There’s a quiet kind of magic that lingers in an independent bookshop — the scent of a fresh book, the comfort that invites you to linger, the feeling that you’ve stepped out of time and into a story all your own. Bookshops are not just a store, but a sanctuary of the heart.

For any book lover, there are few things that full your cup quite like wondering around a bookstore discovering new books, being reminded of those you have read and sharing the love of literature with those you are with. And each October, this love is celebrated by New Zealand during Aotearoa Bookshop Day.

In the anticipation for the 10 year anniversary of Bookshop Day on Saturday 11 October 2025, we sat down and spoke to Renee Rowland, the Association Manager from the Booksellers Association New Zealand, all about what this day truely means.

Tell us about Aoetearoa Bookshop Day, where it all began and what inspired it?

Way back in 2014, a Californian bookseller and writer by the name of Samantha Schoech organised a regional celebration of local bookshops and called the day Independent Bookstore Day. Naturally it was a huge success and by the next year it had expanded internationally, including in Aotearoa NZ, which means this year’s Bookshop Day is its 10th year anniversary.
 
The catalyst for Bookshop Day’s growth from local to international was the urgent need for advocacy and awareness of the role bookshops play in the literary, cultural and commercial communities they serve. At the time, the very existence of bookstores was threatened. The previous decade had been disastrous for bookshops, decimated by large conglomerates and facing inflationary costs that made it even more difficult for booksellers to survive in the communities they’d long served.  There was a sense that bookstores - and perhaps printed books themselves - were anachronisms that no longer served a necessary function in the digital age.
 
Over the last ten years, Bookshop Day has played a critical role in advocacy and awareness, and I would argue triggered a renaissance over the last decade that saw bookshop numbers grow again, including in NZ. We have a new generation of bookshops and booksellers figuring out, individually and collectively, how to make this business work, striking a balance between idealism, culture and commerce and in the process showing us different ways businesses can operate. 
 
Bookshop Day is Saturday 11 October this year, a date we share with our bookselling buddies in Australia and the UK.

What does Bookshop Day mean to you?

Bookshop day is a day for celebration but also a call to arms: this year we’ve seen 9 bookshops close, it’s disheartening but it’s also galvanising: through showing us what we have lost we better know what to fight for and celebrate.

Do you have a stand out year so far with the celebrations?

Every year we try and make it bigger and better, but every year is so unique– back when I was bookselling in Twizel we had a sheep shearing event outside the bookshop to celebrate a book on sheep shearing that had just been published. Much like a bookshop’s shelves, every bookshop day is a unique celebration.

Why do you believe bookshops are a pivotal part of the community? 

I don’t believe it, I know it. Bookshops are the intersection of culture, commerce and community and that’s an incredible power to hold. They champion local authors, they champion literacy, they are sanctuaries and destinations, they are creative hubs and critically endangered third spaces. But despite how obviously valuable they are to society – they are in peril. Bookshop Day is a campaign to remind people to support bookshops.

What is your favourite aspect of the book community?

That’s a hard question – when I’m reading a book, it’s the book, and when I’m bookselling, it’s the people and when I’m working for the Association it’s the Bookselling community.

Do you have a favourite romance book that has stuck with you? 

Honestly? Outlander gets me everytime, but Normal People has a permanent place in my heart! More recently, I’ve loved Book People by Jackie Ashenden, Consider Yourself Kissed and The Other Bennet Sister.