An independent bookshop where children queue around the block to meet famous writers has won two national awards.
The Children's Bookshop, in Fortis Green Road, Muswell Hill, won prizes for the Children’s Bookseller of the Year and Best Book Retailer of the Year at the British Book Awards.
The shop, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, holds signings with children’s authors including Julia Donaldson, David Walliams and Michael Rosen, "creating queues around the block", said owner Sanchita Basu De Sarkar.
The bookshop has given away hundreds of books to charities, shelters and refugee centres, and runs school outreach work, World Book Day activities, book clubs, and a creative writing course.
“Children’s books can be a refuge in this world, Sanchita added. "It is a joy and a privilege knowing our bookshop can be a safe haven for children and their adults.”
The ceremony at the Grosvenor Hotel on Monday (May 13) was attended by top writers and publishers including children’s authors Jacqueline Wilson and Katherine Rundell.
Prizes were presented by BBC presenters Lauren Laverne and CBBC presenter and actor Rhys Stephenson.
The Children's Bookshop is only the second independent store to win best retailer in the past 11 years.
Judges Lorraine Kelly, Anita Singh, Janice Hallett, Diane Evans, Adrian Chiles, Sheena Patel and Candice Braithwaite, said: “It’s everything a children’s bookshop should be.
“The Children’s Bookshop has always supported new as well as big names and it’s put diversity and inclusion at the core of its offering in recent years.”
The British Book Awards - also known as The Nibbies - is run by publishing trade magazine The Bookseller.
On its website, the Bookseller said it is "the array of activity beyond the shop that really sets The Children's Bookshop apart from other book retailers".
It wrote: "The emphasis is always on engaging not just keen readers but children of all abilities and backgrounds."
"That, and a growing awareness of the impact of the cost-of-living crisis, led the shop to give away hundreds of books to local schools, charities, shelters, prisons and refugee centres, and work with an autism centre to develop a learning library for children with additional needs."
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