SINGER-SONGWRITER JEN CHAPIN

Journalist Katherine Lanpher to Host the Series of Readings and Performances

NEW YORK, NY (June 15, 2006) -- Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller, today announced a new event series, "Upstairs at the Square," to be held at the Union Square Barnes & Noble in Manhattan (33 East 17th Street at Union Square). The series will feature journalist Katherine Lanpher in conversation with established and emerging authors and musicians, who will read and perform their work. Admission is free, and no tickets are required. Seating will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

"Upstairs at the Square" kicks off on Wednesday, June 21, at 7:00PM with Elizabeth Gilbert, author of The New York Times bestselling memoir, Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia and singer-songwriter Jen Chapin, whose new album, Ready, will be released next month as a follow-up to Linger, which National Public Radio called "a brilliant debut album."

"Elizabeth and Jen are both women who went on intensely personal journeys of discovery to find their voices," remarks host and executive producer Katherine Lanpher. "It's a fitting debut, given that Upstairs at the Square will bring together writers and singer-songwriters for conversation and performances you won't hear anywhere else."

"Barnes & Noble has a long tradition of great readings and author signings, and our store in Union Square is a destination for New Yorkers and tourists alike," said Brenda Marsh, vice president of author promotions at Barnes & Noble, Inc. "This summer we want to mix it up a bit for our customers and give everyone a chance to join in fresh and interesting conversations with artists and writers."

Elizabeth Gilbert (elizabethgilbert.com) is the author of a story collection, Pilgrims, a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award; a novel, Stern Men; and The Last American Man, which was a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. For the last five years, she has worked as a journalist at GQ, where her writing earned three National Magazine Award nominations.

The Berkshire Eagle called singer/songwriter Jen Chapin (jenchapin.com) "a remarkable presence on stage." The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel praised her recent album Linger as "smart, observant, lyrically deft, politically aware and emotionally intuitive." She is the daughter of the late folk-rock artist Harry Chapin, and her taste in music ranges from Joni Mitchell and Steely Dan to Cassandra Wilson, Led Zeppelin, John Lee Hooker, and A Tribe Called Quest. She also heads the board of directors of World Hunger Year.

Katherine Lanpher is an award-winning print and broadcast journalist. Springboard Press will publish her first book, Leap Days: Chronicle of a Midlife Move, this October.

The next two events in "Upstairs at the Square" will be held at the Union Square Barnes & Noble on Wednesday, July 19, at 7PM, and Wednesday, August 16, also at 7PM.

Audio downloads of all three events will be available on Barnes & Noble.com (bn.com/writers).

"Upstairs at the Square" promises to be one of the hottest tickets in the city this summer.

About Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller and a Fortune 500 company, operates 797 bookstores in 50 states. For the fourth year in a row, the company is the nation's top retail brand for quality, according to the EquiTrend Brand Study by Harris Interactive. Barnes & Noble conducts its online business through Barnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com), one of the Web's largest e-commerce sites and the number one online bookseller for quality among e-commerce companies, according to the latest EquiTrend survey.

General information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained via the Internet by visiting the company's corporate Web site: http://www.barnesandnobleinc.com.

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