ABA Winter Institute News... and a Reminder

Plans for the American Booksellers Association's inaugural Winter Institute, a comprehensive education program to be held in Long Beach, California, on January 26 - 27, are well underway. This week's news includes announcements of a new publisher sponsor and a random drawing for bookseller scholarships, plus a timely reminder about registration.

• Registration for the education program, which is free and open to all ABA member booksellers, and for the special hotel rate at the Institute's host hotel, the Long Beach Hilton, is now open. To receive the special $89 room rate, booksellers must register for the hotel by November 15.
  
  
• Perseus Books Group has become the eighth Book Sense Publisher Partner to sign on as a sponsor of the Winter Institute. Perseus' support will help defray the cost of the special event functions and will underwrite the special hotel room rate, as well as provide two bookseller scholarships. Other sponsors of the Winter Institute are BookExpo America, Baker & Taylor, Ingram Book Group, and publisher partners HarperCollins, Hyperion, Random House, Scholastic, Time Warner Book Group, and Workman. Two bookseller scholarships are also being underwritten by Thomson Peterson's.
  
  
• This week, ABA announced that booksellers who had dropped off their business cards at the association's booth at each of the fall regional trade shows with the hope of winning one of the Winter Institute scholarships awarded at the shows would be entered in a second random drawing to win one of 16 scholarships sponsored by Book Sense Publisher Partners. Scholarships include airfare and hotel expenses. ABA will notify the winners by e-mail before November 1.

Questions about the Winter Institute should be addressed to ABA's Kristen Gilligan at (800) 637-0037, ext. 6613. For more information and to register, go to www.bookweb.org/education/institute/.