Henry, O'Farrell and Shamsie to feature in bespoke Bookshop Day video

A video campaign featuring authors including Sir Lenny Henry, Maggie O’Farrell and Kamila Shamsie discussing why they support bookshops are among the initial plans the Booksellers Association (BA) has announced for Bookshop Day.

The annual event, which will take place Saturday 8th October, celebrates bookshops nationwide, and sees a host of author events and social media campaigns contributing to the event, with the spotlight on Cardiff and its illustrators this year.

The video, which also features authors including Juno Dawson, Dapo Adeola, Tom Read Wilson, Robin Ince and Salena Godden, as well as bookshop customers, will be shared across social media. The video will be released from the Books Are My Bag social media channels (@booksaremybag) ahead of Bookshop Day, on Wednesday 5th October at noon.

Meanwhile, author events taking place at literary festivals across the UK on Bookshop Day include Shamsie appearing at Manchester Literature Festival, with copies of her new book provided by Waterstones Manchester. She will be in conversation with broadcaster and BBC presenter Razia Iqbal.

Ian McEwan, Mary Berry, Tom Read Wilson, Susie Dent, Damon Galgut, Katy Hessel, Joseph Coelho, Oliver Jeffers, Louie Stowell and many more will be doing author events at Cheltenham Literature Festival on the same day, with books provided by Waterstones Cheltenham.

Meanwhile, Ruth Jones, Simon Mayo, Jennifer Saint, Elodie Harper, Natasha Carthew, Michael Schmidt and others will be doing in-person and virtual events as part of Ilkley Literature Festival with books provided by The Grove Bookshop in Ilkley.

Kit de Waal, Lenny Henry, Katherine Rundell, Melvyn Bragg, P P Arnold, Manjeet Mann and Amanda Quartey are among those who will be doing in-person and live-streamed events on the Saturday at Henley Literary Festival, with books provided by The Bell Bookshop (Henley-on-Thames). 

Award-winning illustrator Jackie Morris is the creator of this year’s Books Are My Bag limited-edition bag, which will be available exclusively in bookshops from Bookshop Day. She joins Dapo Adeola, Charlie Mackesy, Sir Peter Blake, Tracey Emin and Orla Kiely, who have designed previous editions of the bag.

Bookshop Day will be shining a spotlight on Cardiff and its bookshops this year. Starting from Monday 3rd October, local artists Jack Skivens and Sophie Potter will be creating special artworks in the streets of Cardiff. Skivens will be painting a mural on the six-row billboard space on Caroline Street in the city centre.
Bookshop.org will once again be offering free shipping on all purchases made through its website on Bookshop Day.

Bespoke point-of-sale kits will be made available to bookshops, featuring a number of exclusive items provided by publishers. This includes a brightly-coloured A6 notebook featuring the front cover of Best of Friends by Shamsie, sponsored by Bloomsbury, A5 prints of Bibliomaniac by Robin Ince sponsored by Atlantic and You Need to Chill by Juno Dawson and Laura Hughes prints, sponsored by HarperCollins.

Mike Sansbury, manager of The Grove Bookshop, said: “I’ve been running bookstalls at the Ilkley Literature Festival for 12 years, although the shop became official festival booksellers around 2002. The shop is full to bursting with customers and we end up with lots of signed books. All in all, it means that our Christmas sales period is kick-started a month early. It’s a frenetic, exhilarating fortnight which excites and exhausts us in equal measure, but this year we will have our first full festival after two Covid-affected years, and we can’t wait!”

Emma Bradshaw, head of campaigns at the BA, commented: “There are so many fantastic new titles publishing this autumn. Whether you’re a dedicated reader or someone who picks up a book less frequently, there’s something exciting and engaging to be found for everyone in your local bookshop this Bookshop Day and beyond. Bookshop Day signals the start of the Christmas shopping period, and we hope that this year people will get started early and also think about spreading the cost across the months preceding 25th December. Your knowledgeable local bookseller will be able to help you with recommendations, and every purchase you make on your high street helps support local jobs and the economy.

"At a time when we’re all considering more carefully how we spend our money we want to remind shoppers of the value of books: they are gifts you can open again and again; they can educate, entertain and delight; and if you visit your local bookshop on Saturday 8th October you might be able to get your hands on a signed, or maybe even a dedicated copy. The perfect gift to find under the tree."

Details of Bookshop Day events taking place across the country can be found on the Books are My Bag website.