The British Book Awards (the Nibbies) unveiled the regional and country winners for the 2025 Independent Bookshop of the Year Award, which celebrates bookshops that "continue to draw book lovers to towns and cities across the United Kingdom and Ireland," the Bookseller reported.
The overall winner of Independent Bookshop of the Year, which will be named during the awards ceremony on May 12, receives £5,000 (about $6,475) from Gardners and also competes for Book Retailer of the Year. Check out the complete regional and country winners list here.
Meryl Halls, managing director of Booksellers Association, said: "Independent bookshops have long transcended being only a place where books are sold. Today, they're drivers of community projects, distributors of creatives industries and engines of local economies--and you'd be hard pressed to find a group of independent booksellers that better deliver on all these fronts than this sensational collection of deserving winners."
Tom Tivnan, the Bookseller's managing editor, added: "The finalists speak to what makes indies great: their individuality and idiosyncrasy.... Ultimately, what links these indies is they are a vanguard, bold tastemakers who support authors and create bestsellers, often long before those books are glimmers in chain or online bookshops' eyes."
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A new survey by YouGov has found that 40% of Britons has not read or listened to a book in the past year. The Guardian reported that the "median British adult has read or listened to three books in the past year.... Women seem to be bigger readers than men, with 66% of women reading at least one book in the last year, compared with 53% of men." Other highlights from the survey:
- 65% of those aged 65 and over read a book in the last year, compared to 53% of those aged 18 to 24.
- 22% of Britons read or listened to between one and five books over that period, while 4% reported reading more than 50 books.
- 53% do not consider listening to an audiobook equivalent to reading the book, with 29% saying that listening to audiobooks is the same as reading and 18% responding "don't know."
Half of the respondents said they had purchased a new book over the past year, with 40% buying secondhand, 28% borrowing from family and friends, and 19% taking out books from the library.
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Patriotic window display: Galiano Island Books, Galiano Island, B.C., posted on Facebook: "Canada is on our mind! We support Canadian authors, illustrators and publishers!" --Robert Gray