Get Bookshop Day booked in!
Booklovers, get 8 October bookmarked in your diaries. That’s Bookshop Day, a national oneday celebration of all high street bookshops, including independents as well as the big-name booksellers Waterstones, Blackwells and Foyles.
Bookshop Day was first launched in 2013 by the Booksellers’ Association to highlight the cultural importance of books, bookshops and booksellers. This year’s Bookshop Day’s spotlight city is Cardiff, but there will be celebrations in booksellers up and down the UK, with authors taking part in virtual and in-person events including Kamila Shamsie, Lenny Henry, Maggie O’Farrell, Juno Dawson, Lemn Sissay and the Reverend Richard Coles.
Every year Books are My Bag create a limited-edition bag to celebrate Bookshop Day. These are available exclusively from bookshops, and in the past have featured designs by leading artists inclusing Tracey Emin, Dapo Adeola, Grayson Perry and Charlie McKeasy. This year’s bag is by Jackie Morris and features a beautiful illustration of a fox.
Bookshop Day is a chance for all readers (which means all writers!) to show their support for bookshops by buying a book from a bookshop on 8 October; sharing purchases via the social media tags #BookshopDay and @booksaremybag and tagging their local bookshop, and taking part in whatever their local bookshop has planned for that day. If any WM writers are taking part in Bookshop Day author events, make sure to tag us in too (@WritingMagazine).