Unwin Char­i­ta­ble Trust

The Unwin Char­i­ta­ble Trust was estab­lished in 1975 by the pub­lish­er Rayn­er Unwin CBE and was found­ed on a bequest from his father, Sir Stan­ley Unwin.

Sir Stan­ley Unwin (1884 – 1968) was one of the most dis­tin­guished pub­lish­ers of the 20^th cen­tu­ry and found­ed George Allen & Unwin Ltd in 1914. Through­out his long career, Sir Stan­ley was a promi­nent and influ­en­tial fig­ure in the book trade, active in the Pub­lish­ers’ Asso­ci­a­tion, the Inter­na­tion­al Pub­lish­ers’ Asso­ci­a­tion and the British Council.

Rayn­er Unwin took over the pub­lish­ing firm and chaired it through a time of great change in the indus­try. It was his wish that help should be avail­able for projects that pro­mote the pub­lish­ing and dis­sem­i­na­tion of books, or which encour­age the edu­ca­tion and wel­fare of those in the book trade.

Since its for­ma­tion in 1975 the Trust has spon­sored many projects and ini­tia­tives in the fields of pub­lish­ing, book­selling and print­ing, and its Trustees con­tin­ue to sup­port indi­vid­u­als and organ­i­sa­tions whose aims are to improve and expand the book trade.

The Trust began by sup­port­ing Book Trust and the Pub­lish­ing Train­ing Cen­tre. These rela­tion­ships still thrive but the Trust now also sup­ports many oth­er good caus­es that ben­e­fit and pro­mote pub­lish­ing and the dis­tri­b­u­tion of the print­ed word, and schemes that encour­age lit­er­a­cy and the enjoy­ment of read­ing. The Trust also offers a men­tor­ing ser­vice to inde­pen­dent high-street booksellers.