British Book Awards: Book-ish of Crickhowell announced Independent Bookshop of the Year 2020
Crickhowell’s acclaimed bookshop Book-ish has today been announced as winner for the Independent Bookshop of the Year Award at the 2020 British Book Awards. The announcement was made as part of a fully-digital ceremony broadcast this evening by The Bookseller.
Book-ish, the country winner for Wales, fought off strong competition from eight other regional and country winners across the UK and Ireland. As winners they have been awarded a cheque for £5,000 to be invested in the day-to-day running of the shop, or potential improvements. The prize money was made possible by sponsors Gardners Books.
The award will provide a boost during what has been a turbulent year for the bookshop. When the COVID-19 crisis hit retailers in March, Book-ish had already had to close their doors once previously this year, having suffered damage to the shop and its stock during the flooding that occurred from Storm Dennis in February, when a month’s worth of rain fell in just 48 hours. With community help the bookshop was soon able to open again, before being forced to close again in mid-March due to the COVID-19 crisis in the same week that they were announced as Independent Bookshop of the Year country winner for Wales.
Unperturbed, Book-ish founder Emma Corfield-Walters quickly rallied together with fellow independent bookshops Booka Bookshop (Oswestry, Shropshire), Forum Books (Corbridge, Northumberland) and Linghams (Heswall, Wirral) to form At Home With 4 Indies, a digital events platform that has hosted the likes of Robert Webb, Jack Monroe and Marian Keyes among countless other bestselling authors since the platform’s launch in April.
Emma Corfield-Walters, founder and owner of Book-ish, Crickhowell said: “We really couldn’t have acheived this without the support from so many people throughtout the book trade who are just the best of people to work with, collaborative, creative and extrodinarily generous with time and experise. Our customers and loyal supporters from all over the world really help us strive to keep evolving and keep pace with what they want to see happening in their town and in what they see as ‘their’ bookshop, it’s wonderful that so many people have a sense of ownership of the shop.”
Tom Tivnan, The Bookseller’s managing editor and chair of retailer categories, said: “In the past couple of years, independent bookshops have bounced back with the sector at its strongest point in decades. Our winner, Book-ish, is an exemplar of why indies are surging, with a personalised experience that outmatches any online algorithm and being at the very heart of its community. There is no question the last few months have been a strain, but at a time when reconnecting people is paramount, indie shops like Book-ish are well-placed to thrive in a post-pandemic world.”
Founded in the idyllic Brecon Beacons in 2010, Book-ish has quickly become a key figure in the fabric of independent bookshops in the UK & Ireland. The other regional and country finalists from the 2020 Independent Bookshop of the Year were The Book Hive (Norwich, East of England winners), BrOOK’s (Pinner, London), Button & Bear (Shrewsbury, Midlands), Forum Books (Corbridge, North of England), Lighthouse (Edinburgh, Scotland), Philip’s Bookshop (Mallow, Ireland) The Book Shop (Lee-on-Solent, South East), Winstone’s Hunting Raven (Frome, South West). These winners were drawn from initial shortlists of 49 independent bookshops in total.
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