Alnwick bookshop awarded £1,000 by HarperCollins after celebrity nomination
An Alnwick bookshop has received a £1,000 donation from HarperCollins following a nomination from a famous face.
The Accidental Bookshop was awarded the funding as part of a new initiative celebrating independent bookshops in the National Year of Reading.
The business was personally nominated by actor, comedian and author, Alexander Armstrong, in recognition of the contribution the shop has made to helping his work reach readers.
The initiative, 'The Bookshop I'd Like to Thank', sees HarperCollins UK distribute a total of £21,000 to 21 independent bookshops across the UK, each chosen by one of the publisher's authors.
Alexander Armstrong said: "The Accidental Bookshop is one of those dangerously wonderful places where you pop in for a quick browse and emerge several hours later clutching a stack of books you never knew you needed.
"Independent bookshops are powered by passion, expertise and an almost supernatural ability to place exactly the right book into the right hands. The Accidental Bookshop does all of that with enormous charm, and I'm incredibly grateful to the team for all they do.”
Helen Stanton, owner and bookseller at The Accidental Bookshop has decided to use the money to fund intergenerational story times.
She is currently working with a local school, who visit a nearby care home, to supply them with a library of children’s books which can stay at the home so that residents and children can enjoy reading together during these visits.
Helen Stanton, owner and bookseller at the Accidental Bookshop said: "We love being on Narrowgate in Alnwick with a castle out our back door and so many lovely readers supporting what we do.
"And to count Alexander Armstrong among them is amazing. Thank you so much. It really means a lot to us.”
Tom Dunstan, sales director at HarperCollins UK, said: "Independent bookshops take risks on books, build relationships with readers, and champion authors in ways that simply can't be replicated anywhere else.
"'The Bookshop I'd Like to Thank' is our way of saying that HarperCollins hugely appreciates and values what they do, and what better time to do it than in the National Year of Reading.
"We're enormously grateful to all our authors who took part so enthusiastically – the warmth and passion in their nominations has been remarkable."