Local bookshop wins Children's Bookseller of the Year award

Catford based independent bookshop Moon Lane Books is celebrating this week after winning the prestigious Children’s Bookseller of the Year 2020 award, beating the likes of Waterstones and Blackwells.  We spoke to manager Meera Ghanshamdas about why she thinks 2019 was such a good year for them.

“We are honoured and delighted to receive this award for our work in 2019. To be recognised by our peers for our hard work challenging the status quo, especially in the current climate, is incredibly significant. The organisation is not limited to Moon Lane Books here on Stanstead Road. Our group includes Tales on Moon Lane, Moon Lane Ramsgate and our schools book suppliers Moon Lane Education.  All of us work tirelessly to raise equality of access and representation within the UK publishing industry, through a variety of innovative initiatives.    

Working in the borough of Lewisham requires a good understanding of the demographics and challenges within the area. With around two-thirds of the school-aged population identifying as BAME, diverse racial representation is critical to our programme development and operations. In 2019, we ran a range of local projects aimed at people aged three to twenty-five. 

Events and workshops

We worked throughout the year with a diverse group of authors and illustrators, including Chitra Soundar, Nathan Byron and Dapo Adeola, Zanib Mian and Nikesh Shukla, to bring workshops and events to primary and secondary schools across the borough, as well as to our shop. We offer free storytelling sessions to local schools, inviting classes across the borough into the bookshop and introducing pupils to a range of diverse and inclusive titles.

We also run pop-up bookshop enterprise days in secondary schools, which help to promote business skills and reading for pleasure and give pupils an understanding of various roles within the publishing industry. 

During 2019 we were successful in accessing funding for two paid internships to individuals from under-represented backgrounds in the publishing industry. It’s important for us to inspire young people from a range of backgrounds to consider writing, illustration and publishing careers, and for them to know that there are people that can help them on their path. 

Festival of Fun and the Lewisham Primary Book Award

2019 was also the initial year of the Lewisham Festival of Fun. Partnering with Beckenham Place Mansion, we hosted five days of events led by authors and illustrators from a diverse range of backgrounds. The festival was open to all Lewisham primary schools and we hope to host it as an annual event from next year. 

The Lewisham Primary Book Award, now in its second year, has been created in partnership with a primary school librarian to encourage conversations about great books in classrooms across the borough. The shortlist is carefully chosen to appeal to children, and the winning books in each category are voted for by pupils across the borough, giving them the opportunity to take ownership of the outcome of the award.

Diverse and inclusive range of books

Our bookshop at Stanstead Road stocks a fully integrated range of books, reflecting Lewisham’s diverse population. We know that family conversations about discrimination can be difficult and will be different for every family. But silence is not an option. At Moon Lane we know that books are important in discovering our voice and challenging misconceptions. Our stock is carefully chosen to be at the forefront of the discussion.

Popular books for children at the moment are:

All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold and Suzanne Kaufman
Freedom (1783) by Catherine Johnson
Sulwe by Lupita Nyong’o and Vashti Harrison

Moon Lane Books, 300 Stanstead Rd, London SE23 1DE

To find out more visit the Moon Lane Books website.