Meet our Team


  • Founding Director

    Emily founded Bookbanks in 2022. She leads the charity’s strategic development, expansion and partnerships from a London base. A writer and journalist, with a background in bookselling, Emily is passionate about building communities around books and also runs Emily’s Walking Book Club, a 3,500-strong community which meets for monthly book walks on Hampstead Heath. 

  • Volunteer Coordinator - Manchester

    As Volunteer Coordinator for Bookbanks Manchester, Susana manages a team of eight volunteers, ensuring sessions run smoothly and there is always a diverse and rich selection of books for guests. Susana is an art historian, librarian, and PhD researcher in museology with a passion for books. For the past six years, her work has explored how books are not just read, but felt—how they spark memory, imagination, personal growth, and connection. This is why she believes the work of Bookbanks is so crucial. Susana has published two picture books in Spain and the UK and has worked in every type of library, from public and school to academic and historic. She currently works at the John Rylands Library in Manchester, where she is surrounded daily by some of the most extraordinary and important books in the world.

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    olunteer Coordinator- London

    Stephanie Gill (she/they) has a background in community arts, theatre production and early years education. Most recently she has been programming community events, site specific performance, installations, walking tours and participatory workshops for Abney Park Trust in Stoke Newington, bringing diverse audiences to the restored Chapel and new community room. After teaching in kindergarten, she now leads stay and play groups and seasonal crafting sessions for families at St Paul's Steiner school and Abney Park. Alongside co-ordinating the London Bookbanks volunteers, she's the school diversity lead working on expanding their inclusive library, which gives her an excuse to frequent bookshops, and read voraciously. 

  • Director

    Hattie manages Bookbanks’ press, volunteers and is the charity’s designated Safeguarding Lead. She lives in Norfolk and is building the charity’s presence locally. She is also a journalist and author, writing about health, families and the arts across the national press. 

  • Volunteer Coordinator - Norfolk

    Tessa is the Norfolk Volunteer Coordinator & lives in Norwich. She is a writer & theatre-maker and runs a theatre company called Puffling Productions. She is passionate about children’s theatre & literature, is an avid reader and loves what Bookbanks stands for.

  • Andrew was born in Glasgow. He has been nominated for the Booker Prize, was voted one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists in 2003, and won the E. M. Forster Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is Editor-at-Large of the London Review of Books and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Our Ambassadors

  • Elizabeth Day is an award-winning author and broadcaster. She has written nine fiction and non-fiction books. She is the creator and host of the chart-topping How To Fail podcast and the founder of Daylight Productions, elevating female and diverse voices in podcasting. As a journalist for many years, she wrote for multiple publications and has presented Radio 4's Open Book and the Sky Arts Book Club, judged the Women's Prize for Fiction, chaired the BBC National Short Story Award and is currently chair of the Sky Arts Prize for Literature 2024.

  • Chair

    Carla is a strategic leader with over 20 years in the charity sector, driving growth, impact, and inclusion. As CEO of a national charity with over 2,000 volunteers, she has led the expansion of free, one-to-one adult reading coaching across the UK and co-created an ambitious strategy to double the number of beneficiaries by 2029. Carla is deeply passionate about literacy, equality, and access to opportunity - values that align perfectly with Bookbanks' mission. 

  • Treasurer

    Claire is a Chartered Management Accountant, and the business manager for a London State primary school, where she sees the positive impact of books on a daily basis. She is also a keen reader.

  • Annabelle spent many years working for Age UK Camden. She is passionate about books, whether that is reading to her children, sharing recommendations with friends or overseeing Age Uk Camden‘s book club for older people. 

Our Board of Trustees

  • Lead Safeguarding Trustee

    Asma is a child and adolescent psychotherapist.  She started her career as an English teacher in an inner London comprehensive and then spent 8 years as a civil servant in central government.  She is an avid reader and believes in the power of books to support the mental health of individuals and communities.

  • Pete is a lawyer in the technology sector. He has a keen interest in books, community and the outdoors.

Bookbanks champions

Bookbanks is supported and informed by a community of our service users. These champions meet regularly in trustee-led focus groups to feed back on the charity’s performance. They tell us what we are doing right, how we can improve and develop, and what the people who use our services need from us. Their input is vitally important in shaping the decisions made and direction set by our Board.