Available only in bookshops – a magical voyage of discovery

As the curtain raises on Independent Bookshop Week, Helen Dunmore argues that, despite the convenience of shopping online, readers need to browse real shelves packed with real booksThe 10 best independent bookshops in the world – our readers recommendWe read not only with our eyes, but with our hearts. Every sense is in play. We shiver with fear, weep, laugh aloud, blaze with anger, are seduced, aroused, enchanted. We read with our senses of taste and smell, with skin and brain and intuition. We read intellectually, emotionally, erotically. We read in order to understand our lives, to become what we are not and through this to question what we are. For a few hours we enter the minds and bodies of lovers, criminals, artists. We are insiders, present as latitude is defined or Anne Boleyn murdered. We enter the minds of explorers and scientists, even though we may not be able to do the maths. Ages fly before us, and we step on to other continents. Our identity shifts. We understand other languages, even if we do not speak them. We live in 16th-century London, or Hogwarts. We run on the moors with Cathy and Heathcliff. We are watched by Big Brother, and sense our own weakness in the face of implacable totalitarianism. Related: David Nicholls: Browsing bookshops then buying online is a 'genteel form of shoplifting' Related: Weird and wonderful bookshops worldwide – in pictures Related: A life in writing: Helen Dunmore I can give you no conception of my welcome here. There... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2015-06-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #big brother #david nicholls #buying online #genteel form #helen dunmore

Other Publishing stories related to: 'Available only in bookshops – a magical voyage of discovery'


Vintage rallies indie bookshops for Atwood's The Testaments

Vintage and Index on Censorship are calling on independent bookshops to coordinate creative publication events for Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments, the much-anticipated sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale in September, with a chance to win £750 to fund the best ideas. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-03-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #margaret atwood #independent bookshops


Winners of regional Independent Bookshop of the Year Award revealed

The nine winners of the regional round of the Independent Bookshop of the Year Award have been revealed, with the 2018 overall champion, Five Leaves Bookshop, in contention to take the main prize for the second year in a row. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #independent bookshop #main prize


MCB acquires magical MG by Hilary McKay

Hilary McKay’s next book for Macmillan Children’s Books (MCB) will be a contemporary fiction novel about two single parents who bring their children together in a mysterious, ivy-covered house. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #macmillan children #books mcb #contemporary fiction #single parents


Review: In ‘Black Super Hero Magic Mama,’ a grief-stricken mom gets comic book counseling

Sabrina, the single mother at the center of Inda Craig-Galván’s new play, “Black Super Hero Magic Mama,” is acutely aware of the various ways her son’s life can be upended. Gangs, drugs, street violence, the police: If Sabrina (Kimberly Hébert Gregory) is overcontrolling, it’s because she knows... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-03-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #single mother


Indie publishers and bookshop join forces for homeless charity

Independent publishers have joined forces with a Hackney bookshop for a charity event in aid of helping the homeless.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-03-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #indie publishers #independent publishers #joined forces #hackney bookshop


Penguin Classics to launch London pop-up bookshop

Penguin Classics will launch its first ever pop-up bookshop next month with a series of events and workshops planned. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #penguin classics


British Book Awards Program Names Nine Bookshop Shortlists

The Independent Bookshop of the Year category of the 2019 Nibbies has a 48-store shortlist and is broken into nine regions in its initial round. The post British Book Awards Program Names Nine Bookshop Shortlists appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2019-02-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #independent bookshop #year category


Blackwell’s opens new Manchester bookshop

Blackwell’s will open a new bookshop in Manchester tomorrow, with c.e.o. David Prescott saying the store “feels like nothing we’ve done before”.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-02-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #david prescott


British Book Awards reveals shortlists for Independent Bookshop of the Year

The British Book Awards, or Nibbies, has revealed the regional shortlists for the 2019 Independent Bookshop of the Year, sponsored by Gardners Books. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-02-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #independent bookshop #regional shortlists #gardners books


Independent Bookshop Week reveals 2019 plans

Hachette UK will sponsor Independent Bookshop Week (IBW) and authors Cressida Cowell, Patrick Gale, Katherine Rundell and screenwriter Ben Aaronovitch will tour bookshops across the country as part of the annual celebration of indies. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-02-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #hachette uk #patrick gale #katherine rundell #annual celebration


The Bookseller and WBD launch bookshop competition

The Bookseller is teaming up with World Book Day to launch a competition for bookshops. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-02-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Tim Waterstone: 'Childhood scars pushed me to create bookshop chain'

A difficult relationship with his father was one of the factors which pushed Tim Waterstone to succeed in establishing the bookshop chain that bears his name, the retail entrepreneur has revealed in an extract from his forthcoming memoir, published in the Daily Mail. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-01-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #tim waterstone #difficult relationship #bookshop chain #forthcoming memoir #daily mail


Key looks to relaunch Independent Bookshop Alliance

The Independent Bookshop Alliance is being relaunched, with Simon Key urging booksellers to come together to decide the future aims of the organisation.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-01-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


French bookshop chain Furet du Nord buys Decitre

The Furet du Nord chain of bookshops in northern France has confirmed its takeover of the Decitre group, which it describes as its alter-ego in the south-east region of France. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-01-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Comic crowdfunds for community bookshop in Surrey

A former stand-up comic has launched a crowdfunding project for a community bookshop in the medieval village of Bletchingly. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-01-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Crowdfunder launches for London's first black feminist bookshop

A digital consultant has launched a crowdfunder to create London’s first black feminist bookshop. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-01-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Knights Of bookshop reaches £30,000 crowdfunding target

Publisher Knights Of has reached its £30,000 crowdfunding target to fund a bookshop selling children’s books with BAME characters. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-01-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #bame characters


Lin-Manuel Miranda buys much-loved New York bookshop

New York's Drama Book Shop is taken over by the Hamilton creator and three of his collaborators. Continue reading at BBC News

[ BBC News | 2019-01-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #york bookshop


Indie bookshop numbers rise for second consecutive year

The Booksellers Association has reported a second year of growth in its independent bookshop membership, with 15 new shops joining the trade body in 2018. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-01-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #consecutive year #booksellers association #trade body


West plans new Wood Green co-operative bookshop

Tim West, co-founder of The Big Green Bookshop in Wood Green, plans to open a new, co-operative bookshop locally in the wake of the closure of the bricks and mortar Big Green store. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-01-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #tim west #wood green