A record number of booksellers applied for the 2018 Bookselling Without Borders international book fair scholarships, which closed February 28. Altogether 465 U.S. booksellers representing 261 bookstores in 44 states and the District of Columbia threw their hats in the ring. The total is more than five times the number of applications received last year. Twelve scholarship recipients will be announced March 20.
Bookselling Without Borders funds all-expenses-paid trips for booksellers to some of the world's premier book fairs, which this year will include the Turin Book Fair (May), the Frankfurt Book Fair (October), and the Guadalajara International Book Fair (November). Scholarship recipients will have extensive itineraries made for them that include panels; meetings; seminars; and receptions with their international counterparts, authors and publishers.