When I recently asked people what it was that makes a bookshop, the same messages kept coming up again and again. They are different to other shops, they are relaxed, they're a place of calm and they are somewhere to talk and to hone ideas. You can easily while away hours in a bookshop, knowing that you aren't going to be rushed and that there are like-minded people around. That is what bookshops represent.
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Bookshop Day, which was celebrated this past Saturday in the U.K. and Ireland, is the annual centerpiece of Books Are My Bag's nationwide campaign to highlight booksellers. More than a thousand bookshops held special events, created bespoke window displays and more. Shortlists for the BAMB Readers Awards, curated by bookshops and voted for by booklovers, were also announced. Participating booksellers were encouraged to share their enthusiasm on social media. Here's a sampling from 2019 #BookshopDay:
Books Are My Bag: "While you wait for the bookshops to open this morning, we recommend putting the kettle on and starting #BookshopDay right by reading this beautiful bookshop poem by @ImogenRW."
Mr. B's Emporium, Bath: "Morning! Every day is bookshop day but today is #BookshopDay so, if you can, be especially sure to pop in and hang out with your favourite welcoming book-loving booksellers, wherever they are; whichever high street they are breathing life into."
Gutter Bookshop, Dalkey, Ireland: "What a fantastic day for #Echoes celebrating work of Maeve Binchy and Irish Writers! Isabel is @dalkeycastle with @GutterDalkey's books, while Marta is back in the shop."
Canongate: "Artemis (a close personal friend of Canongate office dog Sylvie) guards the books at @Lighthousebks. Lighthouse is Edinburgh's radical bookshop, brilliantly representing LGBT+, political, intersectional feminist, environmental and revolutionary voices."
Sam Read Bookseller, Grasmere: "We've done the customary #BookshopDay alethiometer reading, which predicts smiling, busy bookshelves for those booksellers who *might* spend a tenth of their time today giving directions..."
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| Broadhursts #BookshopDay window | |
Broadhursts Bookshop, Southport, launched a celebratory Twitter thread with these words: "It being #BookshopDay has been making us think--to all you booksellers (& ex-booksellers) out there, what are your favourite things about working in a #bookshop?"
Griffin Books, Penarth, S. Wales: "Thank you for all of the wonderful messages we have received today. We feel very lucky indeed and walked (more like floated) home with a lovely warm glow this evening. We really do believe that 'a town without a bookshop is a town without a soul.' "
Harris & Harris Books, Clare: "At the end of another #BookshopDay I pause to observe the now empty basket of smashing orangey snacks, the empty #snifter glasses, depleted #bamb bags, gaps on the shelves, I rejoice in the happy customers today--THATS why I do what I do."