5 Black Owned Book Stores You Can Support in the UK
At The Black Curriculum, we aim to make Black British history accessible across the UK, and we do this through delivering services such as student workshops, teacher training, and also producing both free and licensable learning resources.
There are a number of UK bookstores who share our commitment to making learning accessible for all communities. These stores are vital to the archiving of history, and the distribution of diverse authors, characters and narratives. We spoke with some Black owned, independent bookshops based in the UK, and have listed their stories below!
New Beacon Books
New Beacon Books was founded in 1966 by John La Rose and his partner Sarah White, As the UK’s first black publisher, specialist bookshop and international book distributor, the objective was to assist Caribbean and African writers to get their work published and to break the discontinuity of information from generation to generation through books. New Beacon Books has made available to all communities, literature from Africa, Asia, the Americas and Black Britain.
Online bookshop: https://www.newbeaconbooks.com/
Address: 76 Stroud Green Rd, Stroud Green, London N4 3EN
Instagram: @newbeaconbooks
Twitter: @newbeaconbooks
BookLove
BookLove is an independent, grassroots UK based Multicultural Travelling Book Carnival and online shop celebrating and highlighting multicultural, anti-racist, inclusive and Bi-lingual books for children and adults. Our passion is to try and represent a range of cultures, with an emphasis on marginalised Black and Brown voices in adult and children’s literature. There is massive under-representation, not just within the curriculum, but across all media, especially books, and BookLove is on a mission to change that.
With 20p from every book sold going to our Community Interest Company, "BookLove + Beyond" we are donating free books to schools to make real change. Those who don’t see themselves find themselves at BookLove!
Online bookshop - www.thisisbooklove.com
Instagram @thisisbooklove_
Twitter - @thisisbooklove
Afrori Books
We live in a diverse country surrounded by amazing creative talent. Yet black authors struggle to get a place on the bookshelf of major bookstores. Libraries tuck books by black authors away in a small BAME section and the selection is sparse. Starting out of one woman's desire to bring about change, Afrori books have grown to have the biggest selection of books by black authors in the United Kingdom. Our mission is simple: Support black authors, create diverse bookshelves, be a voice for justice. We want to give black authors more than a hidden away shelf; we want to give them a whole store.
For those who want to create diverse bookshelves in their home, workplace or educational setting, it is a mountainous task trying to find books that contain black characters or try finding books from genres outside of social justice, like romance, fantasy, murder mystery, thriller, and teen books.
Online bookshop: www.afroribooks.co.uk
Instagram: @afroribooks
Round Table Books
Round Table Books is an inclusive, independent, Black-owned bookshop based in Brixton that specialises in selling and championing books with diverse characters, be that race, sexuality, gender or disability. Our story started through a pop-up shop hosted by publishers Knights Of, who were tired of seeing so little representation on bookshelves. Thanks to the overwhelming popularity of the pop-up and a successful crowdfunding campaign, Round Table Books was born! You can find us in Brixton Village.
Online bookshop: www.roundtablebooks.co.uk
Address: 97 Granville Arcade, Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, London, SW9 8PS
Twitter: @BooksRound
Instagram: @RoundTableBooks
Black Cultural Archives
Black Cultural Archives (BCA) in Brixton is the home of Black British History. Our mission is to collect, preserve and celebrate the histories of people of African and Caribbean descent in the UK and to inspire and give strength to individuals, communities and society. Our founders felt there needed to be a space where they could go and see positive representations of themselves, and this vision flows through our exhibitions, bookstore and collections.
Online bookshop: www.blackculturalarchives.org/shop
Address: 1 Windrush Sq. Brixton, SW2 1EF
Twitter: @bcaheritage
Instagram: @bcaheritage