1. What made you want to go into bookselling, and what is your favourite part about it?
I have always loved being surrounded by books. Being in such an environment calms me. A book-filled room feels like a magical portal, a kind of liminal anything-is-possible space. So, I decided it was time to create such a space in which to spend all day at work and that equals: a bookshop! My favourite part about it is discovery: of new ideas and of the beautiful artefacts (i.e. the books themselves) in which they are bound.
2. What sort of books do you find your customers are most interested in? Have you noticed any recent trends?
Our bestselling sections in the main room of the shop are Hardback Fiction (which I am surprised to establish, but the spreadsheet does not lie), Crime & Thrillers and Biography. In the Children’s Room, it’s 9+ Fiction, followed by Picture Books and Activity Books. We’ve created a Romance Fiction bay, separate from General Fiction where it was previously housed and newer categories include Manga, Climate Change and Gender Studies, all growing areas of interest.
3. Which fiction and non-fiction summer read would you recommend to your customers this year, and why?
For fiction, I would recommend The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley. It’s Ghosts meets Slow Horses with additional time travel, set on Earth in the not-too-distant future. I’m fully into genre fiction right now, my two other favourite novels of the year so far having been The Other Valley and The Last Murder at the End of the World. My non-fiction must-read is Will You Read This, Please? It’s a brilliantly-executed idea of Joanna Cannon’s to tell the stories of individuals who have undergone a traumatic experience due to a specific neurodiverse condition, as told to and written up by talented and empathetic professional writers (such as Tracy Chevalier and Clare Mackintosh). It’s a work of real genius. I think it’s essential, as is the motivation behind it: for these lived experiences to be heard.
4. You have an impressive list of book subscriptions for all ages – how do you go about picking the titles that get sent?
Each month I choose a brand new hardback and paperback novel to be our Books of the Month and my colleague Kirsty, our Children’s Book Specialist, chooses the children’s picks. Then our youngest colleague Izzy chooses the YA book. We do this according to books we have loved ourselves and also with a mind on variety and diversity: we want to promote books we’ve enjoyed that we have discovered through smaller, independent publishers.
5. And finally, do you have any exciting plans for the shop in the coming months you’d like to share with us?
After 12 years in a small Victorian semi-detached, we moved the bookshop into a barn four times the size of the old building two-and-a-half years ago and so there is still a lot I want to do in this relatively new space, including the installation of a gallery wall at the entrance. I’ve got a shed being built this month too, for the storage of our (40) event chairs, piles of proofs and other miscellaneous bookshop paraphernalia and I believe this will change my life! Happily, we’ve also just had plans passed to have an accessible ramp built at our courtyard entrance, so this will feel great: to say that our bookshop really is a space for everyone.
1. We understand you opened the shop at the turn of the millennium. How much has the shop and bookselling changed in the last 25 years?
Rhyme & Reason opened for business on 1st June 1999, specialising initially in books for children and teenagers. The shop is situated at Hunter’s Bar about a mile from the city in a lively suburban area with other independent shops nearby.
A bricks and mortar bookshop selling new books seemed like a risky venture at the time, with online bookselling in the ascendancy as well as e-books. Bookselling still feels somewhat risky, although faith in the printed book has been vindicated by the high production standards of YUP and many other publishers as well as customers’ continued appreciation of printed books chosen in an independent bookshop. Our stock range now includes books for all ages, with contemporary poetry and fiction being two areas of special interest.
2. What’s it like running an independent bookshop in Sheffield?
Rhyme & Reason has been well supported by people in the local community who welcomed the arrival of an independent bookshop in the city. Much of our work is outside the compact shop premises in collaboration with community groups, book festivals, schools and universities as well as Sheffield Libraries. It’s always rewarding making contact with community groups such as playgroups and reading groups and to work with partners on author visits, book fairs and special promotions.
3. How do you pick the books that line your shelves?
We rely heavily on the advice of publishers’ reps as well as considering reviews, customer requests and recommendations. As a team we also have our own preferences in terms of categories and authors. Cherry-picking is essential even though the shop is sometimes referred to as a Tardis.
4. If you had to recommend one book published in the last year, which would it be and why?
There’s no one recommendation to suit everyone… One of the books I recently enjoyed was Ruth Allen’s Weathering (Ebury, 2024), a lyrical exploration of well-being and landscape formations by Ruth Allen who combines geological knowledge with the perspective of a practising therapist. Rhyme & Reason organised a successful book launch in which the author was in conversation with Sheffield poet, Helen Mort.
