The International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) will open its Cookbook Expo as part of its Annual International Conference to the public for the first time in the meeting's 29-year history.

Held in Chicago this year from April 11 through the 14, the Conference will be at the Hilton at 720 South Michigan Avenue. The Cookbook Expo portion will be open to the public on Friday, April 13, from 5 to 6 p.m. in the hotel's Northwest Hall, Lower Level. Admission is free.

Some of the country's best chefs and cookbook authors will be on hand to sell — and autograph — their new cookbooks. More than 60 authors are expected to attend, including:

— Jamie Purviance — Weber's Charcoal Grilling: The art of cooking with live fire

— Ken Albala — Cooking in Europe: 1250-1650, The Banquet: Dining in the Great Courts of Late Renaissance Europe, Cooking through History(series)

— Devin Alexander — Fast Food Fix, The Biggest Loser Cookbook

— Toni Apgar — King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Bakin

— Linda Arpino — Eat Fit, Be Fit: Health and Weight Management Solutions

— Judy Baker — Carb Wars: Sugar is the New Fat

— Amy Besa — Memories of Philippine Kitchens

— Carole Bloom — The Essential Baker

— Dina Cheney — Tasting Club

— Ann Cooper — Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children

— Fran Costigan — More Great Good Dairy Free Desserts Naturally

— Beverly Cox — Eating Cuban

— Meredith Deeds and Carla Snyder — The Big Book of Appetizers

— Kelly Degala — Va de Vi Cookbook

— Margaret Dickenson — Margaret's Table – Easy Cooking & Inspiring Entertaining, Margaret's Sense of Occasion — Brooke Dojny — Dishing Up Maine

— Romy Dorotan — Memories of Philippine Kitchens

— Roberta Duyff — American Dietetic Association Complete Food and Nutrition Guide

— Penny Wantuck Eisenberg — Amazing Dairy Free Desserts

— Mary Evans — The One-Dish Chicken Cookbook

— Carol Fenster — Gluten-Free 101

— Keri Fisher — One Cake, One Hundred Desserts

— Linda Furiya — Bento Box In the Heartland: My Japanese Girlhood Growing Up in Whitebread America

— Linda Gassenheimer — The Portion Plan, Preventions Fit and Fast Meals in Minutes

— George Geary — 125 Best Food Processor Recipes

— Laura Giannatempo — A Ligurian Kitchen: Recipes and Tales from the Italian Riveria

— Bibby Gignilliat — The Sumptuous Small Plates Deck: 30 Recipes for Deliciously Fun Entertaining

— Aliza Green — Starting with Ingredients, Field Guide to Seafood

— Dorie Greenspan — Baking from My Home to Yours

— Kathy Gunst — Stonewall Kitchen Favorites

— Mary Lou Heiss — Green Tea

— Frankie Whitman — The Essence of Chocolate

— Katherine Wilton — You're the Cook: A Guide to Mixing it up in the Kitchen

— Terrie Pischoff Wuerther — In a Cajun Kitchen

— Roxanne Wyss — Simmer or Sizzle: Cooking with your Slow Cooker or Contact Grill

IACP is a not-for-profit professional association which provides continuing education and development for its members who are engaged in the areas of culinary education, communication, or in the preparation of food and drink.

The Worldwide membership of nearly 4,000 encompasses over 35 countries