Indie bookshop 'completely overwhelmed' by £5k donation from Russell Crowe

Booksellers at Bookbugs and Dragon Tales in Norwich have been left "reeling" after actor Russell Crowe donated £5,000 to their crowdfunding campaign.

Dan and Leanne Fridd launched the crowdfunder on 6th October, hoping to raise £15,000 to contribute towards rent and bills, and to pay an extra member of staff. 

"We stopped looking at the crowdfunder because it was getting bit obsessive and we were so overwhelmed by everyone’s kind words and support," Leanne Fridd told The Bookseller. "And then we checked it again and saw it had gone up by £5,000 — and we checked the donor name and it was Russell Ira Crowe. I Googled his name and Ira is his middle name. And I thought ’it would be a very expensive hoax if it wasn’t him’."

The tweet announcing the crowdfunder had been shared by a mutual friend when the appeal launched, and within hours of it being set up, Crowe had donated.

"It’s so weird to think he read something we wrote and looked at photos of our shop and thought we were worth investing in. It’s incredibly humbling, but we feel like that about everyone — Crowe has just raised the profile so we’ve managed to have a wider reach."

The crowdfunding campaign reached its target within 48 hours, and the numbers keep climbing. Fridd now has time to apply for grants and to organise deliveries of books to children living further away from Norwich city centre, and to work on improving disability access. 

"I feel like I can breathe for the first time since Covid," Fridd added. "It’s been completely overwhelming, I’m still reeling a bit — I can’t believe the support we’ve had."