Trade trio launches £10,000 crowdfunder for booksellers hit by Covid-19 crisis

Three members of the trade have launched a £10,000 crowdfunder raising money for hardship grants to help booksellers hit by the coronavirus crisis.

Money raised through the fundraiser will go directly to affected booksellers via grants administered by the Book Trade Charity.

The crowdfunder was set up by Gayle Lazda from the London Review Bookshop, Picador commissioning editor Kishani Widyaratna and Daunt Books publisher Zeljka Marosevic. Within a few hours of launching, the page had already amassed over £2,000 in donations.

They said: “The Covid-19 crisis presents the publishing industry with a daunting and unprecedented challenge, but it has quickly become clear that booksellers are on the frontline. Booksellers are already some of our most precarious workers. Now we are seeing them being hit especially hard, through wage cuts and redundancies, while their bookshops face uncertain futures.

“It is a difficult time for everyone, but we hope anyone who can will donate to support booksellers, bookselling and the high street.”

The initiative comes after the Booksellers Association announced it would also be donating £30,000 to the charity for hardship grants, alongside a range of other measures.