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O'Farrell, Joseph and Coles unveiled as ambassadors of Independent Bookshop Week
The Booksellers Association (BA) has unveiled the initial plans for Independent Bookshop Week (IBW), with authors Maggie O’Farrell, Paterson Joseph, and Reverend Richard Coles confirmed as ambassadors.
The annual celebration of independent bookshops across the UK and Ireland, now in its fifth year, will take place between 17th and 24th June 2023, with Hachette UK as the headline sponsor. O’Farrell, Joseph and Coles will be appearing at bookshop events across the country, with more details and venues to be revealed at a later date.
More than 700 independent bookshops are confirmed to take part, the highest number to date. The aim is to celebrate independent booksellers and their shops, highlighting the role they play in their local communities and high streets.
Independent Bookshop Week children’s bag will feature Cressida Cowell’s How to Train Your Dragon (Hodder Children’s Books) artwork this year, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the popular children’s book series.
Another early initiative for IBW 2023 will involve local artists working with independent bookshops to create bespoke window art for Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club (Penguin) books, with the windows going live from 12th June.
Reverend Richard Coles will be also be doing selected indie bookshop events during IBW and will be signing stock in the shops. A special indie bookshop edition of his new novel A Death in the Parish (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) will be available exclusively from indies.
Bookshop Crawl UK will be organising an Oxford Bookshop Crawl on Saturday 24th June, an afternoon exploring Oxford and its bookshops. Independent bookshop The Bookery (Crediton) will also be celebrating its 10th anniversary with a host of events, activities and workshops, including with patrons Michael Morpurgo, Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre. It will also be officially opening its bookshop extension during IBW.
To support the campaign, Dean Atta, poet and author of The Black Flamingo (Hodder Children’s Books), has created a bespoke Independent Bookshop Week poem, titled Thank You to the Independent Booksellers. The poem will be shared on social media at 6 p.m. on Wednesday 21st June.
