NZ booksellers awarded US conference scholarship

Booksellers NZ is sending two booksellers to the US for the American Booksellers Association’s Winter Institute conference (Wi10).

Unity Books Wellington bookseller Matt Bialostocki and Anita Kingston from Paper Plus Remuera are recipients of this year’s scholarships to attend the conference in Asheville, North Carolina, from 8-11 February. Around 500 US booksellers attend the conference, which features speakers such as author John Green, presentations on topics such as bookstore finance, freedom of speech, event management and social media, and will include an ‘indie retail crawl’ across Asheville to visit local independent stores. 

As part of the scholarship, which is co-supported by Booksellers NZ, Ingram Book Services and the American Booksellers Association, Bialostocki and Kingston will undertake a week’s work experience at an independent US bookstore. Bialostocki will work at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and Kingston will be at Quail Ridge Books & Music in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Bialostocki told Booksellers NZ that ‘a priority for me in attending Wi10 is identifying what makes the Indies still standing so strong, and finding out what has and hasn’t worked for them in the past ten years’.

Juliet Blyth, Vicbooks manager and Booksellers NZ board member, will also accompany them on the trip. Applications for the 2016 scholarship open in April this year.

Category: Local news