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 ]
North London indie stalwart Muswell Hill Bookshop is to close, following the retirement of its owner, Ivan Beal. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-20 23:21:36 UTC ]
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London bookshop Heywood Hill has launched a competition to provide one book-lover with a free book every month for life. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-19 13:58:51 UTC ]
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Totnes Bookshop in south Devon is being closed in its current form by the trust that owns its lease and will reopen as a box office for local events. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-19 11:36:36 UTC ]
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Children's titles from Rob Biddulph, Kes Gray and Serena Patel are among the winners of Sainsbury’s Children’s Book Awards in partnership with BookTrust. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-15 18:29:53 UTC ]
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Joni Eareckson Tada brings a children’s book about heaven to the Good Book Company, an introduction to African American literature lands at IVP, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-10-14 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Bookshop.org, a retail site billed as a way for indies to counter Amazon’s online dominance, has today revealed the members of its UK board. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-13 09:56:56 UTC ]
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Children’s book editor David Gale, who shaped a distinguished roster of award-winning titles and proudly championed works of LGBTQ literature, died on October 9 following a long illness; he was 65. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-10-13 04:00:00 UTC ]
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If you have been into your local bookshop recently, you will have noticed the beginnings of an extraordinary time for readers. We have had our ‘super Tuesday’ where an unprecedented number of books have been released in the lead up to Christmas 2020. The outbreak of COVID-19 resulted in many... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-09 06:31:40 UTC ]
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Look for the green stucco house with a porch near the Mt. Washington Whole Foods. Continue reading at Baltimore Sun
[ Baltimore Sun | 2020-10-07 22:23:53 UTC ]
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The Victoria & Albert Museum is closing its dedicated bookshop and making 103 roles redundant across its retail and visitor experience teams as the Covid-19 crisis hits its finances. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-05 09:58:53 UTC ]
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Love in Colour by Bolu BabalolaEvery story in this collection of love stories by Bolu Babalola has been adapted from ancient folklore from all around the world. Babalola chooses to centre women in these stories, giving the women unique and passionate perspectives on love. While the original... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2020-10-01 09:59:00 UTC ]
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Independent press Little Toller is to open a bookshop in the Dorset town of Beaminster next month. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-24 21:34:39 UTC ]
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In the early summer of 1994, I walked into Alice’s Bookshop in North Carlton; a small shop in an old terrace on a straight boulevard that runs north out of Melbourne, Victoria. Being so close to the venerable sandstone of Melbourne University, there’s an old-fashioned gravity about the place.... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-09-24 08:48:13 UTC ]
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Natalie Portman knows a thing or two about fairy tales. Portman’s turn as a dancer whose life goes awry in Black Swan (2010) was, famously, a brooding take on Pyotr Tchaikovksy’s most famous ballet. Swan Lake itself was likely inspired by Russian and German folktales like Johann Karl August... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-09-23 16:54:30 UTC ]
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It's no secret that most authors are introverts. That doesn't mean that we don't enjoy bookshop events and literary festivals. Who doesn't love talking about their books or their writing process? But afterwards, we are spent, drained of energy, and need to recharge. Writing is a solitary... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-16 01:39:18 UTC ]
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Booksellers have generally reacted enthusiastically to news that the US indie-focused retail site Bookshop.org is launching in the UK this November, although some remain cautious. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-13 19:17:12 UTC ]
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The shortlist for the first Sceptre Bookshop Award shortlist has been revealed, featuring independent retailers across the UK. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-09 22:30:21 UTC ]
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The children’s book writer never caught on in America, partly because of his Communist Party ties, but the English-language release of his masterpiece could change that. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-09-05 09:00:16 UTC ]
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Big Picture Press, an imprint of Bonnier Books UK, has acquired a non-fiction children’s book from Channel 4 News weather presenter and meteorologist Liam Dutton. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-04 23:38:38 UTC ]
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