HarperCollins UK is giving £21,000 (about $28,100) to independent bookshops "after 21 of its authors and illustrators nominated stores that have supported their work," the Bookseller reported. Through the publisher's "The Bookshop I'd Like to Thank" initiative, launched as part of the National Year of Reading, each nominated independent bookshop receives £1,000 (about $1,340) to be used according to their needs. Participants include Tracy Chevalier, Alexander Armstrong, Hannah Gold, and Imani Thompson.
"Independent bookshops take risks on books, build relationships with readers and champion authors in ways that simply can't be replicated elsewhere," said Tom Dunstan, group sales director at HarperCollins UK. "The Bookshop I'd Like to Thank is HarperCollins' way of showing we appreciate and value what they do, and what better time to do it than in the National Year of Reading."
Chevalier, who nominated Funny Weather in Kentish Town, north London, which opened shortly before Christmas 2025, said, "I thought they were both brave and crazy, as there aren't any other shops nearby and not a lot of footfall. I was so delighted to be proved wrong! Every time I go in there it's full of people perusing books and drinking coffee."
Armstrong chose the Accidental Bookshop in Alnwick, noting that independent bookshops are powered by "passion, expertise and an almost supernatural ability to place exactly the right book into the right hands." Thompson nominated Afrori Books in Brighton, which she described as "a haven for black authors," while Parks chose Drake the Bookshop in Stockton-on-Tees.
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In Belgium, Brussels bookshops "are adapting to changing reading habits, stronger demand for English-language titles, and growing interest in specialist stores, with several significant developments reshaping the capital's bookselling sector," the Brussels Morning Newspaper reported.
Passa Porta opened a dedicated English-language bookshop next to its existing Rue Dansaert store in April. Manager Ludovic Bekaert said earlier this year that English-language books had grown to account for about one-third of Passa Porta's sales, leading the bookstore to triple the space available for its English-language collection.
Le Refuge, which recently opened at 11 Rue du Lombard, focuses on outdoor activities and nature. Founder Camille Quintin had originally considered opening a general bookshop, but decided the city already had many and identified outdoor literature as a specialist niche that was not being fully served.
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Singapore's government has launched an initiative "promising actual cash to citizens as a reward for logging reading time on a government website," the Guardian reported. "It's unlikely to make you megabucks--you have to rack up 50 reading sessions of at least 15 minutes to earn one Singapore dollar [79 U.S. cents], with only one logged session allowed per day. But behavioral scientists and psychologists told the Guardian such a scheme could still help boost a habit in precipitous decline."
While the earning potential is low, this doesn't mean it won't be effective, said Ivo Vlaev, a professor of behavioral psychology at the National University of Singapore. "One of the interesting findings from behavioral science is that incentives do not always work in proportion to their monetary value."