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On Wednesday 29th April, we officially launched our new Children’s Room with a celebratory National Year of Reading event – and what an evening it was! Below we’ll share some of the learnings from the event but first, a little context… The National Year of Reading - a UK-wide campaign designed to help more people rediscover the joy of reading – provides a perfect moment to pause and reflect. Personally, we might consider our own relationship with reading and reflect upon how our habits influence those around us. And, in a professional context, it provides an opportunity to think about...

Kirsty had the pleasure of speaking with the brilliant poet, performer, teacher and Empathy Lab ambassador Paul Jenkins on his fabulous kidlit podcast, Raised by Writers, about some of her favourite books from the 2026 Empathy Reads collection.  Listen to the episode HERE. 

After four years as Vice President, Debbie became President of the Booksellers Association of the UK and Ireland at their AGM at the London Book Fair (LBF) on Tuesday of this week. Her main focus over her two-year term will be on inclusion, sustainability and wellbeing in the book industry, in an ongoing campaign summarised as ‘People, Planet, Prosperity’. Her first appearance as President was at a round table discussion with a delegation from China on the importance of bookshops as‘urban cultural living rooms’. “I think this phrase perfectly describes our bookshop and many others I know up and down the...

As December draws to a close we're taking a moment to look back over the past year and reflect on some of our team highlights. Days here in the bookshop are never quiet and we're always busying ourselves with various projects, but even we have to admit it's been a rather bumper year!  Here's some of the headlines from 2025:  EventsThis year we've hosted... 24 adult events, including a variety of fiction and non-fiction authors from Elly Griffiths and Robert Goddard, through to Robin Ince, Nicholas Jubber and Ash Bhardwaj. We even had live music again here in the bookshop...

Community Secret Santa is back!  Back in December '24 we launched our 'Community Secret Santa' campaign. Working in collaboration with local, award-winning charity The Well, Kibworth Books sought to raise funds via customer donations to buy a book or gift for someone within the community who may not otherwise be able to afford it. Thanks to your huge generosity, together we raised over £1400 which was used to select around 60 bespoke Christmas gifts for individuals and families in the local area.  With funds still remaining, we have also been able to... - Gift £150 worth of board books to the charity Baby Basics to kickstart a new...

As you'll no doubt know by now, we're passionate advocates of reading for empathy, so we're very excited to share that Kirsty, our Children's Specialist Bookseller, has been invited to speak at the upcoming Empathy Lab conference alongside a stellar line up of experts from the worlds of social and emotional learning, child development, education, and literature.The Raising Generation Empathy is a landmark conference which takes a cross-sector, collaborative approach to exploring how reading can boost children’s empathy and wellbeing.In such a polarised world, empathy matters more now than ever. How we work together to support our children and young...