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Kate Mosse, Shirley Ballas and Paul Sinha to take part in Independent Bookshop Week celebrations
The Booksellers Association (BA) has announced new additions to the line-up for Independent Bookshop Week 2024 (IBW), with Kate Mosse, Robin Stevens, Shirley Ballas and Paul Sinha among the authors taking part in the celebrations.
With IBW taking place between 15th and 22nd June, Hachette UK will return this year as the headline sponsor. Over 700 independent bookshops have been confirmed to take part across the country.
Pigeon Books in Portsmouth will welcome author and Women’s Prize co-founder Mosse, who will work in the shop as a guest bookseller on Saturday 22nd June. Meanwhile, Stevens will be leading school events at Linghams in Heswall on Wednesday 19th June. Chiltern Bookshops in Chorleywood and Gerrards Cross will host an evening with ballroom dancer, "Strictly Come Dancing" judge and author Ballas on Monday 17th June, and an event with travel writer Hilary Bradt on Tuesday 18th June.
Moreover, Booka Bookshop in Oswestry will hold a number of events during the week, with authors including Wyl Menmuir, Joanne Burn and Sinha. An evening with Kevin Kwan, the author of Crazy Rich Asians (Corvus), will also be held at Toppings in Bath on Thursday 20th June. In addition, Afrori Books and The Feminist Bookshop in Brighton will run the Brighton Book Festival from Tuesday 18th to Sunday 23rd June, featuring a line-up of 20 events across the city.
Indie Twinning will also return for a fifth year, with independent publishers and bookshops teaming up to develop offers, exclusives, social media take-overs and bespoke bookshop windows. In addition, launching this year, the Big Book Club strand of IBW will see over 200 people attending book club evenings in indie bookshops across the UK and Ireland on Wednesday 19th June, with participating bookshops including the Booka Bookshops in Bridgnorth and Oswestry, Goldfinch Books in Alton, and Birmingham’s The Heath Bookshop.
High Five for Bookshops, the national giveaway from National Book Tokens, will also take place for a sixth year, enabling bookshops to reward loyal local customers. Shops participating in Independent Bookshop Week will each receive 100 vouchers with unique codes, which customers can use to claim a £5 or €5 National Book Tokens e-gift card to spend in-store.
Bookshop.org will again offer free shipping on any purchases made on the website between Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd June, while the audiobook platform Libro.fm will give bookshops and their customers free audiobooks by IBW ambassadors, among other offers.
“We are delighted to see such a variety and quantity of activities and events taking place in bookshops, and at partner venues, this Independent Bookshop Week," said Emma Bradshaw, head of campaigns at the BA. "That so many bookshops are working with other local businesses to create entertaining line-ups for customers, across all demographics and interests, just shows how much value they bring to their communities."
