Could lockdown herald an exciting new chapter for the book trade?

The pandemic has thrown publishing and booksellers into crisis – and left customers struggling to obtain books when they most want them. But some in the industry sense an opportunity to drag it into the 21st centuryOn 18 March, Emma Corfield-Walters received the news that for the second year running, her shop, Book-ish, in Crickhowell in the Brecon Beacons, had landed the title for Wales in the regional round of the independent bookshop of the year award. Corfield-Walters has run Book-ish for 10 years. It has 16 staff and a cafe, is the base for a literary festival that she also organises, and is credited with having played a major part in the regeneration of Crickhowell’s award-winning high street. Above all, it is a highly successful business: 2019 was a record year. The fact that it would now again be a contender for the overall prize – to be announced in June at the British book awards – was for Corfield-Walters a hard-earned affirmation of a decade’s passion and work.But she was hardly celebrating. Britain was then five days from lockdown. “It was surreal,” she says. “We’d won best bookshop in Wales, yet I wasn’t sure for how much longer I’d have a shop that people could visit. It was like that scene in Star Wars when the walls are moving in, and the room’s getting smaller and smaller. The goalposts were shifting every day. At first, we thought: OK, we’ll buy hand sanitiser! But by the weekend, it was clear the shop would have to close.” Her first thought was for her... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2020-05-10 08:00:20 UTC ]
News tagged with: #year running #major part #record year #star wars #huge relief #signed copies #bookshop #british book #literary festival #independent bookshop

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UNESCO has called the destruction of libraries and books in Mosul 'one of the most devastating acts of destruction of library collections in human history.' Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2015-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jill Abramson Signs $1M Book Deal – But Won't Settle Scores with New York Times

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[ Editor & Publisher | 2015-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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For Women Only: Christian Books Address Contemporary Womanhood

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-02-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-02-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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National Book Tokens launches eBook Gift Card

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[ The Bookseller | 2015-02-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2015-02-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2015-02-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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New Delhi World Book Fair Reaches One Million Consumers

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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-02-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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International Hot Book Properties: Week of February 23, 2015

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-02-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2015-02-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-02-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ BBC News | 2015-02-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2015-02-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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