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Dorothy Koomson, Rebecca Solnit and Emma Stonex will headline a ferociously busy Independent Bookshop Week (IBW) in June which will include, among numerous highlights, Welbeck co-founder Marcus Leaver touring 60 bookshops with an exclusive edition of his own new book.
The event, which runs from 18th to 25th June and is sponsored by Hachette, promotes independent bookshops across the UK and Ireland. Almost 700 bookshops will be participating in a packed schedule of literary events encompassing the inaugural Brighton Book Festival, themed podcast recordings, poetry showcases, nationwide bookshop crawls, bespoke window displays and local school events.
Koomson will participate in the first Brighton Book Festival, which runs from 24th-26th June and which is organised by Afrori Books and The Feminist Bookshop. She will join Guvna’B, Yvonne Bailey Smith, Leroy Logan, Sabba Khan and Alison Rumfitt in discussions covering the myth of the mainstream, masculinities, feminist futures, queer books in Brighton and British culture in books. There will also be a variety of workshops focusing on adapting books to film, pitching novels and developing soundtracks for books.
On 24th June, Solnit will be visiting Edinburgh’s Assembly Rooms to discuss her two latest books, Orwell’s Roses and Recollections of My Non-Existence (Granta), with journalist and author Chitra Ramaswamy.
Stonex will appear in conversation with fellow author Laura Shepherd-Robinson as part of a series of events at The Bookery in Crediton. Other events at the Devon-based indie include Patrick Gale and award-winning singer-songwriter Jim Causley chatting about Gale’s latest novel, Mother’s Boy (Tinder Press), and an "illustrators clinic" with Sarah McIntyre. Among other bookshops stepping up for IBW, Edinburgh’s Portobello Bookshop will be hosting a session with children’s author and illustrator Eilidh Muldoon on the afternoon of 20th June.
Leaver, Welbeck co-founder and author of A Little Book About Books (Orange Hippo), will visit 60 stores throughout Independent Bookshop Week, with his own title available exclusively from independent bookshops until September.
Previously announced participating writers include crime author Richard Coles and poet Hollie McNish. Coles will go on a book tour and McNish will pen an exclusive poem for the week.
And the Summer Bookshop Crawl organisation will be setting up crawls between 17th and 19th June in Belfast, Bristol, Edinburgh, Falmouth, Hastings, Leicester, Newcastle, Norwich, Sheffield and Stratford-upon-Avon.
As well as in-person events, IBW celebrations will feature online activity including a book club with Simon Savidge and Melanie Sykes on YouTube, and a recording at Round Table Books of podcast Down the Rabbit Hole with The Bookseller’s children’s editor Caroline Carpenter, plus Hannah Love, Charlie Morris and Sam Sedgman.
Confirmed activity for the "indie twinning" element of the week, where a publisher and bookshop partner for events, includes Norwich’s The Book Hive with independent publisher And Other Stories to mark the publication of The Visitors by Jessi Jezewska Stevens.
The IBW children’s bag will feature the mouse and the lion from the award-winning picture book The Lion Inside by Rachel Bright and Jim Field (Hachette Children’s Group). The bag will be part of the Independent Bookshop Week point of sale kits and available exclusively from indie bookshops during IBW.
Among other indie bookshop exclusives will be a signed edition of The Whalebone Theatre (Fig Tree), a debut by Joanna Quinn publishing on 9th June. The exclusive edition will feature blue sprayed edges and foil on the cover.
Emma Bradshaw, head of campaigns at the BA, said: “We can’t wait to celebrate Independent Bookshop Week with indie booksellers and book-lovers across the country. From author events to school initiatives, and from podcast recordings to their own literary festivals, independent booksellers are proving ever full of creativity and dedication, not only as they curate a special week-long line-up of activities but also in their everyday work as pillars of their high streets and local communities. We invite everyone to join us as we celebrate the brilliance of independent booksellers during and beyond Independent Bookshop Week.”
The full programme can be viewed here.