Eric Richardson [Flickr]

Booths of books line the exhibit hall for the 126th annual MLA conference.

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Be sure to double-check your dangling participles and split infinitives this week: the wordsmiths are in town. The 126th annual conference of the Modern Language Association kicked off Thursday at the L.A. Convention Center and runs through Sunday.

The event includes more than 800 sessions split between the Convention Center and the ballrooms of the J.W. Marriott. Many attendees are here in the hopes of landing an academic job via an interview process that one interviewer this morning likened to "speed-dating."

An exhibit hall set up at the Convention Center includes the latest books from dozens of publishers and university presses, with many booths offering substantial discounts. Admission for non-attendees is $20. Stop by Sunday and you're likely to get even deeper discounts from publishers who don't want to ship extra merchandise back home.