The Booksellers Association of the UK and Ireland (BA) is a trade body founded to promote retail
bookselling in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
and
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
. It operates the
National Book Token scheme in the UK and sponsors the
Whitbread Award
The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...
The BA represents 95% of British retail booksellers. The BA operates the Batch payments system, an electronic purchasing interface for independent bookshops.
The BA has made calls for increased government support for retail bookselling, in the light of many bookshop closures in recent years.
Annual conference
The Association's annual conference is an important event in the UK bookselling calendar. As well as speeches by key industry figures, it also sees the presentation of the "
Nibbies
The British Book Awards or Nibbies are literary awards for the best UK writers and their works, administered by ''The Bookseller''. The awards have had several previous names, owners and sponsors since being launched in 1990, including the Nationa ...
", awards for trade bookselling and booksellers.
See also
*
List of booksellers associations
This is a list of booksellers' associations, trade associations of independent (not chain stores) booksellers and bookstores. The list includes antiquarian booksellers associations.
Booksellers' associations
International
* Independent Onlin ...
*
Books in the United Kingdom
History
In 1477 William Caxton in Westminster printed '' The Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophres,'' considered "the first dated book printed in England."
The history of the book in the United Kingdom has been studied from a variety of cultu ...
References
External links
The Booksellers Associationwebsite.
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British booksellers
Bookselling trade associations