Seven Stories Named a Bookshop Champions for Independent Bookshop Week 2026

The Bookshop Champions will represent the independent bookselling sector’s renown innovation, community impact and commitment to reading for pleasure throughout the Independent Bookshop Week 2026 campaign.

The 20 Bookshop Champions were selected through an open submission process across the Booksellers Association membership. The final group reflects the breadth and depth of independent bookshops today, and the shared values and strengths that underpin the sector: encouraging reading for pleasure, bringing people together around books, connecting online audiences with in-shop experiences and building strong local partnerships that benefit their communities.

Seven Stories Bookshop in Newcastle is a unique independent children’s bookshop, situated within Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books, an Arts Council-accredited museum and registered charity. Serving families across the North East, the shop offers a hand-picked collection from board books to young adult titles. Its free-entry setting allows children and families to explore story exhibitions, such as the interactive Judith Kerr and Enid Blyton displays, and attend daily live storytelling performances, without any pressure to buy.

The shop actively encourages reading for pleasure through immersive, playful experiences. Families can explore exhibitions based on beloved characters, hear stories performed by professional storytellers, and then browse related titles in the shop. Recent highlights include hosting the national launch of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library 2026 book list, celebrating seven million gifted books to under-fives, and outreach with schools across the North East, connecting with children who might never otherwise visit a bookshop.

Social media amplifies these experiences: Instagram posts and weekly Instagram Live sessions showcase cosy displays, freshly baked treats from the on-site café, and cross-generational reading moments, attracting visitors from across the region.

Seven Stories Bookshop combines expert curation, cultural programming, and a welcoming environment to inspire new, reluctant, and returning readers – demonstrating how stories can transform childhoods and build lifelong readers.

This year, Independent Bookshop Week marks its 20th anniversary year, celebrating two decades of bringing together booksellers, writers, artists, publishers and readers across the UK and Ireland to champion the vital role independent bookshops play in bringing communities together locally, supporting the creative industries nationally and inspiring reading for pleasure for everyone.

Independent Bookshop Week 2026 takes place within the wider National Year of Reading in the UK, reinforcing the campaigns’ shared ambition and vision to expand access to books and encourage reading for pleasure.

As part of the 2026 celebrations, poet and author Matt Goodfellow will write the official Independent Bookshop Week campaign poem, while campaign ambassadors Kit de Waal, Katriona O’Sullivan and Katie Clapham will help champion the importance of independent bookshops and reading for pleasure throughout the anniversary year.

The full list of Bookshop Champions is: Green Pastures (Dereham); Teasel & Skylark (Dorchester); Of Books and Love (Islington); The Portobello Bookshop (Edinburgh); The Castle Bookshop (Castlebar); The Book Centre (Waterford); Daydreams Bookshop (Milngavie); Kenilworth Books (Kenilworth); Travellers’ Tales (Marylebone); Tipsy Books (Bideford); The Secret Bookshelf (Carrickfergus); The Hellenic Bookservice (Kentish Town); Book Space (Cardiff); FOLDE (Shaftesbury); Seven Stories Bookshop (Newcastle); FORUM Books (Corbridge); Book Vault (Barnsley); Truman Books (Farsley); Chapters (Dublin); Ink & Ember (Stamford).

THE BOOKSELLERS ASSOCIATION

The Booksellers Association is the membership organization for booksellers in the UK & Ireland, and represents over 95% of booksellers.

The Booksellers Association exists to support, advise and work with its members in both the UK and Ireland to provide business-critical products and services for booksellers. Bookselling Ireland is the work undertaken by the Booksellers Association in Ireland.

Booksellers Association services include: National Book Tokens, our gift card which prompts increased footfall and keeps gift spending in the book trade; Batchline and Batch, our award-winning EPOS, stock management and payments service; a full range of money-saving affinity deals; a free Business Support Helpline; Irish government lobbying and representation work; networking opportunities and events across the island of Ireland; and Books Are My Bag, our programme of consumer-facing activity and campaigns, which includes Irish Book Week, Indie Book of the Month, Independent Bookshop Week, Bookshop Day, the Books Are My Bag Readers Awards, Christmas Books and Summer Books catalogues, Booktime magazine and more.

BOOKS ARE MY BAG

Books Are My Bag is a year-round campaign to celebrate bookshops across the UK and Ireland. It was established in 2013 by the Booksellers Association, working closely with its members (both independent and chain bookshops) publishers, authors, illustrators, poets and many other partners within the book world and beyond.

Books Are My Bag exists to make connections between bookshops and people who value them; to champion the work booksellers do within their communities; and to remind people of the joy and benefits of doing their book-shopping with their local bookshop.

Books Are My Bag comprises a range of calendar moments and book recommendations including Independent Bookshop Week (June), Bookshop Day (second Saturday in October), Irish Book Week (October), Indie Book Awards, Books Are My Bag Readers Awards, Indie Book of the Month and Booktime magazine.