72 Booksellers Awarded 2017 Winter Institute Scholarships

The American Booksellers Association has named 72 winners of scholarships to the January 2017 Winter Institute in Minneapolis. Sixty-four of the scholarships have been awarded to booksellers by the Winter Institute’s publisher sponsors. Booksellers at all ABA member stores that did not receive a scholarship in the last two years were eligible to win a Winter Institute scholarship.

“We are immensely grateful to our publisher sponsors for their generous support, without which the Winter Institute would not be possible,” said ABA Development Officer Mark Nichols. “A record number of bookseller scholarship recipients will be able to attend the event in 2017, and we encourage all ABA members to join us in thanking our publisher sponsors for their ongoing commitment to independent bookselling.”

In addition to the recipients of publisher-sponsored scholarships, five ABA members will attend the institute on scholarships from the Book Industry Charitable Foundation (Binc) and two more will be there on scholarships honoring the late Avin Mark Domnitz, ABA’s CEO from 1997 to 2009. One Domnitz scholarship was awarded by ABA to a bookseller at a store participating in this year’s ABACUS Survey; the other was created from memorial contributions to ABA following Domnitz’s death in 2015.

Also, Candlewick Press has once again awarded a scholarship to a bookseller active in the Candlewick Handselling Indie Recognition Program (CHIRP).

Winter Institute scholarships cover the conference fee, up to four nights plus tax at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis at the special ABA rate, and transportation costs up to $400.

