Yehrin Tong to create BAMB limited edition tote

Designer Yehrin Tong will create this year’s Books Are My Bag (BAMB) limited edition tote bag design which will be available exclusively in bookshops up and down the country from Bookshop Day on Saturday 5th October. 

Tong, who won the Beautiful Book Award at the BAMB awards 2018 for the Virago Modern Classics 40th Anniversary series, joins a number of high profile artists and designers who have designed the campaign’s annual limited edition bag – including Sir Peter Blake, Grayson Perry, Tracey Emin, Orla Kiely and Coralie Bickford-Smith.
 
Describing her design, Tong said, “I wanted to use punctuation marks in an illustrative way; showing the beauty of the written word. I have used question marks, brackets and exclamation marks etc to create bold, floral motifs in the foreground. The pattern in the background references the curves of turning pages.

  
 
“It was a huge honour to be asked to design this year’s Books Are My Bag Limited Edition Bag. Bookshops played a huge part in me becoming an illustrator. As teenagers, my friends and I made a ritual of heading down to our local bookshop. We’d marvel at all the cool graphics on the covers and get excited about books by our favourite authors.

“Now I’m taking my son to bookshops, surrounding him with stunning graphics, introducing him to ideas from around the world and from different periods of time. I know it will fire up his imagination in the same way it did for me. It’s an experience I hope will continue for generations.”
 
Now in its seventh year, the BAMB campaign showcases and celebrates the vital role of high street bookshops. 

This year’s BAMB children’s bag is inspired by best-selling author and illustrator David McKee’s beloved Elmer the Patchwork Elephant and will also be available exclusively from bookshops.