PRH UK pledges £15k to Knights Of bookshop

Penguin Random House UK has pledged £15,000 to the #ReadTheOnePercent Bookshop crowdfunding campaign, launched by Knights Of.

PRH will match all donations made to the crowdfunding campaign from today (19th December), up to a total of £15,000, to incentivise people to continue to donate and help Knights Of reach and exceed its target of £30,000.

Knights Of is crowdfunding to open a permanent #ReadTheOnePercent bookshop in Brixton, as well as a travelling shop, which will tour festivals and events in the UK and Ireland. The #ReadTheOnePercent tagline references a recent CLPE report that said only 1% of children’s books published in 2017 featured a BAME main character, and only 4% featured a BAME character at all.

Knights Of founders Aimée Felone and David Stevens first launched a pop-up bookshop in Brixton in October, selling 550 books over five days, and are running the pop-up for a second time from now until 23rd December.

Brand and communications director at Penguin Random House Rebecca Sinclair said the campaign plays a critical role in highlighting the need for books that are truly representative. She said: “It’s a brilliant initiative that captured the attention of many of us at Penguin Random House so we are thrilled to make this donation which we hope will help the bookshop smash its target and achieve its ambitions.” 

Felone said: "We are delighted to have Penguin Random House match-funding our crowdfund! The #ReadtheOnePercent campaign has far surpassed our expectations and has highlighted demand for a permanent kids bookshop. Having this support of means we’re not only extending our reach towards a community that has expressed a desire for inclusive books but ensures inclusive representation in books reaching across the UK and Ireland."

The crowdfunding campaign has currently raised more than £16,000 from 300 supporters, including authors Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Lauren St Johnb and Harriet Reuter Hapgood, and PRH Children’s m.d. Francesca Dow.