@NewhamBookshop
Since we announced the offer to provide free copies of Superior: the Return of Race Science by Angela Saini and Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge on 2 June, we have been inundated with requests from across the UK and from abroad. We have also received many requests for a bundle of children’s books discussing racism and power.
This is all possible thanks to a generous donation from Dr Jess Wade, a physicist, materials scientist and equalities campaigner at Imperial College London. Jess Wade also launched a crowdfunding page on JustGiving, which has raised over £11,400. Angela Saini’s publishers 4th Estate made a generous donation of 1,000 copies of the paperback edition of Superior to make it possible to give books to many more people.
Apart from requesting free copies of these books, many people have donated to the crowdfunding and have chosen to pay for their book, as well as ordering other books discussing these issues.
Our live-streamed charity auction for the signed CD of The Dark Side of the Moon took place at The Wanstead Tap on Saturday 6 June with a select group of serious Pink Floyd fans. The winning bid of £2,000 came from Heather Moos of Scottsdale, Arizona. Heather says: “I have a David Gilmour/Pink Floyd playlist that I play almost every day. One day when I was listening to it, a message from Spotify popped up congratulating me for being one of Pink Floyd’s top fans worldwide. ‘You’re one of their top 1% fans.’ I didn’t even know that was a thing but I was ecstatic!”
Vivian Archer, manager of Newham Bookshop, said: “We are really pleased to have raised £2,000 in this auction. We are donating to INQUEST, who support bereaved families following a death in custody and whose patron is our mutual friend Benjamin Zephaniah, and to Newham-based campaigners Netpol, who defend people’s right to protest and oppose unjust and discriminatory policing.”
Jack Monroe’s new book has just been published. It was written before the coronavirus pandemic, but perfectly captures what we all need now. Newham Bookshop supports Jack Monroe with her books, and will donate £1 from each copy sold to a Newham foodbank. If you would like to buy an exclusive signed copy, please email info@newhambooks.co.uk or call 020 8552 9993. The book costs £7.99, plus £1.40 postage. For international customers the postage is £5.01. (For local customers, the anarchist cyclists are raring to go).
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The voice and guitar of Pink Floyd, David Gilmour, has donated some rare signed copies of CDs for our auction to support local charities. Most of the bids have come in by email and we expect to raise around £2,000. We will tell the winners very soon.
David Gilmour is here signing CDs with his wife Polly Samson signing bookplates to go in copies of her new novel A Theatre for Dreamers. We have had many orders for this book and they are on their way!
Newham Bookshop features in the online version of Condé Nast Traveller’s selection of 10 Lovely Independent Bookshops in London – that Deliver. The article describes how each of the independent bookshops are striving to provide a service to customers while their shops are closed to the public.
Bernardine Evaristo, author of Girl, Woman, Other and joint winner of the 2019 Booker Prize told Eurostar’s on-board magazine Metropolitan about her relationship with London, and mentioned Newham Bookshop as her favourite bookshop. Click here for the interview.
We are thrilled to offer pre-orders for this great book, The Little Book of Humanism, by Alice Roberts and Andrew Copson, which will be published in June. We will make a donation to Humanists UK from the sales.
We all want to lead a happy life. Traditionally, when in need of guidance, comfort or inspiration, many people turn to religion. But there has been another way to learn how to live well— the humanist way—and in today’s more secular world, it is more relevant than ever.
In The Little Book of Humanism, Alice Roberts and Andrew Copson share over two thousand years of humanist wisdom through an uplifting collection of stories, quotes and meditations on how to live an ethical and fulfilling life, grounded in reason and humanity. With universal insights and beautiful original illustrations, The Little Book of Humanism is a perfect introduction and a timeless anthology of humanist thought from some of history and today’s greatest thinkers.
Benjamin Zephaniah and Vivian Archer discuss Newham Bookshop with host Ben Holden on the latest episode of the Ex Libris podcast. Click here to listen.
Photographs by Keith J. Martin
While we are waiting to put up new signage, we are pleased to display two banners for the time being. Do you like them? Email or tweet your comments.
Local historian, author and friend of Newham Bookshop, Peter Williams has published a book on the history of West Ham and its Fire Brigade. This illustrated book weaves together local history with an account of the fire service in West Ham from 1800 to 1965.
On Friday 22 March it was announced that Newham Bookshop is the London winner of the British Book Awards Independent Bookshop of the Year. Thanks to your help and support, we were chosen from a shortlist of seven London independent booksellers. Announcing the decision in The Bookseller, Tom Tivnan, managing editor of The Bookseller and chair of the Independent Bookshop of the Year judges, said: “In 2018, we had the wonderful news that indie bookshop numbers increased for the second year in a row, the first time that has happened in decades. We’ve seen that renaissance in the sector reflected in the sheer depth and breadth of submissions to this award. These are nine worthy winners, from regional shortlists of startling strength, all of which represent the best in British bookselling but, perhaps more importantly, are hubs of their communities.”
For London, he said: “Newham Bookshop in Upton Park, the London category winner, marked 40 years trading in 2018. The huge affection for the shop became apparent in a fundraising campaign to support its move to new premises last year, while manager Vivian Archer received the Outstanding Contribution to Bookselling Award at the Books Are My Bag Awards.”
We are delighted to congratulate Golden Hare Books of Edinburgh for winning the Independent Bookshop of the Year, but we are very pleased to be the regional winner for London. We cover a wide range of subjects at Newham Bookshop, as demonstrated by our section titles, some of which have been refreshed following our move into 743 Barking Road.
We’ve been shown some of your comments which contributed to our becoming the London regional winner of Independent Bookshop of the Year. We’d love to share them with you – click here to read them.
We’ve been receiving dozens of book orders by email and phone, and sending them out by post. Our special cycling volunteers are helping with local deliveries in Newham, Wanstead and Leytonstone.
Apart from many orders from our local customers, we’ve been sending signed copies of Polly Samson’s new novel A Theatre for Dreamers to fans across Europe, the USA and Australia! Your local independent bookshop is going global.
Are you locked down with children in years 5 or 6? We have four lessons for classroom or family use developed from On the Record’s oral history project centered around Newham Bookshop, Writing and Reading Newham. Click here for full details.
Michael Rosen’s poem, These Are The Hands, features in a book of poems from the heart of the NHS, which has just been published.
