Tag: reading

What a first year for The Portobello Bookshop!

When Jack founded The Portobello Bookshop in July last year, never could he have imagined that he’d be celebrating Portobello’s one-year anniversary in the midst of a global pandemic!

While the physical shop might be currently closed, Jack is determined to keep the activity going (safely!) and keep bringing books to his wonderful customers.

After weeks of hard work and planning, the bookshop set up a new online order system, and they will soon be launching a click-and-collect service.

In spite of the current challenges, Jack and his team are remaining hopeful and creative, and are still planning to celebrate Independent Book Week, in whatever form might be safe to do so.

Their current plans involve a virtual event with children’s author Emily MacKenzie, whose latest book Beware! Ralfy Rabbit and the Secret Book Biter (Bloomsbury) is published this month.

Emily will also be curating a stunning shop window for Portobello.

Jack said: “For the time being we don’t plan to open as a physical shop, but instead to run a click and collect service, as we keep an eye on things and open at a time when we feel it is ok to do so. 

We’re going to make sure our shop is as safe as possible. This will include distancing signs around the interior of the shop, a shield for our till area, and of course hand sanitiser always available.

“The interior of our shop was always designed for easy access and navigation and the flow of it from left to right will allow us to hopefully ensure people can move around safely and browse easily.”

 

Jack talked about their plans for Independent Bookshop Week: “IBW is a wonderful thing and we’re pleased that it will be possible for us to do something for it with the lockdown having been lifted a little.

“We’ve got local author and illustrator Emily MacKenzie popping in to the shop to do an inspiring window featuring characters from her latest book Beware Ralfy Rabbit and the Secret Book Biter, a book all about books, reading and the love of literature.

“She’ll also be doing an online event, most likely streamed via our Instagram, which both children and adults are welcome to join!”

From online events with bestselling authors, to a picture book celebrating key workers, to virtual bookshop crawls, Independent Bookshop Week 2020 will go ahead this year, taking place 20-27 June as planned.

Organised by the Booksellers Association (BA) and sponsored by Hachette, the annual celebration of independent bookshops across the UK and Ireland this year has adapted to include online events to give book lovers across the country access to authors and books during lockdown.

The week will celebrate the role indie booksellers have continued to play in building a sense of community during the pandemic, as well as encouraging customers to support their local highstreet by shopping local at what is a particularly challenging time for small retailers.

VIRTUAL EVENTS

Confirmed events taking place during IBW include:

  • Meg Rosoff, bestselling author of How I Live Now, will be joining the series of virtual events “At Home with 4 Indies”, created by booksellers from Book-ish (Crickhowell), Linghams (Wirral), Forum Books (Corbridge) and Booka Bookshop (Shropshire). The series, which since the lockdown began has included guests such as Joe Wicks, Robert Webb, David Baldacci, and Marian Keyes offers all book-lovers a new, special kind of author event. The event with Meg Rosoff will be live on the At Home with 4 Indies Facebook page on Tuesday 23rd June at 8pm.
  • Maggie O’Farrell, bestselling author of the Women Prize nominated novel Hamnet, will join At Home with 4 Indies on Friday 26th June at 8pm.
  • Cressida Cowell, Waterstones Children’s Laureate will be a holding a virtual bookshop tour on her social channels, featuring each of the following indies on a different day for the duration of IBW. Bookshops confirmed so far are Mainstreet Trading (Melrose), Little Ripon (North Yorkshire) and Silverwood Events (Kirkham, Preston).
  • Steve Chambers, co-author of Resist: Stories of Uprising, a collection of stories and essays exploring two millennia of British protest, will be doing a virtual event with Bookmarks Bookshop (London) on Friday 26th June.
  • Julia Bell, novelist, essayist, poet, creative writing course director and author of Radical Attention will be taking over the social channels of Newham Bookshop (London) and sharing her bookshop picks during the week.
  • Tim Burgess will be curating a special book-inspired playlist, released on his Twitter channel at 3pm on Sunday 21st June.
  • To celebrate National Reading Group Day, which coincides with the first day of IBW, The Reading Agency will be encouraging reading groups across the UK to read The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri. There will be a discussion with the author on Facebook on Saturday 20th June.

INDIE BOOKSHOPS AND PUBLISHERS PAIR UP

To underline the many ways in which small businesses are supporting each other at this difficult time, IBW wills see independent bookshops across the UK and Ireland being “twinned” with indie publishers, in a series of special events and exclusives.

