BOOKS ACROSS BORDERS

Connecting booksellers and readers to the international book world

Applications open tuesday, february 12, 2025

fall 2024 fellows

Frankfurter Buchmesse

  • Spencer Ruchti, Events Manager, Third Place Books, Seattle, WA

FIL Guadalajara International Book Fair

  • Veronica Liu, Founder, Word Up Community Bookshop/Librería Comunitaria, Washington Heights, New York

  • Thais Perkins, Owner, Reverie Books, Austin, TX

Spring 2025 Fellows

RISE Bookselling

  • Ramunda Young, Co-Owner, Mahogany Books, Washington, D.C.

  • Melissa Taylor, Co-Owner, E. Shaver, Bookseller, Savannah, GA

SALONE internazionale DEL LIBRO Torino

  • Shane Mullen, Events Manager, Left Bank Books, St. Louis, MO

Every year, the book industry gathers at international book fairs the world over. But one essential figure has been largely excluded from these gatherings: the bookseller.

Books Across Borders is changing that.

Founded in 2016 and incorporated as a nonprofit in 2020, BAB curates a monthly newsletter, co-produces the Globally Lit podcast, organizes book buzzes and virtual events between indie presses and booksellers, and builds relationships across the international book industry. We’re assembling and maintaining a directory of key international contacts and a database of resources that aims to support the efforts of all booksellers to bring more readers to international and diverse books.

Prior to the start of the pandemic, BAB awarded fellowships and residencies to booksellers to attend international book fairs, where they met with publishers, editors, authors, agents, and other publishing professionals; connected with booksellers and with bookseller trade associations from around the world; spoke on and attended panels; and visited local bookstores, distributors, cultural agencies, and literary arts organizations. Booksellers returned better connected, better informed, more aware of the international book panorama, and better equipped to put international and diverse literatures into the hands of readers.

We hope that you’ll support and engage with our efforts.

We provide fellowships to international book fairs and overseas bookstore residencies for booksellers.

Books Across Borders works to connect booksellers to the international book world. We focus on international literature, and the role booksellers play in promoting it.

read our bookseller reports in shelf awarenesS

Report from Frankfurt by Spencer Ruchti

Report from Guadalajara by Veronica Liu