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. 

  • 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 - 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. 

  • 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.

Our Ambassadors

  • 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.

  • Born to an Irish mother and Caribbean father, Kit was brought up in Birmingham. Her debut novel My Name Is Leon was an international bestseller, shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and won the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award for 2017. It is now on the GCSE curriculum for schools. Her new novel The Best of Everything was released in April 2025.

    Photo credit Henry J Allen

  • 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.