Goldsboro Books

Goldsboro Books

Industry	Retail Books
Founded	1999
Founder	David Headley Daniel Gedeon
Headquarters	Cecil Court, Westminster, London
Website	goldsborobooks.com

Goldsboro Books is an independent bookseller located on Cecil Court, Westminster, London. It was founded by book collectors David Headley and Daniel Gedeon in 1999.

Since 2017, Goldsboro Books has hosted the Glass Bell Award.

History

In 1999, literary agent David Headley partnered with Daniel Gedeon to open their bookshop Goldsboro Books on Cecil Court, a pedestrian street in Westminster nicknamed "Bookseller's Row" due to its high volume of booksellers, which has been the case for over a century. Goldsboro Books set out to tailor its collection to rare, first and collectible editions of books. The shop gained a "reputation for championing debut novels" in addition to attracting authors and publishers for various events. ^{[1] [2]}

Goldsboro Books began a digital Book of the Month club in 2007, through which the bookseller garnered an online following. ^[1]

In 2025, Goldsboro Books was among 10 London booksellers nominated for Independent Bookshop of the Year. ^[3]

Glass Bell Award

The Glass Bell Award was launched in 2017. It rewards a contemporary fiction novel with a glass bell and a prize of £2,000.

Year	Winner	Shortlist	Longlist	Ref
2017	Everyone Brave is Forgiven, Chris Cleave	Pendulum, Adam Hamdy The Wolf Den, Beth Lewis The North Water, Ian McGuire Anatomy of a Soldier, Harry Parker The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead	All the Birds in the Sky, Charlie Jane Anders Dark Matter, Blake Crouch My Name is Leon, Kit de Waal I See You, Clare Mackintosh The Sport of Kings, C.E. Morgan Sleeping Giants, Sylvain Neuvel My Name is Lucy Barton, Elizabeth Strout	[4]
2018	The Heart's Invisible Furies , John Boyne	The Nix , Nathan Hill Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine , Gail Honeyman Good Me Bad Me, Ali Land You Don't Know Me, Imran Mahmood The Silent Companions, Laura Purcell	American War , Omar El Akkad The Word is Murder, Anthony Horowitz The Innocent War, Amy Lloyd Reservoir 13 , Jon McGregor The Ice, Laline Paull Behind Her Eyes , Sarah Pinborough My Absolute Darling, Gabriel Tallent	[5] [6] [7]
2019	Vox, Christina Dalcher	Snap, Belinda Bauer Puppet Show, M. W. Craven Swan Song, Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott The Tattooist of Auschwitz , Heather Morris	Our House, Louise Candlish Ordinary People, Diana Evans The Poison Bed, EC Fremantle An Ocean of Minutes , Thea Lim Dear Mrs Bird, AJ Pearce Memo from Turner, Tim Willocks	[8]
2020	Daisy Jones and the Six , Taylor Jenkins Reid	My Sister, the Serial Killer , Oyinkan Braithwaite Girl, Woman, Other , Bernardine Evaristo The Lost Ones, Anita Frank The Starless Sea , Erin Morgenstern Blood & Sugar, Laura Shepherd-Robinson	Nothing Important Happened Today, Will Carver Imaginary Friend , Stephen Chbosky The Second Sleep, Robert Harris Darkdawn , Jay Kristoff The Silent Patient , Alex Michaelides The Farm , Joanne Ramos	[9]
2021	People of Abandoned Character, Clare Whitfield	The Girl with the Louding Voice , Abi Daré The Court of Miracles, Kester Grant Apeirogon , Colum McCann Eight Detectives, Alex Pavesi The Devil and the Dark Water , Stuart Turton	The Sin Eater, Megan Campisi Blacktop Wasteland , S. A. Cosby The Familiar Dark, Amy Engel The First Sister, Linden Lewis Three Hours , Rosamund Lupton The Thursday Murder Club , Richard Osman	[10] [11]
2022	The Wolf Den, Elodie Harper	Mrs March, Virginia Feito Sistersong, Lucy Holland Ariadne, Jennifer Saint Daughters, Laura Shepherd-Robinson We Are All Birds of Uganda, Hafsa Zayyan	Tall Bones, Anna Bailey The Last Thing to Burn, Will Dean The Other Black Girl , Zakiya Dalila Harris The Prophets, Robert Jones Jr Threadneedle, Cari Thomas The Book of Form and Emptiness , Ruth Ozeki	[12] [13]
2023	When We Were Birds, Ayanna Lloyd Banwo	The Levithian, Rosie Andrews Notes on an Execution, Danya Kukafka Pandora, Susan Stokes-Chapman Metronome, Tom Watson Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow , Gabrielle Zevin	Trust , Hernan Diaz The Final Strife , Saara El-Arifi Carrie Soto Is Back , Taylor Jenkins Reid The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley, Sean Lusk Wahala, Nikki May Young Mungo , Douglas Stewart	[14]
2024	Clytemnestra, Costanza Casati	Strange Sally Diamond, Liz Nugent The Turnglass, Gareth Rubin Lady Macbethad, Isabelle Schuler The Square of Stevens, Laura Shepherd Robinson In Memoriam, Alice Winn	The List, Yomi Adegoke Chain-Gang All-Stars , Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah The Silent Man, David Fennell Weyward , Emilia Hart None of This Is True , Lisa Jewell Godkiller, Hannah Kaner Yellowface , R. F. Kuang The Fraud , Zadie Smith	[15]

References

1. "Bookshop Journeys: Uncovering the Gem of Goldsboro Books in the Heart of London". Uptown Oracle. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
2. Carpenter, Caroline (20 September 2024). "Goldsboro Books hits 25 years with boss David Headley keen on growth". The Bookseller. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
3. Forge, Katie (19 February 2025). "These London Literary Spots Have Been Shortlisted For The 'Independent Bookshop Of The Year' Award – And One Of Them Has Only Been Open For Eight Months". Secret London. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
4. "Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award 2017". Fantastic Fiction. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
5. Wood, Heloise (27 September 2018). "John Boyne takes Glass Bell Award for 'comedic odyssey'". The Bookseller. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
6. McDonnell, Rebecca (31 August 2018). "The Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Shortlist 2018". Goldsboro Books. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
7. Winn-Brown, Sylan (21 June 2018). "Debuts dominate the Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Longlist". FMcM. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
8. Mansfield, Katie (1 August 2019). "Women dominate Goldsboro Glass Bell Award shortlist". The Bookseller. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
9. "Daisy Jones and the Six wins 2020 Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award". Goldsboro Books. 2021-04-07. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
10. Anderson, Porter (17 June 2021). "The UK's Goldsboro Books Names 'Glass Bell' Award Longlist". Publishing Perspectives. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
11. Comerford, Ruth (1 October 2021). "Whitfield wins Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award for 'compelling' debut". The Bookseller. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
12. Bayley, Sian (8 September 2022). "Harper wins £2,000 Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award". The Bookseller. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
13. "Glass Bell Award 2022 shortlist announced". Books+Publishing. Retrieved 2024-07-11.
14. Brown, Lauren (28 September 2023). "Banwo wins the Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award 2023 for 'radiant' debut". The Bookseller. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
15. "2024 Glass Bell Award Longlist". Locus Magazine. 2024-06-24. Retrieved 2024-07-24.

51°30′38″N0°07′41″W / 51.51067°N 0.12793°W / 51.51067; -0.12793