Confirmed twinned bookshops and publishers include:

  • Saraband Books (Glasgow and Manchester), indie publisher of fiction, nature writing, and environmental reads will be twinned with Sam Read Bookseller (Grasmere, Lake District).
  • Publishers of “the best of Chinese literature”, Alain Charles Asia (West Sussex) will be promoting 11 indie bookshops from Sussex throughout the week via its social channels.
  • Indie publisher Wrecking Ball Press (Hull) will be partnering with The Rabbit Hole (Brigg) and will be hosting virtual events with a selection of their authors, providing signed titles and more.

EXCLUSIVES

An early release of Meg Rosoff’s new children’s book, The Great Godden will be available exclusively in indie bookshops during Independent Bookshop Week, with signed copies and tote bags available for customers, before its general release in July.

Thank You, Heroes, a new picture book celebrating key workers by Patricia Hegarty and Michael Emmerson will be release exclusively in indies from 20th June, ahead of wider publication in July. Little Tiger will be donating all publisher profits on UK sales to NHS Charities.

INDIE BOOK AWARDS

The shortlist for the Indie Book Awards 2020, this year in their fourteen edition, has been revealed, as voted for by independent booksellers across the UK and Ireland.

Spanning four categories – Fiction, Children’s Fiction, Picture Book and a new Non-Fiction prize – the awards celebrate the paperback books of the year, as chosen by independent bookshops, and are part of Independent Bookshop Week (20 – 27 June 2020), the annual celebration of indie bookshops organised by the Booksellers Association.

Included in this year’s shortlist are Booker Prize winner Bernardine Evaristo (Girl, Woman, Other), international best-selling author Elif Shafak (10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World), Baillie Gifford Prize winner Hallie Rubenhold (The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper), former Children’s Laureate Julia Donaldson (Animalphabet) and Irish Children’s laureate Sarah Crossan (Toffee).

Chosen by a judging panel of independent booksellers, authors and industry influencers, the Indie Book Awards winners will be announced on Friday 26 June 2020, the penultimate day of Independent Bookshop Week.

The full Indie Book Awards 2020 shortlist:

FICTION SHORTLIST

The Offing by Benjamin Myers (Bloomsbury)

10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak (Penguin)

You Will Be Safe Here by Damian Barr (Bloomsbury)

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Picador)

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (Corsair)

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo (Penguin)

NON-FICTION SHORTLIST

Lady in Waiting by Anne Glenconner (Hodder & Stoughton)

War Doctor by David Nott (Picador)

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold (Black Swan)

Extraordinary Insects: Weird. Wonderful. Indispensable. The Ones Who Run Our World by Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson (Mudlark)

Mudlarking by Lara Maiklem (Bloomsbury)

No Win Race by Derek A Bardowell (Mudlark)

CHILDREN’S FICTION SHORTLIST

Toffee by Sarah Crossan (Bloomsbury)

Deeplight by Frances Hardinge (Macmillan Children’s Books)

Chinglish: An Almost Entirely True Story by Sue Cheung (Andersen Press)

The Star Outside my Window by Onjali Q. Rauf (Orion Children’s Books)

The Somerset Tsunami by Emma Carroll (Faber & Faber)

The Girl Who Speaks Bear by Sophie Anderson (Usborne)

PICTURE BOOK SHORTLIST

Animalphabet by Julia Donaldson & Sharon King-Chai (Two Hoots)

Greta and the Giants by Zoe Tucker & Zoe Persico (Frances Lincoln Children’s Books)

Don’t Worry Little Crab by Chris Haughton (Walker Books)

Alfie on Holiday by Shirley Hughes (Puffin Books)

I’m Sticking With You by Smriti Halls and Steve Small (Simon & Schuster)

Franklin and Luna Go To The Moon by Jen Campbell, illustrated by Katie Harnett (Thames & Hudson)

The final winners of the Adult categories will be chosen by a panel chaired by bookseller Matt Taylor (Chepstow Books & Gifts) and including Elizabeth Perry (Daunt Books), Zool Verjee (Head of Marketing and Publicity at Blackwells), Sarah Shaffi, (freelance journalist and #BAMEinPublishing co-founder) and Hachette author William Shaw.

The judging panel of the Children’s categories will be chaired by bookseller Vanessa Lewis (The Book Nook) and includes Layla Hudson (Round Table Books), Jessica Paul (Max Minerva’s Marvellous Books & More), Jonathan Douglas (CEO of National Literacy Trust) and Hachette author Piers Torday.

For updates and to join the conversation on social media, follow @booksaremybag and #IndieBookshopWeek.

Edinburgh book subscription service confirms 52% increase in sales

  • Monthly book delivery complemented by digital book club offers a welcome distraction and meaningful network for women across the world 
  • Book club strives to combat Coronavirus loneliness, anxiety and unease 

Since its emergence onto the scene in 2017, Rare Birds Book Club has seen growth of 86% and 57% year on year respectively – but since lock down measures commenced, the subscription service and digital book club headquartered in Scotland has reported a staggering 52% growth over the course of the past four weeks.

