Independent Bookshop Week 2019
- Indie bookshops host events and exclusives, with author tours, illustrated windows, prizes, exclusive book releases – and much more
- Patrick Gale, Victoria Hislop, Katherine Rundell, Ben Aaronovitch, Jo Brand, Libby Page, Catherine Bruton, Liz Fenwick among authors taking part in IBW 2019
- Oi IBW Children’s Bag design revealed
- Over 400 bookshops across the UK & Ireland to take part
London: Plans for Independent Bookshop Week 2019 (15-22 June) have been revealed, including author tours and special events, illustrated windows, limited edition and early book releases only in indies, prizes – and much more.
Celebrating independent bookshops, and their vital importance to communities across the country, Independent Bookshop Week (IBW) events will be taking places at bookshops across the UK and Ireland, with 442 bookshops taking part.
Authors touring indie bookshops during IBW include:
- Bestselling author PATRICK GALE will tour bookshops across the country to mark the paperback release of his startling coming-of-age novel of boyhood and the collision between desire and reality, Take Nothing With You; bookshops he’ll be visiting are Storysmith (Bristol), The Wellfield Bookshop (Cardiff) and Crediton Community Bookshop (Devon)
- KATHERINE RUNDELL will tour bookshops in celebration of her new book The Good Thieves, including Forum Books (Corbridge), Booka Bookshop (Shropshire), Mostly Books (Abingdon), and Winchester Writers’ Festival with P&G Wells; in addition, Rundell is releasing a powerful short essay for adult readers on the importance of children’s literature. Why You Should Read Children’s Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise, is a hardback gift book, exclusively available in independent bookshops.
- VICTORIA HISLOP will be doing events at Booka Bookshop (Shropshire) on 17th June, Griffin Books (Penarth) on 20th June, Bookish (Crickhowell) on 20th June, and Linghams (Crickhowell) on 21st June to mark the release of Those Who Are Loved.
- BEN AARONOVITCH is releasing an exclusive signed edition of October Man and doing a tour of indie bookshops for IBW, including: Linghams Booksellers (Wirral, Cheshire) from 7pm on 16th June, Lindum Books (Lincoln) from 7pm on 17th June, The Bakewell Bookshop (Bakewell, Derby) from 12:3-pm on 18th June, Kibworth Books (Kibworth Beauchamp) at 7:30pm on 18th June, Burway Books (Shropshire) from 1pm on 19th June, Book-ish (Crickhowell) at 7:30pm on 19th June, Mostly Books (Abingdon) at 12pm on 20th June, Bookseller Crow (Crystal Palace) on 20th June, Storysmith (Bristol) at 2:30pm on 21st June, and Winston’s Sidmouth (Devon) on 21st June.
- Debut author, RICHARD ROPER and bestselling author of The Lido, LIBBY PAGE will be touring bookshops together including Hunting Rave Books (Frome) at 7pm on 18th June and David’s Bookshop (Letchworth) at 7:30pm on 19th June
AUTHOR EVENTS
Jo Brand will be visiting City Books (Hove) at 7pm on 20th June to discuss her new book, Born Lippy; Yasmeen Ismail will be at Storysmith (Bristol) on 15th June; Catherine Bruton will launch No Ballet Shoes in Syria at Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights (Bath) on 20th June, to mark the coinciding of Independent Bookshop Week and Refugee Week; Shane Hegarty will be at the Gutter Bookshop (Dublin) on 19th June to talk about his brand new book for young readers, Boot; Lauren Ace and Jenny Lovlie (The Girls) are doing an event at Cover to Cover (Swansea) on 15th June; Joseph Coelho will be at Pickled Pepper Books (Crouch End, London) on 20th June.
Megan Hallett will be taking about her book The Happy Balance with recipe testing at BrOOK’s Bookshop (Harrow) from 6:30pm on 18th June; Mary-Ann Ochota will be doing a visual talk, Q&A and signing of Hidden Histories: A Spotter’s Guide to the British Landscape at Steyning Bookshop (West Sussex), followed by a guided walk at Chanctonbury Ring the following day; Catherine Doyle is doing school events with Nomad Books (Fulham) on 19th June and The Bookcase (Chiswick) on 20th June; Jim Whalley and Stephen Collins will be launching Baby’s First Jail Break at Read (Holmfirth) on 22 June; Sam Copeland and Sarah Horne will do an after-school book signing at Book Nook (Hove) on 18th June; and Kirsty Wark will be at Booka Bookshop (Oswestry) at 7:30pm on 18th June discussing her new book The House by the Loch.