5. And finally, do you have any exciting plans for the shop in the coming months that you’re like to share with us?
Before the end of the school year, we’ve arranged with publishers for local schools to host two authors visiting to promote their books and enthuse the children during the summer term. The summer will also see a Rhyme & Reason bookstall at a Gala Day in Sheffield Botanical Gardens to celebrate the Friends’ fortieth anniversary.
In the longer term, the founding shop owner will be looking out for a successor to experience the challenges and joy of independent bookselling in a vibrant Sheffield community over the next 25 years.
1. When you set up Harris & Harris, what was your vision?
After a career managing restaurants, bars and hotels, I then swapped all of that 20something years ago to train as a bookseller, working at 3 different bookshop chains and another independent bookshop before moving to Suffolk in December 2010. I then opened the doors to Harris & Harris Books the following August bank holiday in 2011.
There hadn’t been a bookshop selling new books in the town before and the only second hand bookshop had been closed a long time before we moved to Suffolk. As we had only just moved to the area, we didn’t really know how it would go but it was certainly worth a try and it exceeded our expectations from day one. I started off with mostly second-hand books and a few new, but the new books really took off.
My bookshop is classified as a general bookshop with something of everything new or old for readers of all ages. I wanted my bookshop to be very much a part of the community, somewhere that everyone would feel comfortable and happy to visit and I’m delighted to say that I was made to feel very welcome from the very first day.
We used to host book events in the old shop, but it was tiny and everyone had to stand up clasping their glass while the author balanced half way up the stairs. It worked well enough and we hired other halls or the church when events got too big, but we soon outgrew that little bookshop.
2. What is it like running a shop in Clare, Suffolk’s smallest town?
Our town of Clare may be small, but it’s pretty mighty! Set close to the borders of Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire, it has a nice selection of independent shops, cafes, tea rooms and eateries, pubs, museums, gallery, a castle ruin (albeit there’s only a little of that left), a town auction, golf course, fishery, converted railway station and a strong local community. It is one of the historic local Wool Towns, so we have a disproportionately large church. It’s perfect for a day out or weekend away but also a great place to live and work.
With all that in mind, it’s wonderful to be able to get to know everyone in the town and surrounding villages and after 13 years I have got a good sense of what sort of books work in the bookshop, and what doesn’t.
Since Covid my bookshop business took a surprising boost, and this is in no small part due to social media which I leaned on heavily to keep the bookshop going. I am rather keen on Instagram especially and putting out my bookshop videos really helped grow the business which then allowed us to take the plunge and expand. We did this by buying a very old recently closed down shop 5 doors down. Unfortunately, it took over 2 years of planning and restoration before we could move in but we had such wonderful encouragement and support along the way. It was certainly worth it and I’m so pleased with the new and improved Harris & Harris Books.
3. What types of books have your customers been buying recently? Is there a trend?
There’s been a pretty even spread of book sales recently but I’d say that fiction and especially hardback fiction is doing a lot better since we moved but that could be also due to better display of our new & noteworthy section. Publishers are producing some pretty spectacular editions as well as some Indie Exclusives recently and these certainly help sales. Childrens books have also pepped up and non-fiction hardbacks have gained a good foothold too.
Apart from Christmas, Spring is historically a good time of year for us as it brings out many more smiley faces, day-trippers and budding gardeners but this year we have all noticed Spring’s reluctance to show her face so gardening books have remained on the shelves and more novels to snuggle up with in front of the fire have taken precedence.
Political books have gained much interest here and due to all the goings on around the world, I have had many more requests for feel-good fiction. Something to warm the cockles and soothe the anxious times.
I try and steer the bookshop stock towards interesting and unusual books, things that may not be spotted everywhere. There are of course many books that we ‘should’ stock, but it’s nice to experiment with other gloriocities. Yale really do help with this, especially recent books such as The Herbal Year, Horta And The Grammar Of Art Nouveau, Paris 1874, The Mack: Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Glasgow School Of Art. All beautiful books that are a delight to hand sell.
4. Tell us about your typical day – what’s your favourite part?
I park up and run errands about the town, then prep the bookshop for opening, swoosh off to the post office and perhaps come back via the local coffee shop with a strong cup of black and perhaps a baked goodiment. Because I am pretty active on social media, my first moments in the bookshop once opened up, are to run around and collect up any book orders from previous evening or overnight, setting them aside or parcelling up with a cheery note, cup of tea and a biscuit, ready for the post office the following morning.
