Broadfoot made Booksellers Association president

Hazel Broadfoot, owner of Village Books in Dulwich, has been named the new president of the Booksellers Association (BA).

She takes over from outgoing president Andy Rossiter, who has stepped down after serving his two-year term.

Broadfoot, who has been vice-president for the BA since 2020, will be supported in her new role by Debbie James of Kibworth Books, who has been announced as new vice-president. Fleur Sinclair of Sevenoaks Books continues in the role of vice-president alongside James.

“We are delighted to announce Hazel Broadfoot as the BA’s new president," said Meryl Halls, m.d. of the BA. "An experienced bookseller and dedicated advocate for bookshops, we could not have chosen a better candidate to take over from Andy Rossiter, who has tirelessly helped the BA and its members through such a challenging period. We know that Hazel will continue this important work as we all begin to look ahead to a post-pandemic world.

“We are also very pleased to have Debbie James join us as vice-president, working alongside Fleur Sinclair to support Hazel as she begins her term as president and to champion all our members and the wider high street.”

Broadfoot said: "It is a great privilege to be elected as president of the BA. The book industry has emerged from the pandemic in vigorous health, in no small part due to the adroitness, creativity and passion of booksellers in continuing to connect readers with books. Andy Rossiter has done a fantastic job as president, working incredibly hard with the team at the BA to help physical bookshops not only to survive, but to flourish. 

"I am so excited to work with the team at the BA to help this brilliant band of booksellers on the next steps. Priorities will include the expansion of our skills and training resources to foster ever-increasing professionalism, active projects to stimulate broader diversity in our numbers, and continuing to strengthen relationships between booksellers, publishers and writers. (I also have a personal passion to communicate more widely the extraordinary good value for money that physical books represent). With the number of physical bookshops firmly on the rise, it’s a very exciting time to be a bookseller, and I’m thrilled to follow in the footsteps of so many of my personal bookselling heroes.”