Eighteen indies shortlisted for Pan Mac Innovation Award

Pan Macmillan has unveiled the regional shortlists for its Independent Bookshop Innovation Award, launched in February as part of Macmillan’s 175th anniversary celebrations.

Eighteen bookshops from across England, Scotland and Wales have been selected, and a winner from each region will be announced at the BA Conference on 10th September.

At stake for the competing booksellers in each region is £1,750 to launch a new, innovative project in their store, with projects focusing around community outreach or supporting new readers particularly encouraged.

The shortlisted shops, whose entries were selected for a combination of “innovation, passion, community spirit and a carefully laid out plan”, comprise: for northern England, Forum Books in Corbridge, Imagined Things in Harrogate and Plackitt & Booth in Lytham Saint Annes; for Scotland, Far From the Madding Crowd in Linlithgow, Golden Hare in Edinburgh and Mainstreet Trading Company in St Boswell’s; for Wales, West Midlands and the south-west, Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights in Bath, Hunting Raven Books in Frome and Crediton Community Bookshop; in central and eastern England, The Bookshop in Kibworth, Mostly Books in Abingdon, and Sheen Bookshop; in central London, Newham Bookshop, Pages of Hackney and Pickled Pepper Books in Crouch End; and, for the south-east, East Anglia & south London, Chicken and Frog in Brentwood, Moon Lane Ink in south London and Sevenoaks Bookshop.