Bookshop Day in Portsmouth to be marked with activities and giveaways at booksellers this weekend

Bookshop Day was founded by the Booksellers Association in 2016, with the aiming of encouraging to visit and celebrate their local bookshop.

Shops across the UK will start celebrating this Saturday, with some promotions continuing across the month of October.

In Southsea, recently-opened Pigeon Books will be decorating its premises and giving away free activity packs for children.

Phil Davies, who founded the shop with his partner Mel in June, said the day was an important way to remind people to shop locally and support their local bookshops.

He said: ‘I absolutely think the day is a worthwhile celebration.

‘It’s important we remind people that physical bookshops do exist.

‘We started selling books from a market stall and a few pop-up shops, and we got a lot of positive feedback and it seemed that people wanted a new book shop in the city.’

Meanwhile in Lee-on-Solent, The Book Shop, in High Street, will be hosting a range of activities, discounts, and special offers.

Book lovers can try a ‘blind date with a book’ in Southampton’s October Books, with free mystery book for every customer who buys a hardback or paperback.

This year will also see bookshops across the country host a range of online events, as they find live events restricted by Covid-19 measures.

Emma Bradshaw, head of campaigns at the Booksellers Association, said: ‘There are countless reasons to visit your local bookshops this Bookshop Day, or join in the fun online.

‘We’ve spoken to hundreds of bookshops over the past six months who’ve been blown away by the support from their customers, and we know they’ll need that support now more than ever, as bookshops continue to face the full force of the immense challenges to the high street.’

Waterstones Children’s Laureate and author of How To Train Your Dragon, Cressida Cowell, will be taking part in an online event with Blackwell’s Heffers Bookshop at 4pm on Sunday.

Bookshops will also be offering an exclusive new collection of Virginia Woolf’s essays, How Should One Read a Book, with a new introduction and afterword by Sheila Heti, ahead of its general release later in the month.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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