In 2009, two bookshops a week were closing in the UK and the days of physical books seemed numbered. Now, indie stores are booming. What explains the turnaround – and can it be sustained?When Sarah Mullen was asked to set up a children’s book festival in a leafy suburb of Birmingham in 2012, she couldn’t find an independent bookseller to run the bookstall. “So we all rolled up our sleeves and did it ourselves,” she says. Pregnant with her third child, she had recently given up her job as a solicitor to work for the Bournville Village Trust. Mullen’s task was to set up the Bournville BookFest, which ran for 10 years before being brought to a halt by the Covid pandemic. But far from accepting defeat, she rolled up her sleeves once again and “pivoted the whole thing into a bookshop”. Two years on, the Bookshop on the Green is thriving – a living rebuttal to the once widely held idea that the digital era meant certain death for the neighbourhood bookstore.When I visit early on a Friday morning, a turquoise vintage Smith Corona typewriter holds centre stage in the Bookshop on the Green. Beside it stands Bradley Taylor, a poet whose job is to write poems on demand for anyone who asks. He has composed a lot of Batman and football poems for the children who pile in on Saturdays, he says, before sitting down to tap one out for me about the joy of bookshops. In the multitasking tradition of small retailers, Taylor also works in the shop. He made his cosplay debut last month as the... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2023-07-27 09:00:32 UTC ]
Matthew Teller, whose books include Nine Quarters of Jerusalem, said the society’s response to the event which saw two leading booksellers detained was ‘an abject failure’A writer has left the Society of Authors (SoA) in protest after the UK’s largest writers’ body made a statement on a recent... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2025-02-20 17:34:09 UTC ]
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Children’s books fall into six main categories based on age groups and format: board books (ages 0-3), picture books (3-8), ... Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-02-20 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Bologna's rights-business structure is evolving along with creative industries' growing engagement with book publishing. The post Bologna Children’s Book Fair’s Evolving Rights Hubs appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2025-02-15 01:29:36 UTC ]
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Regular bookstores might be dying—but bookstores dedicated to romance novels are thriving thanks to TikTok and a desire for third places. Throughout Harvard Square, there are many bookshop brimming with the latest literary fiction and intellectual memoirs, patronized by scholarly types. But in... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2025-02-13 10:30:00 UTC ]
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Industry organizations and publishers are condemning the detention of two Palestinian booksellers by Israeli police, who raided the Educational Bookshop in East Jerusalem on February 9, seizing books that they alleged incited terrorism. The booksellers were confined to house arrest this morning. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2025-02-11 05:00:00 UTC ]
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As of this morning, you can now easily buy ebooks from your local indie bookstore. Thanks to Bookshop.org, the reigning David to Am*zon’s Goliath. As Wired reports, a new platform on the site will now sell ebooks directly to customers. Bookshop users can buy and read titles via a handy-dandy... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2025-01-28 14:35:29 UTC ]
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Some of the most impactful books out there are children’s books. They’re often our first experiences with narratives and are ... Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2025-01-16 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Readying its second year, the new Singapore Children's Book Festival is staged by the Singapore Book Publishers Association The post Singapore Children’s Book Festival Calls for Programming Proposals appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2025-01-13 23:00:45 UTC ]
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The Swiss-themed town of Midway is now home to Folklore Bookshop. Co-owned by children’s author Lindsey Leavitt, Audrey Lind, and Alison Russell, Folklore welcomed customers on October 5 and held a grand opening October 26. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-12-04 05:00:00 UTC ]
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This month’s column is my twelfth for Lit Hub, which means I’ve been sharing new children’s book releases with you for a full year now. And 2024 has been a wonderful year for young readers! As I’ve reviewed each month’s new releases, I’ve found some of my own favorite new books, and I hope I’ve […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-12-02 09:56:42 UTC ]
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Booksellers chose true-crime inspired Butter by Asako Yuzuki as book of the year, while Ross Montgomery’s fun adventure I Am Rebel took the children’s prizeA novel about a serial killer and a children’s book about a dog are the books of 2024, according to Waterstones booksellers.Butter by Asako... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-11-28 06:01:34 UTC ]
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From tales of alienation to comforting novels set in bookshops, Japanese authors have written nearly half of this year’s bestselling translated novels in the UK. What’s their secret?• Read an an exclusive Q&A with Haruki MurakamiAnyone who has been in a bookshop in the last few years will... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-11-23 09:00:37 UTC ]
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Another novel written by a UK author has been withdrawn as publishers and booksellers grapple with the issues of First Nations culture and history as plot pointsGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailWhen British crime writer Elly Griffiths released her fourth novel in the bestselling Ruth... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2024-11-22 23:00:25 UTC ]
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The 11th China Shanghai International Children's Book Fair saw 32 world markets represented among its 497 exhibitors this year. The post Shanghai’s Children’s Book Fair Draws 41,263 Attendees appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2024-11-19 20:12:13 UTC ]
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On Friday, author Daniel Kibblesmith posted a series of screenshots on Bluesky in order to share a concerning email he received from the agency who’d repped him on his children’s book Santa’s Husband: the book’s publisher, HarperCollins, was offering $2,500 (non-negotiable) for the right to use... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2024-11-18 13:36:53 UTC ]
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