Four U.S. booksellers are receiving Books Across Borders scholarships to visit either the Frankfurt Book Fair or the Guadalajara International Book Fair this fall. The scholarships aim to connect U.S. booksellers with the international community by attending some of the world's biggest book fairs. The program includes the opportunity to report on the event in Shelf Awareness and participation on a panel of professional relevance or interest to the fellow. BAB fellowships also aim to help raise booksellers' industry profiles, support their professional development, and encourage the advocacy and promotion of international literature.
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| Clockwise from top left: Patrick Leonard, Maritza Montañez, Javiera Tapia, Hannah Harlow | |
This fall's fellows are Hannah Harlow of the Bookshop of Beverly Farms, Beverly, Mass., who will attend the Frankfurt Book Fair in October; and Maritza Montañez of Greenlight Bookstore, Brooklyn, N.Y., Patrick Leonard of Postcard Bookshop, Portland, Ore., and Javiera Tapia of Charlie's Queer Bookstore, Seattle, Wash., who will attend the FIL Guadalajara Book Fair in December.
Hannah Harlow has been co-owner and operator of The Book Shop of Beverly Farms in Beverly, Mass., since January 2020. Before that, she spent 17 years working in publishing, mostly in the marketing department at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. She volunteers on the steering committee of the Newburyport Literary Festival, helping to bring hundreds of authors to the North Shore of Massachusetts. Her writing about books and bookselling has appeared in WBUR's Cognescenti blog and in a bi-monthly column for the bookstore's local paper, the Manchester Cricket. She is also the co-host of the books podcast Four Books a Fortnight. Hannah is a member of the New England Independent Booksellers Association board of directors.
Patrick Leonard is the owner and bookseller of Postcard Bookshop in Portland, Ore. Since opening in 2024, Postcard has been a destination for travel and translation, shelving books by geography so that readers and travelers can discover a translated novel alongside a guide or phrasebook. As an advocate for translation, he hosts a world literature book club at the store and offers a monthly subscription of translated fiction from independent presses. Most recently, he has added books originally published in Spanish. Before opening the bookstore, Patrick worked at contemporary art nonprofits, was the buyer for a specialty food store, and learned the publishing side of the book industry at Artisan Books (Workman) in New York City. Outside of the bookstore, he serves on the Partner Advisory Board for Travel Portland and helps to organize the Bike Bus at his daughter's elementary school.
Maritza Montañez is a buyer at Greenlight Bookstore, Brooklyn, N.Y., where she has worked since 2020. At Greenlight, she has served as a union shop steward and as a member of the union bargaining committee. She co-founded and hosts the store's Literature in Translation Book Group. She previously worked at Books Are Magic in Brooklyn and worked in operations before becoming an indie bookseller. Maritza is also an improviser and teacher at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York. She has taught improv comedy at NYU's Stone Street Studios and coached high school and middle school students at TAPCo in the Bronx, NEST+m in Manhattan, and J.H.S. 383 Philippa Schuyler in Brooklyn. She studied history, creative writing, and Spanish at New York University, has lived in New York City for 18 years, and is originally from California's San Joaquin Valley.
Javiera (Javi) Tapia has worked as a bookseller for seven years. Their baby years started at Third Place Books and continue to grow at Charlie's Queer Books in Seattle, Wash. Born in Chile, Javi grew up with a deep love of literature in translation. They have a particular passion for small press publishing and the vital role translation plays in bringing those books to the hands of English-language readers. They've also served as a judge for the Cercador Prize, the only bookseller-led award for translated literature. Outside of bookselling, you can find them birdwatching, collecting trinkets, or crafting.
Books Across Borders will announce the 2027 Spring Fellows for the RISE Bookselling Conference in Galway, Ireland; the London Book Fair in London, England, and the Bologna Children's Book Fair/Bologna Book Plus in Bologna, Italy next year. All booksellers who applied during the 2026-27 application season remain eligible for these fellowships.