30 Booksellers Named Scholarship Recipients

Twenty-six booksellers have been awarded publisher-sponsored scholarships to attend the American Booksellers Association's Third Annual Winter Institute in Louisville, Kentucky. The scholarships cover reasonable transportation costs and up to a three-night stay at the Wi3 host hotel, the Louisville Marriott Downtown, for the January 24 - 27 education event.

ABA also awarded Wi3 scholarships covering transportation and hotel costs for two booksellers, and BookExpo America awarded two scholarships: one for up to a three-night hotel stay at the Winter Institute and the second for up to a four-night hotel stay at BEA 2008 in Los Angeles.

"We extend sincere thanks to all of our Winter Institute Publisher Partners, as well as to our Event Partners -- Baker & Taylor, Ingram Book Group/Ingram Publisher Services, and BookExpo America -- for their continuing support of our education program," said ABA Chief Program Officer Len Vlahos. "Today, we are especially pleased to announce the winners of this year's Winter Institute scholarships. We hope the winners, and the entire community of independent booksellers, will join us in thanking all of the sponsors who make our education efforts possible."

To be eligible for the scholarships, booksellers dropped off a business card at the ABA booth at one of the nine regional fall trade shows or they entered the drawing via e-mail to Vlahos or, for the Emerging Leaders Scholarship, to Education Program Coordinator Lisa Winn.

• Annie Philbrick, Bank Square Books, Mystic, CT (Beacon Press)
• Kathy Villa, Prairie Pages Bookseller, Pierre SD (Chooseco)
• Talina Wood, Eagle Harbor Book Company, Bainbridge Island, WA (Grove Atlantic)
• Nancy Olson, Quail Ridge Books & Music, Raleigh, NC (Hachette Book Group)
• Maggie Bunting, Bookworks, Albuquerque, NM (HarperCollins)
• Heather Gain, Harvard Bookstore, Cambridge, MA (Houghton Mifflin)
• Thomas Lowenburg, Octavia Books, LLC, New Orleans, LA (Hyperion)
• Monica Holmes, Hicklebee's, San Jose, CA (Hyperion Books for Children/Disney Press)
• Megan Kocher, Amazon Bookstore Cooperative, Minneapolis, MN (Literary Ventures Fund)
• Lynda Schultz, Explore Booksellers & Bistro, Aspen, CO (Macmillan)
• Suzanna Hermans, Oblong Books, & Music, Millerton, NY (MIRA)
• Flossie McNabb, Carpe Librum Booksellers, Knoxville, TN (W.W. Norton)
• Deborah Reifenstein, Hearthside Books, Inc., Juneau, AK (Overlook)
• Kathy Suntken, Learned Owl Book Shop, Hudson, OH (Penguin, Adult)
• Jane Kaftan, Honeychilde Books, Sandusky, OH (Penguin Young Readers Group)
• Annie Shapiro, Book Culture, New York NY (Perseus)
• Laura Smith, Perfect Pines Books & Gifts, Hale, MI (Peterson's)
• Rani Saijo, Leaves of Grass Bookstore, Willits, CA (Peterson's)
• Debra Belcoff, The Reading Room @ Mandalay Place, Las Vegas, NV (Random House)
• Alice Meyer, Beaverdale Books, LLC, Des Moines, IA (Scholastic)
• Karen Poole, A Novel Idea, Inc., Chattanooga, TN (Simon & Schuster)
• Heather Lyon, Lyon Books & Learning Center, Chico, CA (Sourcebooks)
• Justin Junge, Vroman's, Pasadena, CA (Unbridled Books)
• Dana Brigham, Brookline Booksmith, Brookline, MA (Weinstein Books)
• Donald Shaw, Books Plus, Fernandina Beach, FL (Wiley)
• Margot Sage-El, Watchung Booksellers, Montclair, NJ (Workman)

• Thom McElhany, Books Inc., San Francisco, CA (Wi3 Hotel)
• Britton Trice, Garden District Bookshop, New Orleans (BEA 2008 - Hotel ABA)

• Richard Sovine, Next Page Bookstore & More, Decatur, IN
• Jennifer Nielsen, Sam Weller's Books, Salt Lake City, UT (Emerging Leader)