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Category Archives: Spotlight

Binc Announces the Winner of Carla Gray Memorial Scholarship for Emerging Bookseller-Activist

Posted on October 7, 2026 by Graphic Policy Team

A Twin Cities bookseller committed to celebrating Black authors, publishers, and readers has won the eighth Carla Gray Memorial Scholarship for Emerging Bookseller-Activists awarded by the Friends of Carla Gray Committee and the Book Industry Charitable (Binc) Foundation.

Jasmine Baker from Black Garnet Books in St. Paul, Minnesota, will receive a year-long scholarship for professional development, which includes travel and hotel to attend Winter Institute 2027, travel and hotel to attend their 2027 regional fall tradeshow and a $2,000 stipend to fund a community outreach project.

Baker will use the stipend to host the store’s second annual Midwest Black Book Fair and expand the project to other states across the Midwest.

Binc Announces Five Winners of the Susan Kamil Emerging Writers Prize

Posted on October 1, 2026 by Graphic Policy Team

Five booksellers were selected to receive a $10,000 prize that provides the aspiring writer-booksellers with the financial support to focus on a full-length manuscript. The Susan Kamil Emerging Writers Prize was established by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and bestselling author Charles Duhigg and his wife Liz Alter, a professor of biology at California State University Monterey Bay. The Book Industry Charitable (Binc) Foundation administers the prize.

The prize is named for Kamil, who was executive vice president and publisher of Random House when she died in 2019. Her publishing career, spanning more than 40 years, began in the 1970s working in the children’s book division of Macmillan Publishers. Over those years she was known for recognizing new literary voices and introducing them to the public.

This year’s recipients:

Toni Chappell is a former journalist and the owner of Fiction: A Novel Bookshop in Wiscasset, Maine. She holds an MA and PhD in Creative Writing from England’s Bath Spa University and is the author of two historical fiction works-in-progress. Short-list honors include the Janklow & Nesbit Bath Spa Prize (2019) and the Fish Poetry Prize (2021). Toni champions human authors, is an avid reader, walker, lazy-river kayaker, and once took a spin in an F-18 with the Blue Angels. Her two daughters and a standard poodle named Peach are not-so-silent partners in the bookshop.

Erica Caldwell owned and operated a bookstore for eight years and has since worked at several bookstores throughout Western New York, including her current position as buyer at Author’s Note in Medina, NY. She holds a BS in Creative Writing with a minor in Biology. Her poetry and creative nonfiction have previously appeared in The Dire Elegies: 59 Poets on Endangered Species of North America and War, Literature, and the Arts. Her submitted manuscript is a work of historical eco-fiction.

Daniel Isaiah Elder is the recipient of an Emerging LGBTQ Writer Fellowship from Lambda Literary, as well as an Art/Lab Fellowship for Jewish artists. His essays and short fiction have appeared in The Rumpus, Catapult, X-Ray Literary, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, and many more literary journals and magazines. He lives in Portland, Oregon, with his partner and their blended family of three children. He’s proud to be a bookseller at Annie Bloom’s Books, a small independent bookstore soon celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Nicole Yackley is a poet, bookseller, and artist from GA. Her work has been published in Belletrist Magazine and Sixfold Magazine, among others. A series of her poems were set to music by Mikeila McQueston and performed as a chamber piece for the 2019 Nief-Norf festival. The piece won the Constantinides New Music Ensemble Call for Scores prize, was performed at Carnegie Hall in 2022, and was later a finalist for The American Prize in Composition—vocal chamber music (college/university division), 2023. She has a BA in English from UGA and an MFA in Poetry from UTK where she studied under Joy Harjo. Her poetry can be found at nicoleyackley.com.

Amanda R. Toronto is the children’s buyer at WORD Bookstores in Brooklyn, NY, and Jersey City, NJ. She is a former buyer and manager at the Shakespeare & Co. bookstores in New York City. Amanda serves on the board of NAIBA and holds a PhD in English and American Literature from New York University. She lives in New York City with her husband and children. Her manuscript is a work of literary fiction.

The finalists were:

Adrianne Berlage, Barnes & Noble, Washington
Jane Estes, Lark and Owl Booksellers, Texas
Pamela Huber, Fireside Books, Arkansas
Richard Hunt, Roebling Books & Coffee, Kentucky
Gina Marks, Book + Bottle, Florida
Derek McCormack, The Provincetown Bookshop, Massachusetts
Nicole NfonoyimHara, Griot Arts, Minnesota
Timothy Otte, Wild Rumpus Books, Minnesota
Shebati, Sengupta, Wellesley Books, Massachusetts
Cristina Siqueira, Lions Tooth LLC, Wisconsin
Sierra Smith, Too Fond of Books, Oklahoma
Amy Stephenson, The Booksmith, New York
Joan Trygg, Red Balloon Bookshop, Minnesota
Sarah Wager, Oregon Books and Games, Oregon

Spotlight

Demo-Graphics: Tabletop Game Worldwide Edition – September Rebounds with Nearly 5 million more

Posted on September 30, 2026 by Brett

Demo-Graphics has generally focused on the demographics of comic fans but occasionally we have also reported on other fandoms and communities. In August 2025, we kicked off a new regular look at those interested in tabletop games. That includes board games, roleplaying games, and card games. Why? The question still remains… who are the fans of tabletop games?

