The Booksellers Association of the U.K. & Ireland has restructured and expanded its team with a view to "increasing capacity in areas that members have consistently highlighted as priorities," including advocacy, communications, and consumer campaigns. The Bookseller reported that the new structure organizes the BA around five functions: marketing and consumer campaigns, membership, strategy and events, policy and public affairs, and PR and communications.
Simon Armstrong has been promoted to head of PR and communications, with expanded responsibilities to cover the BA's communications activity across the U.K. and Ireland. The organization is also recruiting for a new communications and policy officer to support Armstrong and Laura McCormack, head of policy and public affairs, as well as a new marketing executive to support the marketing and consumer campaigns team, led by Emma Bradshaw, whose title has been updated to head of brand and consumer marketing.
In addition, Amy Bradley will take on the role of website and systems manager, working within the membership team led by Kate Gunning, head of membership development. Pippa Halpin has returned from maternity leave to resume her role as membership manager. The BA's events team will continue to be led by Miriam Robinson, head of strategy. Earlier this year, Ethan Thorne was hired as membership and events executive.
Meryl Halls, managing director of the BA, said: "Booksellers are constantly evolving to meet the needs of their customers, communities and retail landscape, and the Booksellers Association must continue to evolve alongside them. These changes are about ensuring we have the best expertise and necessary capacity in place to bring value to our members in the areas where they most need it....
"The BA team is a dedicated and astonishingly hard-working group of professionals working to advance bookselling issues and to collaborate with our members to forge solutions, partnerships and innovations. I'm grateful to, and very proud of, the work the team does, and delighted that we've been able to recalibrate the team to continue to deliver value and relevance to bookshops across the U.K. and Ireland."
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British bookseller Goldsboro Books is opening its first permanent international retail space on August 27 at the Sunway Library by BookXcess in Bandar Sunway, Selangor, Malaysia. The Star reported that the Goldsboro Room is a compact, "purpose-built space designed exclusively for Goldsboro Books, echoing the look and feel of its flagship store in London's historic Cecil Court. The outpost set-up--it's the first phase of the collaboration--will offer readers access to Goldsboro Books' collection of signed first edition hardbacks, exclusive editions, and highly collectable books."
The Sunway Library by BookXcess, the largest 24-hour bookstore in Southeast Asia, opened at Sunway Square Mall in 2025. "When we founded BookXcess, our mission was simple: to make great books accessible to more people," said co-founder Andrew Yap. "Over the years, we've worked hard to remove barriers between readers and books, and this partnership with Goldsboro Books is another exciting step in that journey."
Goldsboro Books co-founder and managing director David Headley commented: "Kuala Lumpur will not be our last international opening. Other Goldsboro shops will follow, and sooner than people might expect, although I cannot share everything just yet. Each must feel rooted in its city and welcoming to its readers, rather than like a British shop has simply been lifted from London and placed somewhere else. We will bring Goldsboro’s identity with us, but we will also listen, learn and allow every new shop to find its own place within the community around it."
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Singapore's inaugural Indie Bookshop Day 2026 will feature 20 bookstores across the city. CNA reported that the event will take place primarily on October 3, with programs beginning on October 2 and running through October 4.
The event is jointly organized by participating indies and the Singapore Book Publishers Association, and is supported by the National Arts Council and Hachette Book Group. "It also takes inspiration from bookseller- and reader-centric events in other countries, including Independent Booksellers Week in the U.K. and Independent Bookstore Day in the U.S.," CNA noted.
"SGIBD is not a fair just to sell books, but to celebrate the spaces of our bookstores and bring more people into our worlds," Ibrahim Tahir, one of SGIBD's organizers and the founder/principal bookseller of Wardah Books in Kampong Glam.