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Lancashire-based indie bookshop Storytellers Inc is looking to partner with other booksellers to sell the latest edition of the Illustrators Calendar.
The Illustrators Calendar 2015 features work from Emily Gravett, Steven Lenton, Tim Hopgood, Mini Grey, Chris Haughton, Lucy Cousins, Chris Judge, Mo Willems, Tom Percival, Rebecca Cobb and Lydia Monks, who all donated illustrations for free to support the indie venture.
Two bookshops have already signed up to stock the calendar (Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights in Bath and Booka Bookshop in Oswestry) but Katie Clapham, who came up with the idea, is keen to work with more. “We’ve streamlined the page layout and dates to make it more widely accessible to other sellers… we have a limited print run and customers return year after year to tell us how much they enjoy their calendar through the year,” she said.
The calendar also forms the basis of Storytellers Inc’s year-long school picture book project, An Illustrated Year. Every month, the shop sends a picture book and worksheets, inspired by one of the illustrations in the calendar, to participating schools.
“This can also drive sales back to the shop when local children want to own the book they’ve enjoyed in school,” said Clapham. “We’ve had some great feedback from schools on this project with new classes signing up each year – we send books out to over 20 classrooms each month and hope to build on this for 2015.”
Individual calendars retail for £10 (plus £4 postage and packing) but Clapham said she will offer discounts to other independent bookshops. They can also buy the activity sheets to run their own Illustrated Year project for a one-off payment of £40.
This is the third year Storytellers Inc has created a calendar of this kind. Clapham launched the project in 2012.
Anyone wanting to buy this year’s calendar or make enquiries can email carolyn@storytellersinc.co.uk.