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| Claire van den Broek | |
Claire van den Broek from Huxley & Hiro in Wilmington, Del., has won the sixth Carla Gray Memorial Scholarship for Emerging Bookseller-Activists, awarded by the Friends of Carla Gray Committee and the Book Industry Charitable Foundation. Van den Broek will receive a year-long scholarship for professional development, which includes travel and hotel to attend Winter Institute 2025, travel and hotel to attend their 2025 regional fall tradeshow and a $1,000 stipend to fund a community outreach project.
The scholarship is intended to help a bookseller with fewer than 10 years of experience connect with other booksellers, publishers, and authors, and establish the long-term relationships needed to keep the book industry thriving. The community outreach component is focused on finding new readers and ensuring access to books that improve readers' lives while integrating bookstores even more fully into their communities.
"The support of the Binc Foundation will enable us to run certificate programs for at-risk youth in our community, empowering future civic leaders to speak out against censorship and become advocates for free speech together with our non-profit partner Delaware Futures," van den Broek said. "Bookstores have the power to be so much more than just retail stores; they are community organizers who lift and unite the people around them. This is why they continue to thrive even in the face of so much online competition. We want people to know that every purchase at a local bookstore supports the community as a whole."
Binc executive director Pam French said, "Bookstores are the heart of a thriving community and supporting booksellers and encouraging their engagement in their community is critical to the future of bookselling and the larger book industry. Thank you to the Friends of Carla Gray for their continued advocacy of this endowed scholarship, and to Claire. We look forward to learning more about your project and watching its impact thanks to this annual scholarship that honors Carla's legacy."
Incidentally, Delaware Live has a detailed, inspiring profile of van den Broek and Huxley & Hilo that notes that she and business partner Ryan Eanes plan to move next July to a location that will have a larger performance space. Read all about it here.