Binc is now accepting applications for the Carla Gray Memorial Scholarship for Emerging Bookseller-Activists. The winning bookseller will be awarded a year-long scholarship for professional development, which includes travel and hotel to attend Winter Institute 2024, travel and hotel to attend their 2024 regional fall tradeshow and a $1,000 stipend to fund a community outreach project. The deadline to apply is Friday, Sept. 15, 2023, at 5 p.m. EST. Eligibility requirements and the application can be found at https://www.bincfoundation.org/carla-gray/.
The goal of the community outreach project is to find new readers and ensure access to books that improve readers’ lives while integrating bookstores even more fully into their communities.
This year’s scholarship will be the fifth awarded by the Friends of Carla Gray Committee and the Binc Foundation. It is intended to help a bookseller with fewer than five years of experience connect with other booksellers, publishers and authors, and establish the long-term relationships needed to keep the book industry thriving.
“We have been so moved and inspired by the work of the Carla Gray Bookseller-Activists over the past five years–each of them has contributed something unique and essential to our literary community and beyond,” said the members of the Friends of Carla Gray Committee. “In the face of all the challenges we are all facing, it heartens us to think of the overflowing joy and pride Carla would feel in seeing these booksellers and their ideas making change in the world– reminding us all of the power of books.”
Learn more about Carla Gray and the outreach projects of past winners at https://www.bincfoundation.org/carla-gray/. “The Binc Foundation is proud to celebrate Carla’s legacy and her enthusiasm for books, bookstores and their communities through this powerful scholarship and professional development opportunity,” said Binc Executive Director Pam French. “Supporting emerging booksellers and encouraging their engagement in their community is critical to the future of the bookselling and larger book industry. We look forward to meeting the winner in person at Winter Institute in 2024 and hearing more about their outreach project.”
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