Derry's Little Acorns Bookstore secures prestigious funding from Books at One
2026 Fund will support 23 independent shops in total across 14 counties
The community-led bookshop initiative Books at One has officially announced the 23 independent bookstores selected as funding recipients for the second year of its Community Prize Fund, with Derry's own Little Acorns Bookstore named among this year's awardees.
Each selected store will receive a grant of up to €5,000 in support of developing new and engaging activities for the benefit of their local community. This year’s recipients will see 23 stores from 14 counties, spread across the island of Ireland.
Among the entries and successful applicants are recently opened stores as well as those who also received funding in 2025, allowing them to expand and grow on last year’s activity, or embark on a new creative venture.
The fund was created in 2025 for Books at One via The One Foundation as a new avenue of support for both independent stores and their surrounding communities. The aim was to further strengthen the importance of independent bookstores as creative venues for community engagement and connection across the country.
Now in its second year, the fund builds on a strong first outing. Last summer, 21 independent bookshops received grants to deliver projects that reimagined their stores as unique cultural and social places in their towns and cities. From storytelling events, creative workshops and youth programmes, The Community Prize Fund helped support a wide variety of different projects, responding to the unique needs of each bookstore’s local community.
Eoghan Stack, Chairperson of The One Foundation commented "When the Books at One Community Prize Fund launched in 2025, we hoped it would give booksellers an opportunity to try new avenues to creatively engage with their local community and it’s proven to be a huge success.
“This year, the fund will support 23 independent shops across 14 counties, helping independent bookshops integrate a love of reading into a real community way of life. 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.
“We’re delighted to see both the initiative and the ideas within the applications grow and look forward to seeing how these are brought to life by the communities that shape them.”
For further information visit www.booksatone.ie or follow @books_at_one.