Initial plans for Bookshop Day – the annual celebration of bookshops big and small taking place across the UK and Ireland on Saturday 8 October – have today been revealed, including bookshops collaborating with literary festivals, a spotlight on Cardiff and its bookshops, a special video in support of bookshops, free shipping from Bookshop.org, and much more.
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L-R: Illustrator Sophie Potter (credit Alex Sedgmond), Rosie Smith from Shelf Life Books and Zines in Cardiff, artist and illustrator Jackie Morris (credit Elly Lucas)
This year’s Bookshop Day promises to be as jam-packed as ever. This year’s Limited-Edition Bag designed by Jackie Morris will be available exclusively from bookshops starting from Bookshop Day. A special video featuring Kamila Shamsie, Lenny Henry, Rev Richard Coles, Maggie O’Farrell and Juno Dawson, among others, will be shared across social media. Around the country, bookshops will be collaborating with their local literary festivals, including Cheltenham Literature Festival, Manchester Literature Festival, Henley Literary Festival. There will be murals depicting bookshops, created by local artists, popping up around Cardiff, as well as events taking place in-store across the country.
At the busiest time of the year for book sales, and with another great autumn ahead for new book releases, Bookshop Day reminds customers that there has never been a better time to shop at their local bookshop. With Bookshop Day falling exactly eleven weeks before Christmas Eve, book-lovers are encouraged to start thinking about their Christmas shopping early, and to make it sustainable by spreading it across the months of October, November and December.
BOOKSHOP AND LITERARY FESTIVALS
Around Bookshop Day, a number of bookshops will be collaborating with their local literary festivals, working closely with festival organisers and individual publishers to provide copies of books by speakers , cover multiple festival venues, and organise distribution of author-signed copies.
Author events taking place at literary festival across the UK on Bookshop Day include:
Kamila Shamsie, winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2018 and author of the new novel Best of Friends, will appear at Manchester Literature Festival on Saturday 8 October, with books provided by Waterstones Manchester. She will be in conversation with broadcaster and BBC presenter Razia Iqbal. More info here.
Ian McEwan, Mary Berry, Tom Read Wilson, Susie Dent, Damon Galgut, Katy Hessel, Joseph Coelho, Oliver Jeffers, Louie Stowell and many more will be doing author events at Cheltenham Literature Festival on Saturday 8 October, with books provided by Waterstones Cheltenham. More info here.
Ruth Jones, Simon Mayo, Jennifer Saint, Elodie Harper, Natasha Carthew, Michael Schmidt and more will be doing in-person and virtual events as part of Ilkley Literature Festival on Saturday 8 October, with books provided by The Grove Bookshop (Ilkley), one of the North’s most well-known independent bookshops. More info here.
Kit de Waal, Lenny Harry, Katherine Rundell, Melvyn Bragg, P.P Arnold, Manjeet Mann, Amanda Quartey and more will be doing in-person and live-streamed events on Saturday 8 October at Henley Literary Festival, with books provided by The Bell Bookshop (Henley-on-Thames). More info here.
CARDIFF CITY SPOTLIGHT
Following the success of activity in Bristol (2020) and Edinburgh (2021), Bookshop Day will be shining a spotlight on Cardiff and its bookshops this year. Starting from Monday 3 October, in the lead-up to Bookshop Day, local artists Jack Skivens and Sophie Potter will be creating special artworks in the streets of Cardiff.
Welsh illustrator Jack Skivens, who lives in and is inspired by Wales, enjoys illustrating everything from children’s books to punk band artwork. Jack will be painting a graffiti-like mural on the six-row billboard space on Caroline Street in the city centre.
Meanwhile, Wales-based artist and illustrator Sophie Potter combines digital and traditional techniques to create playful artworks in bold colour palettes. She will be decorating the drum on Cowbridge Road East, on the same street as and inspired by the activist independent bookshop Shelf Life Books and Zines.
Both murals will be ready in time for Bookshop Day and will be on display until Sunday 16 October, encouraging consumers to choose bookshops on Bookshop Day and beyond.
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LIMITED-EDITION BAG
Award-winning illustrator Jackie Morris is the creator of this year’s Books Are My Bag Limited-Edition Bag, which will be available exclusively in bookshops from Bookshop Day.
Jackie joins the likes of artists and illustrators such as Dapo Adeola, Charlie Mackesy, Sir Peter Blake, Tracey Emin and Orla Kiely, who have designed previous editions of the bag.
‘CHOOSE BOOKSHOPS’ VIDEO
To celebrate Bookshop Day, the Booksellers Association will be releasing a specially produced video in support of the campaign. The video features some of the UK’s most beloved authors including Kamila Shamsie, Lenny Henry, Rev Richard Coles, Maggie O’Farrell, Juno Dawson, Dapo Adeola, Tom Read Wilson, Robin Ince, Salena Godden among others, as well as bookshop customers, sharing the reasons why they choose to shop in bookshops.
The video will be released from the Books Are My Bag social media channels (@booksaremybag) ahead of Bookshop Day, on Wednesday 5 October at 12pm.
BOOKSHOP.ORG
Bookshop.org, the online bookstore on a mission to support independent bookshops and literary culture, will once again be offering free shipping on all purchases made through their website on Bookshop Day.
Bookshop.org encourages customers to shop at their local bookshop as much as possible, and offers a brilliant ethical alternative to anyone who wants to purchase their books online while supporting independent bookshops across the UK.
