Belle da Costa Greene Scholarship

Applications for the 2026 Belle da Costa Greene Scholarship are now OPEN. Please ensure applications are submitted by Thursday 30th April 2026.

With the goal of actively working to achieve a more diverse and inclusive community of booksellers and librarians, YABS is pleased to invite applicants for a 2026 scholarship. The winner will have their full course fees paid (worth £750) plus five nights accommodation (at a hotel close to the seminar venue) booked and paid for on their behalf. The scholarship is intended for a bookseller or a librarian from an historically underrepresented community and is generously sponsored by Lisa Unger Baskin, our 2018 Keynote Speaker.

Applications are encouraged from booksellers and librarians who identify as BAME, LGBTQ+, working class, persons with disabilities, or other self-identified communities of booksellers or librarians who might benefit from this scholarship.

Applicants should submit a short essay on why they want to attend YABS. They should include in the essay a brief personal and professional history, and something about their relationship to books and the book trade. We also ask for a CV and/or one letter or email of support from a member of the book trade, a professional librarian, or another member of the antiquarian book world.

This scholarship is named after Belle da Costa Greene, the African-American librarian, bibliographer and director of the Morgan Library.

The deadline to submit your application is Thursday 30 April 2026. The winner will be notified by Friday 15th May 2026.

Applications are being handled by The ABA and can be submitted to Lotte Inch at secretary@aba.org.uk.

Please include "Belle da Costa Greene Scholarship" in your email subject line.