ABA Winter Institute Scholarship Winners Announced

The American Booksellers Association has announced the winners of its 2007 Winter Institute scholarships: Lisa Sharp of Nightbird Books in Fayetteville, Arkansas; Miah Olmsted of Back to Books in Hudson, Wisconsin; and Jessica Stockton of McNally Robinson in New York City.

Sharp and Olmstead are the grand prize winners of ABA's raffle for bookstore members who stopped by the ABA booth at one of the nine fall regional booksellers association trade shows. Stockton, the winner of the ABA-sponsored Emerging Leaders Scholarship, was selected by the founding members of the Emerging Leaders Group -- Allison Hill of Vroman's in Pasadena; Julia Cowlishaw of Shaman Drum Bookshop in Ann Arbor, Michigan; Cindy Dach of Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona; and Neil Strandberg of Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver.

The scholarships cover airfare and up to a three-night stay at the Winter Institute, which will be held at the Doubletree Portland-Lloyd Center in Portland, Oregon, on Thursday and Friday, February 1 and 2, 2007.

Sharp, who opened Nightbird this past April, told BTW that as a new bookseller she would particularly benefit from both the opportunities for education and the gathering with other booksellers at the institute. "I'm really excited because I've not gone to one single ABA lecture or event where I haven't learned something," she said. "The Winter Institute will be a big help. It's something I've wanted to do." At this past Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Fall Trade Show, Sharp found the ABA sessions "Above the Treeline" and "Creating Killer Events" to be very helpful. She hopes to attend a financial session at the Winter Institute. "I think I need to rethink my cash flow," she explained.

Stockton, who was recently tapped to be McNally Robinson's events coordinator, said she is very excited about going to the institute under the Emerging Leaders Scholarship. She plans to attend the two new sessions, "Making Magazines Profitable" and "Design 101: Using Light, Color, and Space to Communicate Your Message," as well as a "more practical and concrete" financial session.

Stockton told BTW that she is gathering information for use both at McNally Robinson and at a bookstore she hopes to eventually open in Brooklyn. "It'll be a general bookstore tailored to fit the community," she explained. "It'll skew a little younger, to that Brooklyn literary crowd we keep hearing about."

In addition to the educational programming, Stockton is looking forward to connecting with other booksellers and fellow Emerging Leaders, particularly the founders, to discuss "how to work nationally and locally on getting young people to connect with each other and the publishing industry."

Speaking for the Emerging Leaders Group, which is working to identify, and foster the development of, the next generation of booksellers, Hill said, "That ABA is offering a scholarship of this type demonstrates such a commitment to the overall industry, and certainly to the next generation of booksellers."

Hill noted that this year Vroman's created its own Emerging Leaders Winter Institute Scholarship, which covers airfare, hotel, and meals. To apply, interested Vroman's staff members were asked to write an essay about why they wanted to attend and what they hoped to glean. The winner was Alanna Kirby.

Offering the scholarship was "one of the best things we've done this year," said Hill. "We had a tremendous response -- it was a real morale booster. It also gave us a great opportunity to see who on the staff are really committed. It was absolutely worth the investment." Hill said that one staff member who did not win the scholarship said that she would pay the airfare if Kirby wouldn't mind sharing the hotel room. Now, both will be attending.

The Vroman's Emerging Leaders Scholarship arose from the same goal that drove the creation of Emerging Leaders, Hill explained. "We wanted to identify future leaders within Vroman's, support them, and create an opportunity for them to network with other booksellers and learn more about the book business."

The Winter Institute is only open to booksellers at ABA member stores, and registration has almost reached the event cap of 500. Registration is via ABA's trade website, BookWeb.org. Questions about the Winter Institute program should be addressed to Len Vlahos at [email protected]. Questions about hotel reservations should be sent to ABA's Margaret Petrie at [email protected].

Watch for the announcement of the winners of the Publisher Scholarships, schedule updates, and more Winter Institute news in upcoming editions of Bookselling This Week. --Karen Schechner