Margolyes, Armitage and Oyemakinde to headline 2023 Bookshop Day events as full line-up announced

Miriam Margolyes, Richard Armitage and Tomi Oyemakinde will be among the authors headlining events at this year’s Bookshop Day taking place on Saturday 14th October.

Tom Fletcher, Anna James, Linton Kwesi Johnson and Robin Stevens will also be taking part. 

This Bookshop Day will spotlight Manchester and its bookshops. Local artists Danielle Rhoda and Maisy Summer will work with Jack Arts on two murals with sites on Shudehill and Church Street in the city centre.

A number of bookshops will be opening new branches or moving their premises around the time of Bookshop Day. Waterstones branches in Birmingham, Edinburgh and Craigavon, Northern Ireland, will be opening in October. Meanwhile, Harris & Harris in Suffolk is moving to its new premises around Bookshop Day.

Drop City Books in Stoke on Trent will also open in October, as will Sherlock and Pages in Frome, Somerset, Caper in Oxford and LOS in a Book in Leigh on Sea.

Other bookshops that opened in the summer will be celebrating their fist Bookshop Day. These include The Book Circle in Selby, North Yorkshire and Melanin Magic in West Norwood, London, having both opened in July, as well as Gay on Wye in Hay on Wye, which opened in August.

Author events and activities will be taking place on Bookshop Day across the UK, including in Waterstones Liverpool, which will host a book signing with Margolyes on her new book Oh Miriam! (John Murray Press) and an interactive Isadora Moon (Oxford University Press) story time for children. Meanwhile, authors Fiona Erskine, Matson Taylor, Lisette Auton, Andy Ruffell and others will act as guest booksellers at DRAKE The Bookshop in Stockton on Tees.

House of Books & Friends in Manchester will hold a one-day in-store residency for local authors like Andy Spinoza. The authors will be showing how they write and signing stock, while members of the public will be able to ask questions.

The West Kirby Bookshop in Wirral will be partnering with independent publisher Daunt Books to offer "three for the price of two" on all Daunt Books Publishing titles, as well as giveaways, competitions and refreshments, and a store-wide 10% discount on all other books. Moreover in Waterstones Nottingham, Charlotte Lydia Riley will discuss her new book Imperial Island (Bodley Head), while Dark Peak Books & Gifts in Glossop, Derbyshire, will host a book signing to celebrate the launch of Lamb by Matt Hill (Dead Ink).

In the south of England, Waterstones Crawley will host author Oyemakinde, who will be in store signing copies of his debut YA horror novel, The Changing Man (Macmillan Children’s Books), and Waterstones Bluewater will be celebrating the publication of actor Armitage’s debut thriller Geneva (Faber).

Waterstones Piccadilly will host Fletcher and children will get the opportunity to talk to the author about A Christmasaurus Carol (Puffin). Various other events will be held in Waterstones stores across the south, including in Swindon, Exeter and Canterbury.

Owl and Pyramid Bookshop in Seaton will host Tim Kendall and Fiona Mathews, whose book Black Ops and Beaver Bombing (Oneworld) was shortlisted for this year’s Wainwright prize. Children’s Bookshop in Muswell Hill, north London, will hold an event with children’s author A F Steadman, and Red Lion Books in Colchester, Essex, will be hosting a night of Murdle (Profile), which consists of a two-course supper and an introduction to the game Murdle.

In Scotland, The Orcadian Bookshop in Orkney will hold a book signing for Allyson Shaw and Waterstones Stirling will be holding a book signing with Donna Ashworth for her new poetry collection Wild Hope (Black & White Publishing).

Meanwhile, in Wales, Book-ish in Crickhowell will host Karin Celestine and Waterstones Swansea will be joined by James Norbury who will be signing copies his books.

Libro.fm, the audiobook retailer and app that shares profits with local bookshops, will run a special membership offer, giving a free audiobook to customers when they start a new membership. They’re also running an audiobook sale from 2nd to 15th October.

Emma Bradshaw, head of campaigns at the Booksellers Association commented: “It’s wonderful to see such a full line-up for this year’s Bookshop Day. We’re looking forward to celebrating on Saturday 14th October and can’t wait to see the buzz around the country.

"Thanks to the hard work of hundreds of brilliant booksellers, Bookshop Day is the perfect opportunity to get personalised recommendations from booksellers, the experts in the field, and start your Christmas shopping early, bagging one (or two!) new releases at the time when the biggest books of the year are published.”