Booksellers Association reveals initial plans for Bookshop Day

The Booksellers Association (BA) has revealed the initial plans for Bookshop Day, the annual celebration of all high-street bookshops in the UK, set to take place on 12th October 2024.

This year’s theme is “Bookshops Making a Difference” and celebrations will include a spotlight on Glasgow, an exclusive video featuring authors, a limited-edition bag designed by Angela Harding and author events.

The goal of Bookshop Day is to remind customers to choose bookshops, encouraging them to begin their Christmas book-shopping on their high street. This year, around 1,000 bookshops are set to take part.

The 2024 Books Are My Bag limited-edition bag by Angela Harding will be available exclusively from bookshops from 12th October.

Meanwhile, the day will spotlight Glasgow and its bookshops, and local artists Jacqueline Briggs and Jack Stamp will work with the creative agency Jack Arts on two murals with city-centre sites on St Enoch Square and Blythewood Street.

To mark Bookshop Day, the BA will post a video of authors on 9th October. This year, the artwork for the Bookshop Day campaign has been commissioned from illustrator and picture book author Sophy Henn.

Emma Bradshaw, head of campaigns at the BA, said: “This Bookshop Day we’re highlighting the difference that bookshops make to our local areas all year round. They are hugely valuable as retail spaces and, additionally, many bookshops are running programmes to improve literacy, wellbeing and the cultural landscape of our communities. We want to remind consumers of the value of their local bookshops, and to choose to do their Christmas shopping with them."