Authors send books to restock library burned in riots

Denise Jones from Liverpool's library service says the many books which have been sent show how "disgusted" people were at the rioting

Hundreds of authors and publishers have donated new books to help restock a library that was damaged in riots.

Spellow Library Hub on County Road, in the Walton area of Liverpool, was damaged after after about 300 people were involved in riots near a mosque on 3 August.

Author Marnie Riches posted on X after seeing pictures of the building alight, saying she had sent a parcel of her books to the city using the hashtag Reading Not Rioting.

Since then, inspired by her actions, hundreds of other authors, including Philip Pullman and Val McDermid, have followed suit.

Spellow Hub community library was set on fire

Queen Camilla, who read to Liverpool schoolchildren on a royal visit to the city's Central Library last year, has donated a box of 67 books, including works by Bernardine Evaristo, Hilary Mantel and Michael Morpurgo.

Denise Jones from Liverpool’s library service said having hundreds of parcels arrive addressed to her “felt a bit like Christmas.”

“After Marnie put the call out to send their books, we started to get a drip of parcels arriving and then it became boxes and larger deliveries and yesterday we had two large cages delivered,” she said.

She said the books were being kept in storage until the library reopened and due to the number of donations some could be sent to other Liverpool branches.

Ms Jones said the notes and cards which accompanied the donated books were "the best thing".

She said it “really expresses how people feel and how they wanted to help and how disgusted they were” by the actions of the vandals who caused the damage.

Several authors have also offered to host events at the library and she said she hoped to stage a mini festival there.

The city council said activities planned for the library over the summer had now been relocated

Ms Jones said the generosity shown had been appreciated by the staff at Spellow Hub, adding it was “really important to help them in their recovery journey".

"They were so shocked and upset, and so when we open these parcels and read the cards it makes them feel great.

"What happened there was a minority of people. The majority of people love their library services”.

Author Marnie Riches said she had been “delighted” by the response to her campaign.

She said she had been “so angry” by the “senseless criminal damage” of the library.

"I thought doing something practical and tangible would put books back into readers hands,” she added.