The Booksellers Association of the United Kingdom & Ireland Limited
Indie Book of the Month logo - Orange illustration of four upright books with stars above, next to the text “Indie Book of the Month” on a white background.
Indie Book of the Month is designed to showcase independent bookshops’ power to drive sales as a sector. It aims to demonstrate the impact independent booksellers can make by working together to build readerships for the books they love.

Throughout 2026, we are fully integrating our Indie Book of the Month and Indie Book of the Month (Children’s) campaigns with Bookshop.org. Aligning our Book of the Month campaigns with Bookshop.org for the entire National Year of Reading will give bookshops more visibility, support reader discovery and spotlight exceptional books – all within the context of bookshops being at the epicentre of expert curation, community value and the promotion of reading for pleasure.

Titles are submitted by publishers, reviewed by the Bookshop.org and Booksellers Association teams, and then voted for by participating booksellers on Edelweiss, and finally passed to a selection panel of booksellers to review and make the final decision for which title to select. If you would like to be on a panel to help select future titles, please contact [email protected].

The BA and respective publishers create free point of sale items and offer signed copies, author events and social media assets to help members hand sell the titles. Participating members are encouraged to order a minimum of six copies from their usual supplier, create in-store displays and support the titles on social media. It is free for booksellers to participate in the Indie Book of the Month initiative and you can sign up at any point in the year. Members can participate in the Indie Book of the Month and/or Indie Book of the Month (Children’s) campaign.

Publisher submissions for July-September are now closed. Please contact [email protected] if you would like to sign up to receive notifications of future submission periods.
 

Indie Book of the Month: May 2026 

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Indie Book of the Month: Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal by Robin Ince
Indie Book of the Month (Children's): Seahorse is Furious (and there is nothing you can do about it!) by Morag Hood

 

The Booksellers Association and Bookshop.org, are promoting Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal by Robin Ince and Seahorse is Furious by Morag Hood Indie Book of the Month and Indie Book of the Month (Children’s) for May.
 
The year-long partnership brings together the Booksellers Association’s Books Are My Bag consumer campaign and Bookshop.org’s online platform to champion monthly Indie Book of the Month titles, supporting reading for pleasure and driving readers towards independent bookshops across the UK and Ireland.
 
Each monthly selection benefits from coordinated promotion across the combined reach of the Booksellers Association’s and Bookshop.org’s social media channels, newsletters and digital platforms, ensuring independent bookshops remain central to reader discovery. Independent Bookshops across the UK and Ireland will also promote Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal and Seahorse is Furious throughout May, via in-store and digital promotional materials.
 
Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal by Robin Ince (Pan) is a warm, funny and thoughtful exploration of what it means to be human, embracing neurodiversity, individuality and the beauty of not fitting neatly into expected norms.
 
Robin Ince, author of Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal, said: “I adore independent bookshops because I love their passion and their mission. I think I have managed to do talks with at least two hundred so far and I have not met a bookseller I don't like. They create such a community. It is the joy of my life to tour from town to town and meet them and their customers and I always find a new story when I am there.”
 
Seahorse is Furious by Morag Hood (Simon & Schuster Children’s Books) is a joyful and expressive picture book full of humour and energy, celebrating big feelings and the importance of self-expression in young readers.
 
Morag Hood, author of Seahorse is Furious, said: “What an absolute honour to have Seahorse is Furious (and there is nothing you can do about it) selected as Indie Book of the Month – independent bookshops are the best! I always feel so welcomed and championed whenever I visit one. I love the sense of community and connection (and getting to pick their booksellers' brains for which new books they are excited about!).”

The Indie Book of the Month and Indie Book of the Month (Children’s) titles are selected by panels of independent bookshops from publisher submissions.

Adult panel:
  • Rossiter Books, Monmouth
  • Village Books, Dulwich
  • Kenilworth Books, Kenilworth
  • Ullapool Bookshop

Children’s panel:
  • Children’s Bookshop, Huddersfield
  • Browser, Dartmouth
  • The Book Stop, Halifax
  • O’Mahoney’s, Limerick

Join in with the Indie Book of the Month campaign on social media:
Instagram
Facebook
#IndieBookoftheMonth

Resources
-2026 Monthly Social Media Assets
Logo
- Poster
- Sticker

Previous Indie Book of the Month titles 
Indie Book of the Month
Indie Book of the Month (Children's)