James Patterson gives away £130,000 to independent bookshops

Grisly murders and serial killers are James Patterson’s stock in trade, making the thriller writer one of the world’s bestselling authors. But now UK booksellers are celebrating Patterson’s sunnier side after he handed out over £130,000 to independent bookshops in a quest to get children reading.

Patterson, who topped Forbes’s recent list of the world’s richest authors with earnings of more than $90m in the last year, announced his intention to give £250,000 to UK bookshops earlier this summer, following a pledge to donate $1m to US bookshops last September. “Far too many children are in danger of living their lives without books. This runs the risk of living in a world run by the short-sighted, by the empathy-challenged, and by the glib,” said the novelist at the time. “Bookshops are the most viable bulwark against this and I need to be part of the fight to ensure their survival.”

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Now the first swathe of recipients of Patterson’s grants has been announced, with 73 shops across the UK and Ireland winning grants of between £250 and £5,000, provided that they have a dedicated children’s book section. From Brighton’s Kemptown Bookshop to Oswestry’s Siop Cwlwm, and Edinburgh’s Word Power Books to the Totnes Bookshop, the stores were all allocated grants to help get children reading.

At Book-ish in Crickhowell, the money will be going towards the purchase of a camper van to enable the team to visit the local community and schools. “We’re going to turn it into a ‘book bus’. We live in quite a rural community and want to be able to take the bus out there … We’re open to all ideas for the van, from author events to readings in residential homes and workshops,” said Emma Corfield-Walters, who had just received news of a £5,000 grant. “There’s absolutely no way in the world we’d have been able to do this without the grant – we’re also trading in our car to be able to buy it, but it’s just so worth it.

Corfield-Walters said that Patterson was “a man who really does put his money where his mouth is – there’s so much negative press about how bookselling is dead, about declining high streets and literacy being down. But he’s thought, ‘No, I don’t want this to happen, I will use my own money to help booksellers,’ and he’s ignited a lot of enthusiasm as a result.”

Liz Tipping, owner of Penrith’s Hedgehog Bookshop, will be setting up a children’s reading group for locals with the £3,000 grant she has won. “There isn’t that culture here which you might find in big cities, where people take for granted that children will be interested in literacy and reading, and for a lot of people, financially, there isn’t the wherewithal either,” she said. “The idea is to have the grant money to help fund purchase of the books, because purchasing books is a big deal for parents here – income is very low in this area. It’ll also fund the cost of travel for them, and help me employ somebody to do this. It’s essentially a funded reading club.”

Tipping said her shop had started in December 2012 as “really just a cupboard in the covered market”, only moving into its current premises in late 2013. “We’re not a big glitzy outfit – I’m sitting here in a chair from Freegle looking at furniture I’ve restored out of a skip. We don’t have a huge amount of money, so the idea that notice has been taken of such a small place is quite exciting,” she said.

At the tiny Barnett’s of Wadhurst, Sue Gaisford said the £2,000 the store has received will go towards “tidying up” the children’s department, and funding events for children. “It already contains six little old miniature chairs and a large colourful cushion, where children can sit and read, but it’s hard to organise shelving in there at the moment, particularly as it’s such a tiny space. But this money will make all the difference,” she said. “And even more than the money, it’s lovely that a man who does so well out of adult thrillers should make such a commitment towards encouraging children’s reading, and towards independent bookshops.”

Patterson, who also writes children’s books, said he had been “completely overwhelmed” by the number of bookshops who applied for grants, “and impressed and enthused by the calibre of the applications”.”It’s been a very difficult decision process and I have worked to identify independent bookshops for whom this money may make a difference,” said the bestselling writer. “I’m excited to follow their progress and see the proposed ideas in action.”

The second round of successful grant applicants will be announced next year. Tim Walker, president of the Booksellers Association, said he was “very proud” to be president of the organisation “at a point when a bestselling author is making such an unequivocal statement of confidence in the independent sector, and proud of the booksellers who are proving him right”.