Presented annually by the Booksellers Association of the U.K. & Ireland through its Books Are My Bag campaign, Independent Bookshop Week celebrates indie booksellers by highlighting the essential role they play in their communities. Hundreds of special activities are happening this week, including book tokens, author readings, poetry open mic nights, family festivals, and much, much more.
For example, Orlaine McDonald's novel No Small Thing is being highlighted through a one-off partnership between the Book of the Month campaigns of the BA and Bookshop.org. And IBW2025's Poetry Ambassador Michael Pedersen read "Lines on Glister & Glow," a new poem to celebrate #IndieBookshopWeek, and filmed at Portobello Bookshop in Edinburgh, Scotland.
What indie booksellers do--their life's work--is of serious, vital importance, but there's another essential ingredient that anyone who's been slinging books for a while will quickly acknowledge: having a good laugh while you're at it. So I went looking for some humor this Indie Book Week. Here are a few samples:
"Big News: Novel is under new management," Novel Bookshop in Sheffield, announced on social media right in the heart of Indie Bookshop Week. "I am BEFF JEZOS: disruptor, visionaire, and now She-EO of Novel, and am definitely not Kate dressed as if she is about to go to a Pitbull concert. Taking over a 'community bookshop' was never in the plan. I wanted something scalable, algorithmic, monopolising--something that I could possibly convert into a pyramid scheme. However, with my vision and leadership, I believe I will be able to take on the online supergiant company-who-will-not-be-named to streamline bookselling operations for the betterment of profits. Under my leadership, Novel will be restructured, rebranded, and re-optimised.... I look forward to sharing my journey of total bookselling domination... I mean.... getting to know you all, my loyal subjects."
Storysmith Books, Bristol, posted: "INDEPENDENT BOOKSHOP WEEK! The greatest week of the year has rolled round once again! (Is it getting sooner each time, or are we just addicted to celebrating ourselves... it's hard to say.) You'll know what to expect by now: intuitive, humanity-infested book recommendations that take a paddle steamer-sized dump on the algorithm, a curated selection of exclusively un-bad books from all your favourite international authors and independent publishers, and the return of the MUCH-COVETED and SLO-MO-CAPTURED High Five vouchers, which you will receive with ANY in-store purchase while we've got them (it's not even half 10 on day 1 and they're already going, hoo-boy) So everyone gather round and shout into the vanity-spaceship-clogged stratosphere, EAT IT JEFF, IT'S INDEPENDENT BOOKSHOP WEEK! See you in the shop xoxo."
Bookshop video blooper reels were on the minds of booksellers at Lucky Hare Books, Ampthill: "Sooooo we thought as this is #independentbookshopweek we would share something different for our Two for Tuesday. You may think that we manage to do the usual videos in one smooth take, but as you will see today that is FAR from the truth!! Here are our Two for Tuesday BLOOPERS! Enjoy!!"
When it comes to having fun in a bookshop, though, the folks at Irish bookseller Red Books, a "traditional eccentric bookshop located in St Peter's Square in Wexford town," won over my funny bone with their whimsical yet fiercely dedicated approach to independent bookselling.
Earlier this Indie Bookshop Week, Love Wexford Town profiled the owners: "Wally O'Neill and his mother, Nuala, run Red Books, an independent bookshop in Wexford town. The shop is packed... literally to the ceiling with second-hand, antiquarian, and collectible books, alongside a solid selection of new titles. Local writers take precedent here, with Wally making sure their work gets the attention it deserves.... It's clear this place isn't just about books--it's about the people who walk through the door. Red Books has built such a tight-knit (pun intended) community. In fact, the customers in this place looked so at home and loyal, Wally might have a harder time getting rid of them than the books. Wally lives and breathes what's happening in Wexford, and shops like this deserve credit... not just for keeping great books on the shelves, but for keeping real customer service alive and well in the town."
Between the Pages, a short documentary on the shop that was released earlier this year, captures the spirit of "a local independent bookstore owner who fosters connection and understanding and who creates a refuge for the community revealing the profound impact of a simple love for books."
Indeed, the Instagram reels the bookshop creates feature a cast of booksellers and local characters that might well inspire a trip across the ocean just for a visit and chat. Check out their takes on an Amazon Anonymous Meeting, Bloomsday, "that one customer who always asks for unlikely books," "another victim of the Amazon Primedemic," and "George Orwell's 1984 in one minute (sort of)."
As Red Books reassured us with a "Bookbusters" movie poster recently: "Who you gonna call?... Armed with paperbacks and passion, we ain't afraid of no soulless corporate pretend booksellers. As the most interesting books disappear from the algorithm, we're still hunting and putting them on the shelves at Red Books. 250,000 books including many that don't have a Amazon rating!"