Winter Institute 2017 Publisher-Sponsored Scholarship Recipients

• Abrams: Dana Meister, Full Circle Bookstore, Oklahoma City, OK
• Akashic Books/Red Hen Press: Cassie Clemans, Roundabout Books, Bend, OR
• Algonquin Young Readers: Joanna Parzakonis, Bookbug, Kalamazoo, MI
• Andrews McMeel: Rebecca Binkowski, MacIntosh Books and Paper, Sanibel, FL
• Beacon Press/Seven Stories Press: May Toropova, Firestorm Books & Café, Asheville, NC
• Biblioasis: Laura Norris Griffin, Bay Bookstore, Friday Harbor, WA
• Bloomsbury: Judith Manzo, BookEnds, Winchester, MA
• Candlewick Press: Laura Donohoe, Spellbound Children’s Bookshop, Asheville, NC
• Capstone Publishing: Marika McCoola, Porter Square Books, Cambridge, MA
• Catapult/Counterpoint: Stephen Sharpe, A Book for All Seasons, Leavenworth, WA
• Charlesbridge/Globe Pequot: Emily Ring, Inklings Bookshop, Yakima, WA
• Chronicle Books: Teresa Muhic, Legends Bookstore, Cody, WY
• Coffee House Press/Tin House Books: Adlai Yeomans, White Whale Bookstore, Pittsburgh, PA
• Consortium: Billie Bloebaum, Third Street Books, McMinnville, OR
• Diamond Book Distributors/Image Comics: Tyler Stoltenberg, Wicker Park Secret Agent Supply Co./826 Chicago, Chicago, IL
• Disney Book Group: Cathy Graham, Copperfish Books, Punta Gorda, FL
• Dzanc Books/Rare Bird Books: Josh Niesse, Underground Books, Carrollton, GA
• ECW: Evan Schwartz, Open Book Bookstore, Elkins Park, PA
• Europa Editions: Kate Reynolds, Colgate Bookstore, Hamilton, NY
• Graywolf Press: Anna Thorn, Upshur Street Books, Washington, DC
• Grove/Atlantic: Becky Gilmer, Bloomsbury Books, Ashland, OR
• Hachette Book Group 1: Jill Miner, Saturn Booksellers, Gaylord, MI
• Hachette Book Group 2: Mary Laura Philpott, Parnassus Books, Nashville, TN
• Harlequin 1: Melissa DeMotte, The Well-Read Moose, Coeur d’Alene, ID
• Harlequin 2: Pamela Pescosolido, The Bookloft, Great Barrington, MA
• Harlequin 3: Barbara Rogers, Three Sisters Books & Gifts, Shelbyville, IN
• HarperCollins Adult 1: Scott Becke, Pages: A Bookstore, Manhattan Beach, CA
• HarperCollins Adult 2: Emilie Sommer, East City Bookshop, Washington, DC
• HarperCollins Children’s 1: Laura Cummings, White Birch Books, North Conway, NH
• HarperCollins Children’s 2: Kira Wizner, Merritt Bookstore & Toystore, Millbrook, NY
• Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 1: Josh Christie, Print: A Bookstore, Portland, ME
• Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2: Susan Schlesinger, Books on the Square, Providence, RI
• House of Anansi Press: Nina Barrett, Bookends & Beginnings, Evanston, IL
• Ingram: Betsy Schram, The Bookshelf, Cincinnati, OH
• John F. Blair, Publisher/Shambhala Publications: Mike Matesich, The Oxford Exchange, Tampa, FL
• Lerner: Cynthia Duprey, Next Chapter Bookstore, Barre, VT
• Lonely Planet: Ellie Scott, Explore Booksellers & Bistro Aspen, CO
• Macmillan Adult 1: John Bonczyk, Lift Bridge Book Shop, Brockport, NY
• Macmillan Adult 2: Carol Hoenig, Turn of the Corkscrew, Rockville Center, NY
• Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group: Gibran Graham, The Briar Patch, Bangor, ME
• Melville House: Steve Iwanski,Turnrow Books, Greenwood, MS
• Midpoint Trade Books: Janina Larenas, Logos Books & Records, Santa Cruz, CA
• Milkweed Editions: Erika VanDam, RoscoeBooks, Chicago, IL
• New Directions:  Marcy Rizzi, Booked on 25th, Ogden, UT
• The New Press: Lesley Rains, City of Asylum Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
• Other Press: Sally Bradshaw, Midtown Reader, Tallahassee, FL
• Penguin Group Adult: Aaron Cance, The Printed Garden, Sandy, UT
• Penguin Young Readers Group: Lindsay Pingel, Little Shop of Stories, Decatur, GA
• Perseus Books Group: Clarissa Hadge, Trident Booksellers & Café,  Boston, MA
• PGW: Javier Ramirez, The Book Table, Oak Park, IL
• Quirk Books/Soho Press: Libby Manthey, Riverwalk Books, Chelan, WA
• Random House Adult 1:  Emily Crowe, Odyssey Bookshop, South Hadley, MA
• Random House Adult 2: Matt Stowe, Greenlight Bookstore, Brooklyn, NY
• Random House Children’s: Suzi Hough, Hicklebee’s, San Jose, CA
• Scholastic: Michael Bender, Community Bookstore, Brooklyn, NY
• Simon & Schuster Adult 1: Mary Harju, Joseph Fox Bookshop, Philadelphia, PA
• Simon & Schuster Adult 2: Gloria Tiller, Kazoo Books, Kalamazoo, MI
• Simon & Schuster Children’s 1: Gwendolyn Danfelt, Drury Lane Books, Grand Marais, MN
• Simon & Schuster Children’s 2: Emily Lloyd-Jones, Gallery Bookshop & Bookwinkle’s Children’s Books, Mendocino, CA
• Sourcebooks: Sara Harjo, Best of Books, Edmond, OK
• Steerforth Press: Tami Barber, BYU Bookstore, Provo, UT
• Sterling Publishing: Leslie Huerta, Francie & Finch Bookshop, Lincoln, NE
• W.W. Norton: Allen Childs, The Doylestown Bookshop, Doylestown, PA
• Workman/Algonquin Adult: Maxwell Gregory, Lake Forest Bookstore, Lake Forest, IL

Book Industry Charitable Foundation (BINC) Scholarships 

• DeAndra Beard, Beyond Barcodes Bookstore, Kokomo, IN
• Denise Chavez, Casa Camino Real, Las Cruces, NM
• Shirikiana Gerima, Sankofa Video & Books, Washington, DC
• Jennifer Morrow, Bard’s Alley, Vienna, VA
• Mary Prewitt, Foggy Pine Books, Boone, NC

ABA Avin Mark Domnitz/ABACUS Scholarship

• Dan Graham, Book Soup, Hollywood, CA

Avin Mark Domnitz Memorial Scholarship

• Veronica Liu, Word Up Community Bookshop, New York, NY

Candlewick Handselling Indie Recognition Program (CHIRP)  

• Kathleen Carey, Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza, Albany, NY

A Meet-and-Greet for scholarship recipients and their sponsors is planned for Friday evening, January 27, at The Open Book, prior to the Wi12 Welcome Reception.