Our  Anthology

To celebrate Kemptown Bookshop’s 50th anniversary IN 2026, we Ran a writing competition on the theme of Love letters to bookshops.

The winners were included in an anthology alongside local writers, published in September 2026.

Congratulations to our winners:

Short Stories

Christian Liberman Dear Me                                   

Della Griffiths                       Death Among the Spines                           

Gail Davey                            Under the St John's Wort                           

Alexis Wolf                           Bookstore                                                   

Tracy Liennard                      The End Of Us All                                     

Tim Blake                              The Victoria Station Book Club

Poetry

Ia Kozoboli                            The Pop Up Pashto Bookshop

Bridget Wilkins                      The One That Got Away                           

Brenda Cusack                       Shelved Alphabetically                             

Roz Doe                                 Pilgrims                                                     

Victoria Kaplan                      My Bookshop by the Ocean                      

Jérôme Caflisch                      A Spy’s Favourite Covers                         

Flavius Covaci                        Hay-on-Wye This Previous July                                              

Jodie Campbell                       Disgruntled                                                

Olivia Gagan                          Tabernacle                                                 

Khushi Bajaj                           Will you sleep with me in a queer bookstore?         

Vanessa Horn                         On the Shelf                                               

Flash Fiction

Abigail Quine Window Shopping                           

Jane Frank          Paper Heart                                                

Alex Kendall                           Eat your words                                           

Zahira Choudhury                   It's Time to Start a New Book                   

Christine Lugrine                    Church                                                       

Kavita Chhiba                        The Bookshop Escape                               

Susanna Callaghan                 The Lost Detective                                    

Gráinne Daly                          Title Shot                                                   

Daren Carpmail                      Heart’s Desires 

Longhill School Winner: Akil Ahmed  

Brighton College Winner: Simi Shergill