A NEW charity, Bookbanks, is looking for to make books available to users of foodbanks across the UK.
“Bookbanks partners with existing foodbanks to create enticing pop-up stalls of books — free for guests of all ages to browse, borrow, or keep,” a press release says. “The books are donated by organisations reminiscent of bookshops, libraries, prizes, and publishers; some are also given by individuals, including foodbank guests.”
The stalls, staffed by volunteers who work on the planet of books, are “spaces for conversation, inspiration and community”, it says.
The charity was founded by Emily Rhodes, a author, critic, and former bookseller, who runs a walking Emily’s Walking Book Club (Feature, Podcast, 9 June 2023), and has written essays for the monthly Church Times Book Club (Book Club, 5 January, 4 April).
She said this week: “Nobody should should select whether to ‘feed or read’. By enabling the books industry to work closely with foodbanks, we are able to change this. Books are a strong tool not only to enhance literacy, but additionally to construct relationships and create communities.”
A Bookbanks stall has been running each week since September 2022 at a foodbank in St Jude and St Paul, Newington Green, in north-east London. More than 2500 books have to date been distributed. A series of writer events, funded by the Arts Council, began last month, when the novelist Nadia Kabir Barb read from and took questions on her short story collection Truth or Dare: and other stories (Renard Press).
Another Bookbanks stall opened this week at Wymondham Community Outreach Project, in Norfolk. The charity is looking for funding to expand across the UK.
Its chair of trustees is the novelist Neil Griffiths (Books, 15 June 2018). “The one demographic publishing has all the time failed to succeed in is the financially disadvantaged,” he said. “Cost should never be a barrier to books. Bookbanks provides this essential access, but additionally a crucial by-product — community. Reading may be a personal pleasure, but talking about books connects people.”
Bookbanks ambassadors are the novelists Andrew O’Hagan and Elizabeth Day.
Mr O’Hagan, whose latest novel is Caledonian Road (Faber & Faber), said: “I’m proud to be an envoy for Bookbanks, a wonderful charity aiming to supply books — and conversation about books — to individuals who could use a little bit of support immediately. I grew up in a family that needed help, and I’ll always remember how those things formed and enlarged my sense of community.”
