Fund worth over €100,000 awarded to 23 independent Irish bookstores

Books at One have announced the 23 independently run bookstores who will each receive €5,000 from their Community Prize Fund initiative.

This year’s recipients span 14 counties across Ireland. Among the entries and successful applicants are recently opened stores, as well as those who received funding in 2025.

To enter the running for the prize, bookstores were required to create a short video with a synopsis of how they would use the funding and how it would engage with the local area.

"The power of a good indie bookshop is not just about what's on the shelves alone but about those who work there and those who visit on the regular, making it an important fixture of communities," said Eoghan Stack, Chairperson of The One Foundation.

Now in its second year running, the fund was created by community-focused social enterprise Books at One via The One Foundation. Last summer, 21 bookstores were selected to receive the grant.

“We’re incredibly grateful to receive the Books at One Community Prize Fund,” wrote another of the recipients, Antiquity Bookshop in Cork, on their Instagram. “This support will help us create more offline events that bring people together through books, writing and conversation, encouraging readers to step away from screens and reconnect with the joy of reading, storytelling, and real human connection."

This year’s recipients include:

Antiquity Bookshop, Cork

Antonia’s Bookstore, Meath

Bantry Bookshop, Cork

Books Upstairs, Dublin

Bookworm Bookshop, Tipperary

Castle Books, Mayo

Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Galway

Halfway up the Stairs, Wicklow

Leaf and Bower, Cork

Little Acorns, Derry

Pangur Bán Bookshop, Mayo

Prim’s Bookshop, Cork

Quay Books, Limerick

Red Books, Wexford

Roe River Books, Louth

Tales for Tadpoles, Wicklow

The Bookshelf, Down

The Ennis Bookshop, Clare

The Maynooth Bookshop, Kildare

The Nenagh Bookshop, Tipperary

Turning Pages Bookshop, Galway

Woodbine Books, Kildare

Worm Books, Cork