Individual Bookseller of the Year
WINNER NOOR HEMANI
It is quite a year for the city of Edinburgh at the British Book Awards. Golden Hare Books takes the title of Independent Bookshop of the Year, The Edinburgh Bookshop is highly commended in the Children’s Bookseller of the Year category—and now Noor Hemani of the Lighthouse Bookshop is the Individual Bookseller of the Year. As a student in the city, Hemani was a regular at the radical
independent bookshop before joining the team, and she has quickly had a massive impact on its performance. She has helped to develop one of the most diverse ranges in British bookselling, and spikes in the shop’s sales can often be correlated to her recommendations and handselling. Beyond that, Hemani had a hand in the shop’s 180 events in 2018,
pitching to publishers and shaping sessions at its Radical Book Fair. She leads on the Lighthouse’s outreach work too, which in 2018 included a week of workshops and events with Akala and collaborations with Edinburgh institutions and community groups. Throughout, she has shown the endless versatility and can-do
attitude that indie booksellers need. It makes her much admired by colleagues and customers alike. “Passionate, eloquent and always has her finger on the pulse,” said one bookshop regular in support of her nomination; “She’s the human embodiment of sunshine,” added a colleague. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Hemani is that she achieves all this on just three days a week at the Lighthouse. And in applauding her achievements, the judges also commended the enormous contribution made by retail’s army of part-time booksellers. “What she’s done on part-time hours is amazing,” they said. "She’s a complete all-rounder—someone any manager in the world would love to have in their shop.”
SHORTLIST
AUDE BOLECHALA Manager of Nomad Books in south-west London, she has lifted her bookshop’s sales and profitability and is known by colleagues as the "Book Whisperer"
ANDREW FORSTER A hugely experienced and respected Waterstones bookseller who has made his store a hub of its Truro community after 24 years as manager, championing local authors and publishers in particular
JOE HEDINGER Has drawn on his previous experience in creative agencies to introduce novel ideas such as "detox reading" evenings to the Book Hive in
THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS WINNERS 2019
Norwich, and stepped up the store's social media activity
EUAN HIRST A Blackwell’s professional for more than three decades, he is now chief online bookseller and responsible for ensuring joined-up sales and marketing thinking online and in bricks and mortar stores
JONATHAN TAYLOR A former Waterstones bookseller who has switched to the independent side to become an integral part of the energetic team at this year’s Independent Bookshop of the Year, Golden Hare Books in Edinburgh
Huge impact on her independent bookshop’s stock and service
Extensive involvement in events pitching, planning and execution
Creative community outreach work
Passionate champion of diversity in bookselling and publishing
WITH THANKS TO: HARPERCOLLINS
With a heritage stretching back over 200 years, HarperCollins publishes some of history’s greatest authors including
C S Lewis, Agatha Christie,= and J R R Tolkien, as well as modern
favourites such as Hilary Mantel, George R R Martin, Bernard Corn- well, Cecelia Ahern and Gail Honeyman. Its non-fiction bestsellers
include Max Hastings, Nigel Slater and Ant Middleton. Its children’s publishing includes David Walliams, Judith Kerr, Michael Morpurgo, Michael Bond and Dr Seuss, while the Collins Learning division is a pioneer in reference publishing. It was named Publisher of the Year at the British Book Awards 2018.
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