In 2009, two bookshops a week were closing in the UK and the days of physical books seemed numbered. Now, indie stores are booming. What explains the turnaround – and can it be sustained?When Sarah Mullen was asked to set up a children’s book festival in a leafy suburb of Birmingham in 2012, she couldn’t find an independent bookseller to run the bookstall. “So we all rolled up our sleeves and did it ourselves,” she says. Pregnant with her third child, she had recently given up her job as a solicitor to work for the Bournville Village Trust. Mullen’s task was to set up the Bournville BookFest, which ran for 10 years before being brought to a halt by the Covid pandemic. But far from accepting defeat, she rolled up her sleeves once again and “pivoted the whole thing into a bookshop”. Two years on, the Bookshop on the Green is thriving – a living rebuttal to the once widely held idea that the digital era meant certain death for the neighbourhood bookstore.When I visit early on a Friday morning, a turquoise vintage Smith Corona typewriter holds centre stage in the Bookshop on the Green. Beside it stands Bradley Taylor, a poet whose job is to write poems on demand for anyone who asks. He has composed a lot of Batman and football poems for the children who pile in on Saturdays, he says, before sitting down to tap one out for me about the joy of bookshops. In the multitasking tradition of small retailers, Taylor also works in the shop. He made his cosplay debut last month as the... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2023-07-27 09:00:32 UTC ]
For what seems like since time immemorial, Penguin Random House Children's has been by far the biggest beast in British kids' publishing. That might have changed this morning with HarperCollins' announcement that it will acquire Egmont UK, plus Egmont’s Polish and German children’s book... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-02 02:11:04 UTC ]
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We’ve already brought your attention to the ways you can help bookstores (and bookstore workers) during the coronavirus pandemic, and here’s another one: a collective of recently laid-off booksellers has started an online storefront at Bookshop.org (in case you missed it, Bookshop is the new... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-03-25 15:14:23 UTC ]
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As schools close, parents are turning to children’s book writers and illustrators on social media to help with teaching kids stuck inside. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2020-03-23 13:30:37 UTC ]
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Parents keen to encourage children into good hygiene practices during the coronavirus outbreak turn to Tony Ross’s anarchic creation for helpParents desperate to persuade their children to keep washing their hands have been turning to Tony Ross’s anarchic creation the Little Princess for help,... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-03-23 12:31:25 UTC ]
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The impact of the coronavirus has seen the Booksellers Association issue a rallying cry to the trade, as many publishers enforce home working to safeguard staff. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-19 23:39:55 UTC ]
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Bookshop.org, an alternative to Amazon that shares proceeds from book sales with independent bookstores, will give more money to those stores in response to the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on small businesses. Bookshop announced today that it would increase bookstore partners’ affiliate... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-03-18 15:09:12 UTC ]
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Recently, at New York’s Antiquarian Book Fair, I discovered a very unusual children’s book. Kriebeltje de Boskabouter (in English: Tickle, the Forest-Gnome) is one of the current listings at the rare books dealership Type Punch Matrix; this Dutch children’s book from the 1940s tells the story of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-03-11 18:16:56 UTC ]
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Simon & Schuster (S&S) Children’s UK has snapped up three more books from creative duo behind bestselling illustrated children’s book series Supertato. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-10 09:55:42 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House will not be sending its teams to the rescheduled Bologna Children’s Book Fair. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-10 07:09:51 UTC ]
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If you thought the Choose Your Own Adventure books were magical, one Sri Lankan children’s book author might be up your alley. Sybil Wettasinghe, the 90-year-old author of The Umbrella Thief, a classic children’s book in Sri Lanka, set a new Guinness World Record yesterday with the publication... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-03-06 19:45:46 UTC ]
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Check out these collected ink pieces that speak to childhood and nostalgia with children’s book tattoos for ideas on your next piece. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-03-06 11:38:25 UTC ]
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Indie bookshops are cashing in on a pre-order boom for Hilary Mantel’s new book and are hosting everything from midnight openings to silent discos this week. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-01 15:13:26 UTC ]
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If You Give a Mouse a Cookie has been criticized, and lauded, as a parable of the welfare state. Both sides have it wrong. Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2020-02-28 16:14:35 UTC ]
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Ruth Jones will be embarking on a UK tour to celebrate the publication of her new novel Us Three in a collaboration between Fane and Transworld. The tour, combining a Fane-produced theatre tour with bookshop events organised by Transworld, will comprise seven dates across the UK. It begins at... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-28 11:07:04 UTC ]
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Booker shortlisted author and former Blackwell's bookseller Daisy Johnson has joined the judging panel for the Vintage Independent Bookseller of the Year Award 2020. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-27 22:21:00 UTC ]
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Early last year, the city of Baltimore faced an odd political scandal involving then-Mayor Catherine Pugh and her self-published children’s book series about a health-conscious young girl named Healthy Holly. The Baltimore Sun broke the news that while Pugh was a board member of the University... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-27 20:09:58 UTC ]
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I do not understand why you would turn to The Office for anything other than its grimly comic tableaux of late-capitalist malaise and self-deluded mediocrity. Apparently I have missed its potential to teach 4- to 8-year-olds the “importance of teamwork” and “that it’s always OK to ask for help.”... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-25 21:39:17 UTC ]
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Button & Bear children’s bookshop in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, has been forced to close today (Wednesday 25th February) owing to rising floodwaters. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-25 14:31:43 UTC ]
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Simon Cowell and his six-year-old son are teaming up with Hachette Children’s Group on a new picture-led children’s book series called Wishfits. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-24 09:57:41 UTC ]
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The 2020 edition of Bologna Children's Book Fair will feature four of the most visible publishing leaders in today's African markets. The post At Bologna Children’s Book Fair: A Program on African Innovators appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-02-21 18:31:14 UTC ]
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