Sustainable Harborough Community
National Year of Reading
Welcome to the 2026 National Year of Reading and our local bookshop’s involvement.
There is great concern about the drop in reading for all age groups, especially amongst children and young adults. Why does it matter? On their website goallin.org.uk, a Department of Education initiative, it says “Reading expands worlds, sharpens minds, and fuels creativity.”
Kibworth Books
That’s certainly the experience of our local Kibworth bookseller, Debbie James. Debbie started the bookshop as an act of faith nearly 20 years ago. Having moved into the Barn and constantly expanding what the bookshop does, has meant there has been no standing still.
See the website (kibworthbooks.com) to learn about what the bookshop provides. You can also see an amazing summary of all else the bookshop team has done this year a kibworthbooks.com/blogs/news/2025-reflections. It includes the awards the bookshop has received and how they have reached out to groups that might miss out on this pleasure, expanding book ownership opportunities.
Booksellers Association Sustainability Champion
Debbie is not only vice president of the Booksellers Association, to be president in March, but is also the Booksellers Association Sustainability Champion. Think of all those trees needed to provide the books and the huge worries about the rainforests in Brazil, the Congo basin and others earth.org/world-rainforest-day-worlds-great-rainforests/.
Thanks to carbon literacy training, Debbie was able to work out the bookshop’s carbon footprint for 2024/25. She will next measure the years 2025/26 to see if changes are making a difference. Furthermore, the aims is to order books that are more targeted to the customers’ interests. This means that fewer books are being returned, reducing their carbon footprint further. Best of all, a new system will mean that readers will be able to see where the wood for the books has been sourced. Kibworth Books is now considered to be a carbon literate bookshop. Congratulations.
Julie Fagan, volunteer, Sustainable Harborough Community and Eco Churches
Leicestershire Wildlife Hospital
