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Three bookshops in under-represented communities named New Futures winners
Online retailer Bookshop.org and the Booksellers Association have crowned the three winners of their New Futures programme for new indie stores in under-represented communities.
The programme received 32 applications from individuals who identified as Black and other marginalised ethnicities, LGBTQIA+, working class, physically disabled, neurodiverse, sufferers of mental health issues and those with learning disabilities, among others.
One of the winners was the Otaku Project set up by Scott Hulme in Cardiff. It is a small, community-based bookshop where children, young people and adults can explore and discover manga and graphic novels.
Hulme is a 24-year-old with dyslexia, dyscalculia and dyspraxia. He said his own discovery of manga books, despite being disparaged by teachers, radically improved his reading and inspired him to create a bookshop to open that world for others.
He said: “I am so excited by this chance and feel really humbled because the bookshop ideas on the New Futures shortlist are amazing and are all going to make a difference. It’s so exciting to be a part of this change for good. I’ve been ambitious to be a bookseller for a long time and New Futures has made me see how possible my ambition is, as well as the work it’s going to take to realise it. It’s broken down barriers, given me a huge amount of confidence and knowledge and I feel I am on my way."
Also a winner was Olive’s Book Club, a queer, feminist, anti-racist, anti-ableist store and one-woman-owned business based in Newcastle, where there are currently no independent bookshops. It will sell fiction and non-fiction titles that aim to share the stories and voices of marginalised voices, bring people together through reading and education, and create a community of activism within the local area.
Founder Emily Rose Clifton is a working class, queer woman living with chronic mental health issues. A full-time nurse, she set up an online bookshop during the pandemic and is keen to expand her business with a bricks-and-mortar presence.
She said: “As a New Futures winner, I now have a greater set of tools and contacts to enable me to finally create my physical dream bookshop, a community-driven, educational and safe space for the north-east. I am beyond thrilled.”
The final winner was the Prim Bookstore in Stratford, east London, billed as a community HQ and a platform for education and collaboration. Alongside selling books, it will offer an ongoing exhibition of photography, short stories, films and 3D art prioritising queer people of Black ancestry. It will also offer event hire space, recording and DJ studios, workspace and a library.
Founder K Bailey Obazee has worked in parliament, for WeWork, as a head-hunter and in the publishing industry. Her hope is to use her knowledge to create a space that can contribute powerfully to the people of her community.
Obazee said: "I am thrilled to be selected as a winner for New Futures. My vision is to create a space that is more than just a bookstore, it’s a haven, a place of learning, networking and coming together. A space where my community feels welcome, all the time. The Prim Bookstore is for all of us a reminder that we can thrive, we can imagine and have better for ourselves—and now New Futures will be a part of Prim’s origin story."
Alongside the winners, Valerie Brandes was highly commended for her shop, Jacaranda Books, in Brent. The store will be the publisher’s physical space for selling directly from its prize-winning list of the best of contemporary literature from across the African diaspora, alongside supporting independent presses whose books align with its ethos. Jacaranda will use the bookshop for hosting events and creating a community hub for residents, under-represented communities of colour and creative, open-minded Londoners.
The shortlisted candidates have already received a concentrated education programme from key industry partners, equipping them with tools to draw up a business plan, on which the final winners were selected. They also received advice from independent booksellers including Round Table Books and Afrori Books.
Winners were chosen by novelist, screenwriter and journalist Nikesh Shukla, founder and c.e.o. of Beautystack and The Stack World Sharmadean Reid, former HarperCollins talent and audience development manager Nancy Adimora, The Bookseller editor Philip Jones, Fleur Sinclair of Sevenoaks Bookshop and Mairi Oliver, owner of Edinburgh’s Lighthouse Bookshop.
Oliver said: "Over the years I’ve been approached by so many bookshop hopefuls—most from working class and marginalised backgrounds—desperate to find out how/whether they too might one day run their own bookshop. New Futures was an opportunity to offer more than cobbled-together advice and well-meaning encouragement, to provide tangible support, trade tools and contacts, and really open the door to entrepreneurs our industry desperately needs. This year’s winners bring with them the promise of vibrant, inclusive, creative bookselling the length of the UK. As a bookseller it has been a real privilege to play a small part in Emily, K Bailey and Scott’s journeys. As a reader I can’t wait to step into their bookshops one day."
Halls, m.d. of the Booksellers Association, said: “We are proud and delighted to be partnering with Bookshop.org on this innovative and inspiring project and it has been a real privilege to see the applications come in and see the bookshop dream taking shape for so many energetic and visionary individuals. We are in good hands if the energy and commitment in this process is an indicator of the next generation of booksellers. We wish all the shortlistees, and the winners, the very best on their bookselling journey. The BA will be poised to assist throughout the journey and be waiting to welcome you all when your time to open arrives.”
Bookshop.org will provide support and an enhanced affiliate commission for an initial six-month period to help begin the process of curating and selling books, as well as raising funds ahead of their opening.
Benefits for the winners will include BA membership and a suite of supported services including one-year’s digital subscription to The Bookseller, an enhanced opening stock package from Gardners Books, a branding workshop with Shamadean Reid, PR training support from Midas and a Batchline EPOS system.
Nicole Vanderbilt, m.d. of Bookshop.org, said: “We are excited to announce the winners of the New Futures programme. The strength of their business plans, coupled with the determination and creativity that inspired the visions for their own independent bookshops, were a real inspiration for us, proving that there is a need and appetite for creating new, independent bookshops.
"We are looking forward to following the next steps of each winner as they progress to put their plans into action and realise their dream of opening a brand new, independent bookshop to serve their local communities. By providing immediate benefits to the winners, we hope they will be able to start trading and earning revenue before their physical shop opens, reducing the gap that exists between business plan and opening.”
