Past Events

We welcome proposals that engage with all forms of the bookselling space—physical, virtual, historical, social, communal, commercial, and imagined—and encourage transcultural, transnational, and intersectional perspectives.

With Dr Maria Vassilopoulos (University of Wales Press) Maria Vassilopoulos has worked as a bookseller, for The Bookseller...

Throughout 2025, the Booksellers Association (BA) collaborated with Creative Access to deliver a mentoring programme designed to support young people seeking to enter—or advance within—the bookselling profession.

Queer writing is no longer a niche but a significant cultural and economic force.

Sarah Harkness speaks on her recent book, "Literature for the People: How the Pioneering Macmillan Brothers built a Publishing Powerhouse"

Drawing on reports from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, Howard Davies presents key findings, national contrasts, and policy recommendations to support and sustain bookshops’ vital local roles.

Our final session of the year will be on Friday, 12th December, again at 2 pm on Teams...

Piovesan offers a compelling overview of how bookshops are navigating the challenges of the digital age.

Join Tom Owen as he discusses the research that led to the opening of Gay on Wye and shares his vision for the future of queer literature on the UK high street. Stocking LGBTQIA+ books isn’t about cashing in on the pink pound — it’s about offering stories that resonate deeply with readers and help build lasting community.

his paper presents exploratory notes from my ongoing research project, which focuses on occult and New Age spirituality bookshops in Britain and aims to illuminate their function as hubs and arenas for the transference of knowledge and information within these respective milieus, c. 1893 - c.1993.

Shelf Life is a meticulously crafted exploration of bookselling and publishing that spans two millennia. This engaging narrative unveils the resilience and innovation of key figures who have shaped the literary landscape, from the pioneering days of William Caxton to the contemporary influence of Jeff Bezos.

Bookselling seems to be an innate profession, after all we learn to read at school and to be a bookseller you have to love reading, don't you?

Across Europe, a number of bookselling schools, whether public or private, apprenticeship or university-based, for initial or continuing training, provide high-quality training for future booksellers, department managers or company directors.
What do they teach and how do they train the booksellers of tomorrow?

Convenience and the saving of time are attractions of buying books online, particularly on Amazon, which advertises rapid...

Mark Thornton, Senior Partnerships Manager for the UK side of Bookshop.org will be talking to us about the way this online platform is trying to support physical indie bookshops, and some of the connected bookish initiatives the B-Corp company has initiated.

Hidden Behind the Bookshelves Join Prof Samantha Rayner to discuss her recently published Cambridge Element, Women Booksellers in...

We are looking forward to our second pre-holidays Bring Your Own Book event.

Bring a favourite book (or two) that you’ve read (or want to read) featuring bookstores (fiction, non-fiction, all welcome!). This will be a relaxed and informal chat—perfect for getting into the holiday spirit with fellow book lovers!

Radical Bookselling History Project: Dave Cope, John Goodman, Rick Seccombe, Maggie Walker From the early 1970s, there was...

In 1982, in the midst of Thatcherite-Britain, Jane Cholmeley, Sue Butterworth and Jane Anger decided they needed to...

Evan Friss's The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore is "an affectionate and engaging history of the...

The Bookseller Oral History Project, initiated by Lanora Jennings in 2023, aims to preserve the voices and experiences of booksellers, highlighting their roles in supporting societal movements and balancing commercial and social profits. The project underscores the historical significance of bookstores as community hubs and platforms for resistance and progressive discourse.

Matthew Chambers, Author of London and the Modernist Bookshop (CUP 2020), will be discussing his work on the...

Mark Pearson is the CEO and co-founder of Libro.fm, the digital audiobook platform for more than 2,600 independent bookshops around the world. Before that he was the publisher at Pear Press. You can learn more about Libro.fm at https://libro.fm/story and through our annual social purpose reports.

The presenters retain copyright for all images in the presentation except those listed below. Images may be re-used...

Join Praveen Madan, Peggy Holman, and Amanda Hall in discussing the Re-Imagining Bookstores movement, which advocates for bookstore support in the U.S. They envision new business models, community engagement, and sustainable practices to strengthen and reinvigorate bookstores, promoting literacy and civic engagement. Madan, Hall, and Holman bring extensive experience and innovative ideas to the cause.

Join Josh Cook, a bookseller and co-owner of Porter Square Books, as he discusses his new book "The Art of Libromancy: On Selling Books and Reading Books in the Twenty-first Century." Cook, an author known for "An Exaggerated Murder," shares his literary journey and insights from his extensive experience in the book industry.

This talk explores the significance of books in Chinese society and their role in achieving common prosperity. It provides new insights into the relationship between government policies and the growth of physical bookstores in China. Simon Mahony discusses how official publications and government plans highlight the importance of literacy and culture.

The talk delves into sidewalk bookselling in New York City as a space for negotiating cultural, social, and legal belonging. Despite municipal regulations, booksellers create inclusive spaces on these contested sidewalks. Kristen Highland, an Assistant Professor, discusses her research on book history and will be interviewed post-talk, followed by a Q&A session.

Join Dr Kathy Liddle and Dr Sarah Pyke as they present their work on feminist and queer bookstores as places of contested...

An Interview with Dr Simon Frost Dr Simon Frost, Principal Academic in English at Bournemouth University and author of Reading,...

The second themed Bookselling Research Network event featured a round table discussing bookstores' financial and social dimensions. Three presentations explored the complexity of book retail (Dr. Simon Frost), bookstores as cultural and entrepreneurial nodes (Prof. Corinna Norrick-Rühl), and factors like community and curation explaining the resurgence of independent bookstores (Dr. Ryan Raffaelli).

The BRN's first themed event featured presentations from Dr. Will Smith and Professor Simon Eliot. Dr. Smith discussed the multi-generational history of Sam Read Booksellers, emphasizing oral histories and archival research. Professor Eliot highlighted the value of "unwitting testimony" in archives, using examples like public library catalogues and publisher correspondence to reveal hidden insights.