The Book Industry Charitable Foundation announced yesterday the winners of two scholarships: the Macmillan Booksellers Professional Development Scholarship and the George Keating Memorial Scholarship.
The Macmillan scholarship, which was created in 2017 to provide professional development opportunities to booksellers traditionally underrepresented in the industry, awards $500 to each recipient to help them attend their regional association's fall trade show. The winners are: Karen Ugarte, of Tia Chucha's Centro Cultural and Bookstore in Los Angeles, Calif.; Sarah Wordhouse, of the Word House in Winona Lake, Ind.; Rome Puente, of Bookworks in Albuquerque, N.Mex.; Claire Van den Brock, of Huxley & Hiro in Wilmington, Del.; Coco Zephir, of Phoenix Books in Burlington, Vt.; John Hart, of Always Here Bookstore in Portland, Ore.; and Eden Haymon, of Cavalier House Books in Denham Springs, La.
The Keating Memorial Scholarship, meanwhile, awards $500 to one bookseller in the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association, one in the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, and one in the New England Independent Booksellers Association. Julie Wernersbach of Hive Mind Books was the recipient from NAIBA, and Preet Singh of Eagle Eye Book Shop in Decatur, Ga., was the recipient from SIBA. NEIBA deferred the scholarship for this year.
"Binc is honored to help book people expand their knowledge and grow in their roles," said Binc executive director Pam French. "Partnering with Macmillan Publishers, the friends of publishing sales rep George Keating and regional associations whose values align with the foundation allows us to support booksellers across the country. Thanks to these two scholarships as well as an additional scholarship for each region, Binc will distribute approximately $11,000 to ensure increased access to professional development."