What is Demo-Graphics?

Each month I dive into data from Facebook looking at the various demographics it can tell us about comic, and now tabletop game, fans. This isn’t hard numbers, purchasers, or “Wednesday warriors,” but best used to show trends in the industry and the potential of the market out there.

How does it work?

We use key terms, “likes”, that users have indicated and have come up with our own set to measure each month. There’s over 50 terms used (and no I won’t release them). We stick to specific terms for the industry such as “board games” and “collectible card games” as well as publishers and leave out broad terms.

Other things to know…

This data is important in that it shows who the potential audience could be. These are not purchasers, these are people who have shown an affinity for tabletop games, are potential purchasers, and those with a clear interest.

Also, with this being online/technology, due to laws and restrictions, those under the age of 13 are underrepresented.

The data that is presented as a wide range. I’ve taken the average of the range. So, if it’s presented as somewhere between 500 and 1,000 people, the number would be 750.

So, let’s kick off the first entry with the big question…

Facebook “Tabletop Gamer” Population: Around 605.15 million worldwide

Last month, “tabletop gamers” decreased from the previous month by 4.8 million. Facebook during that time period shed 7.2 million accounts. This month sees a nice rebound with “tabletop games” increasing by 4.35 million while Facebook decreased 14.8 million.

Gender

Men saw an increase for percent of the population over the past month coming in at 56.81% compared to last month’s 56.18%. Women decreased to 41.42% from 42.02% and those that don’t report either decreased to 1.77% from 1.81%.

Age

Nearly every age segment saw increases from the previous month. Those age “30-34” and “50-54” both saw decreases. Overall, the percentages shifted very little, tenths of a percent.

Worldwide age breakdown for tabletop games in September 2026

Relationship Status

Reporting of this data is on hold. There is an error in reporting where some segments report less than 1,000 people when it should be more. We’ll keep track of the data and start the reporting again when this technical issue is corrected.

More Stats!

Spanish Speakers: 98.15 million are reported as speaking Spanish, and decrease of 1.3 million from September.

Education: 118.25 million have at least a college degree, that’s a slight increase of 50,000 from the previous month.

Parents: 110.05 million, 18.19%, are parents! That’s an increase of 2.35 million from the previous month.

And finally, what’s the crossover with fans of board games and video games?

Comic Book fans: 358.6 million (59.26%)
Video Game fans: 363.8 million (60.12%)
Comic Book and Video Game fans: 228.5 million (37.76%)
Comic Book or Video Game fans: 505.4 million (83.52%)

Exclusive: Dracula: Book IV – The Undead from Matt Wagner and Kelley Jones Launches this Thursday (Corrected)

Posted on September 30, 2026 by Graphic Policy Team

Bram Stoker’s classic 1897 novel of gothic horror created the most famous literary character of all time: the terrifying vampire lord, Dracula. Now acclaimed comic-book creators Matt Wagner and Kelley Jones are reuniting for the fourth and final chapter in their epic series of original graphic novels about the shadowy history of the world’s most famous literary character with Dracula: Book IV – The Undead. The project launches this Thursday, October 1, on Kickstarter at 9AM PT/Noon ET.

Bram Stoker’s classic 1897 book is one of the most revered icons of the horror genre, and throughout the first three volumes of their smash hit series, Wagner and Jones have stayed true to Stoker’s original canon while also providing an all-new and terrifying look at Dracula’s history and his nefarious actions that take place just off-stage in the novel’s chain of events. But, curiously…the novel’s climax has always left many fans with an unsettled feeling—as if perhaps the infamous vampire lord wasn’t actually destroyed by his enemies…

The first three volumes of Wagner and Jones’s Dracula saga were smash hits—Book 1 broke the Top 20 in Kickstarter’s all-time most successful graphic novel campaigns—and this ultimate chapter promises to be even bigger, with 122 pages of spine-chilling story and art. Wagner and Jones are once again joined for this macabre foray into the shadows of Dracula’s sinister schemes by the stellar talents of José Villarrubia on colors and lettering by Rob Leigh. The Kickstarter campaign will be the only source for these beautiful, European-album sized hardcover editions of this book as well as many exceptional rewards tiers.

See what David Dastmalchian, Eric Powell, and Keith Rosson have to say about the project and sign up so you don’t miss out when it launches Thursday!

Dracula: Book IV – The Undead will be funded via Kickstarter. Dracula—Book I: The Impaler and Dracula—Book II: The Brides are available now from Dark Horse Comics as paperbacks. The third volume, Dracula—Book III: The Count, will be published by Dark Horse on October 20, 2026.