Springboard ready for lift-off, as titles and schedule revealed

Books by Yaa Gyasi, Lisa Taddeo, Amanda Craig, Will Dean, Vaseem Khan, Stanley Tucci, Leone Ross, Kate Mosse, Bryony Gordon, Elle McNicoll, Dapo Adeola, and Rashmi Sirdeshpande will feature during the Springboard Conference, a joint initiative between The Bookseller and the Booksellers Association that kicks off next week.

Beginning on 1st March, the Zoom-based series of conversations about forthcoming titles will see The Bookseller's previewers engage with independent booksellers to highlight the key titles from the season as bookshops across the United Kingdom anticipate being able to open their doors to customers again from April.

The sessions, which take place at 4 p.m. each day, begin with Will Smith, from the Grasmere bookshop Sam Read Bookseller, in conversation with The Bookseller's Books editor and fiction previewer Alice O’Keeffe.

The week will close with a 4 p.m. session on Friday 5th March featuring authors Beth Morrey, Tim Glister, Gillian Harvey, Louise Mumford, Sophie Andersen, Claire Fuller, Davina Tijani and Matson Taylor who will reveal their 'odes to booksellers', as well as discuss the impact bookshops and booksellers have had on their lives and their books. The final session will be hosted by BA m.d. Meryl Halls and editor of The Bookseller Philip Jones.

A special Springboard supplement is to be published on 5th March featuring interviews with authors Julian Quinn, Peter Swanson, Alison Bechdel, Tim Marshall, and Faridah √Äbíké-√çyímídé among others. The full list of titles will be published at the end of the event.

Registration for the event is free.

Springboard schedule

• Monday 4 p.m. Will Smith, Sam Read Bookseller, with Alice O’Keeffe, Bookseller fiction previewer
• Tuesday 4 p.m. Steven Pryse, Pickled Pepper Books, with Fiona Noble/Charlotte Eyre, Bookseller children’s previewer/children’s editor
• Wednesday, 4 p.m. Marie Moser, The Edinburgh Bookshop, with Caroline Sanderson, Bookseller non-fiction previewer/associate editor
• Thursday 4 p.m. Uli Lenart, Gay’s The Word, with Alison Flood, Bookseller paperback previewer
• Friday 4 p.m. Halls and Jones with odes to booksellers, featuring Beth Morrey, Tim Glister, Gillian Harvey, Louise Mumford, Sophie Andersen, Claire Fuller, Davina Tijani and Matson Taylor

Selected titles under discussion

Transcendent Kingdom, Yaa Gyasi, Viking, 9780241433379, 4th March
This One Sky Day, Leone Ross, Faber, 9780571358007, 15th April
(DEBUT) Animal, Lisa Taddeo, Bloomsbury, 9781526630940, 24th June
Midnight at Malabar House, Vaseem Khan, Hodder Paperbacks, 9781473685505, 3rd June
The Golden Rule, Amanda Craig, Abacus, 9780349143484, 6th May
Black River, Will Dean, Point Blank, 9781786078414, 20th May
Glorious Rock Bottom, Bryony Gordon, Headline, 9781472253774, 13th May
An Extra Pair of Hands, Kate Moose, Wellcome Collection, 9781788162616, 3rd June
Taste, Stanley Tucci, Fig Tree, 9780241500996, 7th October
(9+) Show Us Who You Are, Elle McNicoll, Knights Of, 9781913311131, 4th March
(NF Picture Book) Hey You!, Dapo Adeola, Puffin, 9780241521946, 10th June

A full list of the books discussed will be shared after the event.