September sees the annual Booksellers Association Conference – a gathering of over 400 indie booksellers. It’s an opportunity for us to hear about publishers’ exciting new publications for Spring 2026, meet lots of amazing authors and generally catch up with old friends in the trade.  

(Above L to R:  Debbie James, Kibworth Books, Fleur Sinclair, Sevenoaks Bookshop, Nic Bottomley, Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights and Patrick Neale, Jaffe & Neale Bookshop – bookselling legends the lot of them)

The golden rule is we share the good, the bad and the ugly of bookselling (it’s mostly the former); happily pinching each other’s best ideas, supporting and truly celebrating our shared mission to put the right book into the right reader’s hands, just when they need it.

This year, one of the highlights was the huge privilege of hearing Jung Chang in conversation with Nic Bottomley of Mr B’s bookshop  in Bath, talking about her remarkable new memoir, Fly, Wild Swans.  You could have heard a pin drop as we listened to her story which, while full of generational trauma, is also witty and wise.  Chang originally learned to speak English from teachers who had never heard the language spoken outside China, meaning they taught a literal translation.  ‘Good morning’ in Mandarin translates into English as ‘Where are you going and have you eaten?’ – you can see the problem when moving to study in the UK as Chang did aged 24.

It’s always fascinating to hear from booksellers around the world, we have so much in common, but some face very different challenges.  One such is Nadia Wassef, author of Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller.  Along with family and friends she opened her first bookshop (Diwan) in Cairo in 2002, with no relevant experience between them, but a shared passion for books and reading and a determination to prove the naysayers wrong.  More than 20 years later, Diwan is now a mini-chain of eleven shops that has survived one revolution, five currency devaluations and still thrives as the leading light of cultural engagement in the city.

Nadia was an inspirational speaker and the very embodiment of our conference (unofficial) theme of resilience.

I always come away from the BA Conference head buzzing with ideas and a very long list of books to read (inc., whisper it, the new Douglas Stuart, John of John), plus a wish list of author events to pitch for the next season, so don’t forget to join our mailing list to make sure you hear about our events for Spring 2026.