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 ]
A founder of the St. Mark’s Bookshop in the East Village, he prided himself on stocking titles that were not “too popular” and stayed in business for four decades. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-11-23 01:12:36 UTC ]
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With the publication of Billy and the Giant Adventure (Tundra), celebrity chef Jamie Oliver becomes a children’s book author. In the inventive and inspiring story, a group of friends enter a portal to another world, where they have a wild adventure and meet a menagerie of creatures. Oliver... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-11-21 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Editors at four children’s imprints that focus on promoting underrepresented authors tell 'PW' how they got their start and what they love about their work. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-11-17 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Nine members of the environmental group Children’s Book Creators for Conservation spent October 8–21 in the eastern South African province of KwaZulu-Natal, volunteering with the stewardship organization Wild Tomorrow. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-11-16 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Hidden Pigeon Company, launched earlier this year to expand the reach of children’s book author Mo Willems’s portfolio, has named four new executives to its management team, including publishing veterans Carol Roeder and Jennifer Levine. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-11-16 05:00:00 UTC ]
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To celebrate the launch of the new Guardian Long Read magazine this week, join the Long Read editor David Wolf in discussion with regular contributors Sophie Elmhirst and Samanth Subramanian• The Guardian Long Read magazine is available to order now• The best stories take time. The Guardian Long... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-11-15 05:00:09 UTC ]
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The 10-year-old Shanghai International Children's Book Fair welcomes back its partner, Bologna, for collaboration and support. The post Shanghai’s Children’s Book Fair at 10: A Fifth Year for Its Bologna Partnership appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-11-14 22:06:29 UTC ]
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12 Books for Tolerance and Understanding (2023), by The Editors of WLT Lit Lists [email protected] Tue, 11/14/2023 - 14:07 For years, a prognostication by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe appeared on the masthead page of World Literature Today: “These... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2023-11-14 20:07:42 UTC ]
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I first heard of Willa Cather as a teenage bookseller in North Denver, at a new, used, rare, and antiquarian bookshop that had once been a mechanic’s garage. At the bookstore, there was an entire section of Cather’s famous works, which I had labeled meticulously with colored markers on scraps of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-11-14 10:00:45 UTC ]
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Sarah Anderson, who founded the Travel Bookshop in London before becoming a writer and painter, discusses the value of quiet in 'The Lost Art of Silence' (Shambhala, Dec.). Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-11-01 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Two publishers in Frankfurt are seeing success with up-and-coming children's book authors, both at home and through foreign rights deals. The post Frankfurt: Swedish, Lithuanian Publishers See Booming Children’s Book Sales appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-10-20 11:38:33 UTC ]
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The King's English Bookshop in Salt Lake City doubles down on supporting Drag Story Hours following a bomb threat, and is preparing to launch a new venture, Mosaics Community Bookstore and Venue. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-10-19 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Children’s book publisher will allow US districts to include or exclude separate list, a decision that has led to a backlashThe children’s book publisher Scholastic said it will separate titles in its elementary school book fairs by race, gender and sexuality, allowing school districts to... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-10-18 15:10:12 UTC ]
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Years ago I came across a children’s book called You Will Go to the Moon. It was first published in 1959 by Mae and Ira Freeman, ten years before the first moon landing. The book predicts a future where space travel is a leisure pursuit for a baby boomer and his parents. It shows the […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-10-16 09:01:20 UTC ]
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Lydia Davis’ new collection Our Strangers, is available now from Bookshop Editions, so we asked her a few questions about her writing, reading, and more. How do you tackle writer’s block? I don’t really have writer’s block anymore. When I first started out, I certainly did just sit there... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-10-02 09:00:46 UTC ]
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The co-owner of San Francisco's Bookshop West Portal and founder of onetime Bay Area bookselling staple A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books, died on September 6. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-09-18 04:00:00 UTC ]
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September children’s book releases include many lovely books about activism, community, hope, and celebrating identity. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-09-08 10:32:00 UTC ]
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The actor is now a children’s book author with his longtime friend Greta Caruso. Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2023-09-07 18:05:00 UTC ]
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In the 1950s, a group of women known as the Folly Cove Designers made prints that still capture the imagination today. A simple Yankee swap in 1938 between neighbors in the quaint neighborhood of Folly Cove, in Gloucester, Massachusetts—design lessons in exchange for music instruction—became... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2023-08-29 04:00:00 UTC ]
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PW spoke to the editors and authors at Usborne about the process of bringing each new children’s book into the world, what makes the books unique, and the inherent joys of the work they do. (Sponsored) Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-08-23 04:00:00 UTC ]
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