The Great North Author Tour, a day of school events in Stockton and Middlesbrough organised by Drake – The Bookshop, followed by a bookshop crawl to Guisborough, Thirsk (White Rose Book Cafe), Ripon, Stockton (Drake) and Corbridge (Forum), will see a number of authors taking part, including: Kerry Drewery, Dan Smith, Gabrielle Kent, Em Lynas, Sally Nicholls, Chris Callaghan, Sarah Todd Taylor, Will Mabbitt, James Nicol, Vashti Hardy, Chloe Daykin, Simon Bartram, Lorraine Gregory.
ILLUSTRATED WINDOWS
A host of illustrators are creating special bookshop window displays to delight customers, including Sabina Radeva, illustrator of the new children’s edition of On the Origin of Species, who will illustrate the windows at Pickled Pepper Books (Crouch End, London); Sarah Horne, who will illustrate the windows at Book Nook (Hove); Emily Haworth-Booth, who will do a The King Who Banned the Dark window for Smallprint Books (Forest Hill, London); Emily Hughes, who will create a Charlie & Mouse window for Nomad Books (Fulham, London) on 20th June; Kristina Stephenson, who will illustrate the window at Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights (Bath) for Why Are There So Many Books About Bears? on 21 June; Guy Parker Rees, who will create an illustrated window of Giraffes Can’t Dance’s 20th Anniversary at Steyning Books on 22nd June.
INDIE EXCLUSIVES
To celebrate this year’s Independent Bookshop Week (IBW, 15-22 June 2019) and the publication of Oi Duck-billed Platypus! in paperback, award-winning Oi illustrator Jim Field has designed a playful IBW Children’s Bag, available exclusively in indie bookshops.
Inspired by the much-loved Oi Frog and Friends series (Hachette), the bestselling rhyming stories with laugh-out-loud illustrations, the IBW Children’s Bags feature Frog happily sitting on a book (and not on a log). The series is written by Kes Gray and illustrated by Jim Field.
The bags will be available exclusively from independent bookshops during the week of the campaign (15 – 22 June 2019), as part of the annual celebration of the role of indie bookshops across UK and Ireland.
Jim Field said: “Oi am very hoppy to have created this year’s Children’s Tote Bag. Independent booksellers have been great supporters of the Oi series. It’s fab to be part of IBW and give something back to these dedicated and passionate booksellers.”
Meanwhile, Faber is releasing early exclusive editions of Robert Hillman’s The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted, the Poetry Diary, and Liberty Poetry Diary 2020, only in indies. And Macmillan is releasing a mini poetry booklet, Poems to Keep in Your Pocket, featuring some classic poems from the Macmillan Collector’s Library, for indies to give away to customers, and is running a number of promotions, including special offers on Runaway Robot, various summer reads offers, and more.
BOOKSHOP HEROES AND BOOKSHOP CRAWLS
Throughout IBW, the Booksellers Association will be shining a light on the work that independent bookshops do for their communities and how vital they are to our high streets. The BA will be sharing bookshops’ stories; how each bookshop is unique, how booksellers became part of the bookselling world and tales from the shop floor. Bookshop stories from across the UK will be revealed on the @booksaremybag Instagram with the hashtag #BookshopHeroes.
Meanwhile, Liz Fenwick is doing a London Bookshop Crawl and Erica @BookshopBlogger will be doing an East Anglia bookshop crawl, with bookshops to be confirmed, with the hashtag #BookshopCrawl
Emma Bradshaw, Head of Campaigns at the Booksellers Association, said: “Independent Bookshop Week is all about book lovers coming together to celebrate the importance of indies on our high streets, and it’s deeply heartening to see so many authors and publishers showing their support.”