At the beginning of the year, the club was just about to hit 1,000 subscribers per month, an almost 50/50 split of those buying for themselves (51%) and those buying as gifts (49%) however, post lock down, the emphasis on sales has shifted firmly towards gift purchasing with hundreds of orders including messages of consolation, comfort and togetherness.

The pay-as-you go option has also taken off, with people looking to enjoy the service without having to commit longer-term; a bonus in these times of uncertainty and the business has also recorded a marked increase in international sales with 10% of all orders now being shipped internationally.

In the short-term, mail outs are now being done from Rachel’s spare room instead of her headquarters in Edinburgh city centre!

Rachel Wood, founder of Rare Birds Book Club comments: “My spare room is basically now a small warehouse, but it means we’ve been able to stay fully operational during lockdown.

“Once books are picked, packed and ready to go, they are collected by Royal Mail in a seamless operation that is completely contactless. My staff and I are all isolated in our own homes and have different responsibilities to keep us ticking over – I do the big send outs and individual orders are done elsewhere.”

A simple, yet personal subscription, Rare Birds Book Club offers members the chance to pick between two surprise books each month (or upgrade to both) before joining like-minded subscribers in the digital book club to discuss this month’s read.

Its ethos being rooted in a service that was both letter-box friendly and heavily digital has been key in driving the sales spike that has kept the business operational when so many others have temporarily or indefinitely closed-down.

Never one to rest on her laurels, Rachel also launched a podcast a few weeks ago, which sees her and two friends waxing lyrical about all things books.

“The first few episodes were pre-recorded and ready to go, so we were able to launch quickly. Now in lockdown we record remotely; each of us with the same microphone we’d use together. We host the discussion through a video chat on my computer so it’s all online, and it’s recorded by connecting the computer up with our soundboard to keep the quality high. Then we edit and release as normal.”

With COVID-19 still keeping us in our homes and with reports of mental health issues on the rise, it seems reading and podcast listening will only increase to help combat loneliness, anxiety and the unease Coronavirus has brought. For Rare Birds Book Club that suggests 2020 is set to be a year of even bigger growth.

For more information visit https://rarebirdsbookclub.com/

Sharp rise in reading ability in Scotland’s schools

PERFORMANCES IMPROVE & ATTAINMENT GAP CLOSING

Reading levels among Scotland’s children have risen sharply in the last three years and the attainment gap is closing, according to an international survey.

Data from the Programme for International Student Assessment 2018 (PISA) shows that reading levels are now above the average, with just five Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, out of 36, higher than Scotland.

PISA data also shows that social background is now less of factor in performance, corroborating wider evidence that the attainment gap is closing.

Performance in maths and science was similar to Scotland’s performance in 2015 at the OECD average.

Other findings show that compared to the OECD average:

  • a higher proportion of Scotland’s pupils felt inspired by their teachers’ enthusiasm
  • pupils were more likely to feel that their teachers enjoyed teaching and liked teaching their class
  • teachers are more likely to give feedback to students to improve their performance, while students were more likely to say this happened in every or many lessons

Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: “These are very encouraging results and the latest sign that our education reforms are working. Scottish schools are improving and this international study confirms that.

“Reading underpins all learning, and the sharp rise in performance is good news.

“The improvement has been driven by great teachers and well-supported pupils, but also our unrelenting focus on improving literacy through the Scottish Attainment Challenge and Pupil Equity Fund. Those efforts are now paying dividends, with only five countries scoring higher than Scotland at reading.

“The figures on social background also confirm that we are closing the gap between pupils from the richest and poorest backgrounds.

“Maths and science scores are stable at the OECD average, so we need to see the kind of improvement that we now see in literacy in these areas too. That is the challenge.

“An inspection of maths and numeracy published by Education Scotland shows what is working and how we can improve. It will help as we move on the next phase of driving up standards in Scotland’s schools.

“And, in science, good progress has been made with delivery of our five-year STEM strategy, with the roll-out of career-long professional learning grants and new online resources for teachers. The impact of it will only just be beginning to be felt on the ground and we will continue to push for the improvements that we know can be made.

“There is plenty of work still to do to improve Scottish education but today’s report should give people a strong sense that we are on the right track, making substantial progress and seeing results where it counts – in the classroom.”

 

Book Week Scotland programme launched

Scottish Book Trust has launched Book Week Scotland’s 2019 programme with comic book artist Frank Quitely of DC Comics All Star Superman and Batman and Robin fame.

Book Week Scotland, the country’s biggest celebration of reading and writing, returns for its eight year with hundreds of events taking place all over Scotland from intimate community gatherings to flagship events with well-loved authors. Continue reading Book Week Scotland programme launched