Bookshop Day is an annual, one day celebration of all high street bookshops in Booksellers Association membership. Approximately 1000 UK retailers, both independents and branches of chain bookshops, are registered to participate. Bookshop Day aims to remind customers of the value of their local bookshops and that they are the perfect places to kick-start their Christmas gift-buying (to coincide with the biggest publishing period in the book trade calendar); to “choose bookshops”. The campaign launched in 2013 and falls on the second Saturday in October. This year Bookshop Day will fall on Saturday 10 October.
 
The campaign hashtag is #BookshopDay.
 
Publishers are invited to support the campaign by working with members to organise in-store author signings on the day, and by amplifying the campaign message across social media.
 
Books Are My Bag works with a number of partners to deliver four strands of Bookshop Day activity: 
 

• We commission an illustrator to create the campaign artwork that appears on all of our point of sale materials and social media assets. Kerri Cunningham aka Murphy's Sketches created this year’s campaign artwork. Kerri is a Sunday Times Bestselling writer and artist from Preston in Lancashire. She has 826k followers on Instagram. Find Kerri on Instagram
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• In order to drive footfall, we work with an artist to create our annual Limited-Edition Bag. The bag is available for purchase exclusively via high street and independent bookshops from Bookshop Day while stocks last. We are delighted to be able to share with you that Jane Foster is the designer of this year’s bag. Find out more about Jane Foster here.
   
  Members can now place orders via the member shop. You will need to login using your BA account number. If you have forgotten your number please contact the BA Membership Team [email protected]
   
  You may take pre-orders from your customers now, but please do not give bags to your customers before Bookshop Day, Saturday 10 October.
   
• Our City Spotlight activity sees us shining a light on a different part of the country each year. Working with Jack Arts, we commission local artists to create bespoke bookshop murals in order to generate local buzz, photo and media opportunities, social media content and to drive footfall into bookshops. Birmingham will be the focus this year. In partnership with Jack Arts, work will begin on two bookshop-inspired murals on Monday 5 October, and will be completed in time for Bookshop Day. This year’s artists are UUendy Lau (@uuendylau) and Joshua Billingham, known professionally as Gent 48 (@gent48). Mural sites will be confirmed shortly.

This year we have five ambassadors to champion bookshops in-person and in the media:

• Tasneem Abdur-Rashid is a British Bengali writer born and raised in London. She co-hosts the award-winning podcast Not Another Mum Pod. Odd Girl Out is her YA debut. Find out more about Tasneem here.
• Brigid Lowe grew up in remote Wales of Irish parentage and now lives in Edinburgh. Her latest book, Shiver, was a winner of The RSL Giles St Aubyn Award for Non-Fiction 2025, gifted to exceptional first-time writers of non-fiction. Find out more about Brigid here.
• Marvin Thompson was born in London to Jamaican parents and now teaches English in mountainous south Wales. His first collection Road Trip  was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. The stunning second collection, Rooms, is published by Peepal Tree this October. Find out more about Marvin here.
• Philip Reeve’s first novel, Mortal Engines, was published in 2001.Since then he has published many children’s books. In 2013 he joined forces with illustrator Sarah McIntyre to create Oliver and the Seawigs, the first in a series of funny, highly-illustrated adventures. Their current series is Adventuremice, short, funny adventures about a band of daring mice, illustrated in full colour with Sarah's beautiful pictures. Find out more about Philip here. Find out more about Sarah here. Fine out more about Adventuremice here.

 

• Working with authors, poets and illustrators published by our sponsors, we create a campaign video to be shared across social media via @booksaremybag

 
Bookshop Day is funded by numerous sponsors including: Bloomsbury, Bonnier Books UK, Canongate, David Fickling, DK, Faber & Faber, Hachette UK, HarperCollins Publishers, Little Tiger, Ingram Content Group, National Book Tokens, Pan Macmillan, Penguin Random House UK, Profile Books, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, Usborne and Walker Books. Thanks to Gardners for helping to distribute our point of sale kits for us.

Don’t forget to tag us @booksaremybag and use #BookshopDay in all of your social media activity.

Booksellers can: 

• Find the Guide to Bookshop Day here.
• Download the social media assets here

Publishers can: 
Download and share our social media assets here

 
If you have any questions about Bookshop Day, please email [email protected]
 

The Books Are My Bag Readers Awards are the only book awards with shortlists curated by booksellers and winners chosen by readers. 

2026 is the 10^th anniversary of the Readers Awards, as well as the National Year of Reading, and so the Booksellers Association is doing things a little differently this year to celebrate the coming together of bookshops and readers.
 
The Readers Awards have always celebrated the best books of the year with shortlists curated by bookshops, and winners voted for by readers. This year we’re getting together an expert panel of booksellers to curate a shortlist that celebrates the best of the Readers Awards winners from the last 10 years, and then it will be over to readers to decide the ultimate winners in six categories: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry, Young Adult Fiction, Children’s Fiction and Breakthrough Author. The Readers' Choice Award will be the only category to remain open to readers to nominate ANY book they have read this year, regardless of publication date.
 
This year’s Readers Awards shortlists will be announced on Thursday 8 October. The winners will be announced on Tuesday 3 November.

The Books Are My Bag Readers Awards are sponsored by Bloomsbury, Bonnier Books UK, Canongate, David Fickling, DK, Faber & Faber, Hachette UK, HarperCollins Publishers, Little Tiger, Ingram Content Group, Pan Macmillan, Penguin Random House UK, Profile Books, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, Usborne and Walker Books.

National Book Tokens is the headline sponsor of the Books Are My Bag Reader Awards. 

The 2025 Books Are My Bag Readers Awards Winners, as voted by readers:

Fiction
Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout (Viking)

Non-Fiction
Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton (Canongate) 

Poetry
To the Women by Donna Ashworth (Black & White Publishing) 

Young Adult Fiction
Wish You Were Her by Elle McNicoll (First Ink) 

Children’s Fiction
Impossible Creatures: The Poisoned King by Katherine Rundell (Bloomsbury Children's Books) 

Picture Book
Otto the Top Dog by Catherine Rayner (Macmillan Children's Books) 

Newcomer of the Year
Emma Swan (Cruise Ship Kid: Thief At Sea!, illustrated by Katie Saunders, Usborne)

Readers’ Choice
Cruise Ship Kid: Thief At Sea! By Emma Swan, illustrated by Katie Saunders (Usborne)

Watch the Books Are My Bag Readers Awards 2025 ceremony on the Books Are My Bag YouTube channel

Booksellers Association members may opt in or out of participating in Bookshop Day and the Books Are My Bag Readers Awards at any point. Please email Emma Bradshaw if you would like to check if you are registered to participate, or if you would like to change your participation.

If you are an author, poet, illustrator, agent or publisher and would like to know more about the campaign, please email Emma Bradshaw