The pressures on independent bookshops show no sign of relenting – more than 200 have closed since 2009 leaving only 1094 still trading this year. The annual celebration Independent Booksellers' Week has seen a range of initiatives around the UK, from a crime writers' festival at London's Goldsboro Books to the appearance behind the tills of bestselling authors including Ian Rankin, Susan Hill and Joanne Harris.
Writers from Michael Frayn to Deborah Moggach are celebrating Independent Booksellers' Week by telling us about the local store they love. Take a look at their choices below – and to tell the world about YOUR favourite independent, submit a review to our interactive map of the UK's best bookshops, in association with National Book Tokens
Claire Tomalin’s and Michael Frayn’s favourite bookshop: The Open Book, Richmond:
Tomalin: 'We've lived here for nine years and the shop is one of the great amenities; wonderful, with amazing stocks. When I phone for a book it will be there, probably next day. It makes for a good life to have a place like this; English towns will become desolate without bookshops. When I was a child, my library and my local bookshop gave me a great education.'
Frayn: 'Helena Caletta's apparently tiny shop stretches way back into the hidden depths of the world, just as books do. She is as down-to-earth as a postmistress, but she knows her stock because she reads it herself. She and her partner Michael also know everyone in the district, all of whom are in and out of the shop, so everything about it breathes not dust and dullness but life and interest.'
Charles Dickens: A Life by Claire Tomalin is out in paperback. Skios by Michael Frayn was published in May
Tomalin: 'We've lived here for nine years and the shop is one of the great amenities; wonderful, with amazing stocks. When I phone for a book it will be there, probably next day. It makes for a good life to have a place like this; English towns will become desolate without bookshops. When I was a child, my library and my local bookshop gave me a great education.'
Frayn: 'Helena Caletta's apparently tiny shop stretches way back into the hidden depths of the world, just as books do. She is as down-to-earth as a postmistress, but she knows her stock because she reads it herself. She and her partner Michael also know everyone in the district, all of whom are in and out of the shop, so everything about it breathes not dust and dullness but life and interest.'
Charles Dickens: A Life by Claire Tomalin is out in paperback. Skios by Michael Frayn was published in May
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