Row as Barnes Children's Literature Festival chooses Waterstones as official bookseller

An indie bookshop which was the official bookseller of the Barnes Children’s Literature Festival has been replaced by organisers in favour of Waterstones.

The Barnes Bookshop has been a part of the annual event since it started in 2015 and says it has helped to develop the festival.

But its owner Venetia Vyvyan said she was shocked that a deal had been signed for Waterstones to supply books for this year’s six-day festival.

She said no criticism had been made of the bookshop‚Äôs services or operation at previous events, but she was told the high street chain bookshop had "made an offer that couldn‚Äôt be refused". Waterstones says the chain was approached by the festival organisers to take part and had agreed “in good faith”.

Vyvyan told The Bookseller: "It is disappointing that a national chain has been allowed to use its financial muscle to take over a successful local project."

Organisers of the volunteer-run festival say the indie was invited to sell books at some of its events and venues but had turned them down.

Vyvyan said: "We are more than happy to be involved in publicising the festival but we are unable to subsidise the selling of tickets as we did in previous years when we were the festival booksellers.”

She added: "We are fantastically lucky to have legions of loyal customers and we are confident that they will continue to take advantage of the specialist and knowledgeable service we are able to offer."

Larissa Prockter, events team manager for Waterstones, said: "We are very sorry to hear that The Barnes Bookshop feels that Waterstones interrupted an existing local partnership; this was never our intention. Barnes Children’s Literature Festival approached us about the possibility to partner as the festival bookseller and we accepted in good faith. We look forward very much to working with the festival."

The festival takes place in June this year, promising a special celebration of children’s writer and illustrator Judith Kerr among other events.

Festival director Amanda Brettargh said: "Waterstones provides book sales for 65 festivals around the UK including almost all the other top tier events such as Cheltenham and Bath. At other festivals, where there is already a good independent bookseller in place like Barnes, Waterstones has provided the opportunity for them to sell books at certain venues, events or at different parts of the festival and this collaborative arrangement has been offered to Barnes Bookshop but, sadly, they have declined."

She added: "Our new arrangement with Waterstones will provide important income for the festival allowing us to expand our Primary Schools Programme to four days from Tuesday 9th June, providing free places for more than 6,000 children this year. In addition, Waterstones will offer promotion of the festival in local branches, online, and as part of their extensive London and national communications which reach thousands of book lovers, attracting a new wider audience to the festival, increasing ticket sales and benefiting every shop and business in Barnes, including the bookshop.

"Since we started in 2015, we have very much appreciated the support of the Barnes Bookshop team, first with Isla Dawes who was the then owner of Barnes, Sheen and Kew Bookshops, then afterwards when Venetia Vyvyan took over Barnes Bookshop for our 2017 festival. We're greatly saddened that they have chosen not to be part of the festival this year and had hoped we could continue a relationship with them. But we hope that this new relationship with Waterstones will help us reach more children and young people with the power of live literature than ever before, as well as positioning Barnes as a destination for families and book fans from all over London, and beyond."