Throughout the day I’ll be answering the telephone, greeting visitors, serving customers, petting dogs, chatting about books, recommending books, placing customer orders, selling tickets for our events as well as a box-office for other events in the town. I’ll be reading reviews, ordering books, dealing with the post, planning window and table changes, seeing book reps and ordering even more books.
Everything stops when Alan brings in the deliveries, which is most days around 11am, pretty much like clockwork and this means the kettle is called upon to do it’s thing for another cup of strong black coffee – hearty Bookseller fuel. It’s like Christmas every day when the deliveries arrive. I may well have ordered all the books in the shop, but I might have ordered them months ago so it’s a treat to see them. Customers are contacted when their treasures arrive and it’s then time to photograph new books to put on the socials and plan my next #WhatsInTheBoxMrsHarris video, then put the rest of the books out in the bookshop, moving things around to keep the displays looking fresh.
After lunch and before the schools let out the little poppets, it’s time to request book returns, box them up carefully and arrange the courier to collect. Rotas and rep calendars need to be checked and plan for visits. When time allows, I list more books online, quick photoshoot and off they go.
Then it’s time to work on the events and author pop-ins we have coming up. As I mentioned earlier, we moved premises so we could do bigger and better events and we have had a smashing line-up already, including Nicci French and CL Miller and many many more to come. It’s great for the bookshop and it certainly puts our little town of Clare on the map but it’s jolly hard work. Not that I mind, of course, I always say – If you want something done, ask a busy woman!
Last thing before closing up is to check the displays are straight, shelves tidy, plants watered, no empty bookstands anywhere, check the window displays, get the parcels ready for the post office in the morning and write a note for whomever is in the next day with, or instead of me.
Next up, and usually on a Friday after work, is to film the latest instalment of ‘What’s In The Box Mrs Harris’ – 15 minutes of footage that takes quite a lot of planning to get in lots of new bookish delights, news, events chatter and a small fruit-based snifter. Then I have to put all the books away, wash up, lights off, lock up and head home.
Night-night bookshop, see you tomorrow.
A short commute home and it’s straight to work to upload the film footage, sort out invoices (fortunately Mr Harris does the rest of the boring back of house gubbins) and answer messages and emails through the evening (unless I’m engrossed in my book, of course).
What’s that? My favourite part? Well, all of it of course. Best job in the world!
5. And finally, do you have any exciting plans for the shop in the coming months that you’d like to share with us?
Well our main focus for the previous two years was to restore the old shop premises 5 doors down from the original Harris & Harris Books. This took way longer than it should have (surprising how dilapidated an old hardware shop could be) however this is now done and we are finally in as of October last year! It’s rather lovely to just stop and draw breath for a bit, but we’ve been in for 6 months already and really, there’s no time to lose.
It will be hard to top that for exciting plans but as I mentioned, one of the many reasons we wanted to move was to be able to do seated events in the bookshop. Since we moved, we have already had a few with lots more planned from now until at least September, then it’s the Bury St Edmunds Literary Festival a few miles away where we will be the pop-up bookshop again…bigger and better.
Other than all that, we are working on the Harris & Harris brand, H&H merchandise and book boxes, and republishing a couple of out of print local books.
1. Huge congratulations on your one-year anniversary and for being a finalist for Indie Bookshop of The Year (Regional and Country). Tell us what your vision was when you opened the shop a year ago.
My main aim was to create a place that people would be comfortable coming into. I think some people might walk past a bookshop in the same way that I might walk past a Women’s Fashion Boutique. They think ‘that’s not for me’. Which seems crazy to me, because I can’t not go into a bookshop when I see one! But books, reading, ideas – these should be for everyone. I’m conscious of this when I go into schools to speak to young people. I don’t assume they are all into reading. Some will say they are because they feel that’s what their teacher or parent wants them to say. I try to focus on that mindset and say, there’s a book out there for everyone, you just need to find it.
2. What is your favourite, and least favourite, part of a normal working day?
I like it first thing on a morning. It’s never busy at 9am, so I get to have a nice cup of tea and soak in the shop and plan the day. It then just unfolds gently – which local will call in first? What books will arrive today? I like chatting to visitors to the town and when families come in and the young people liven things up in the children’s section. I guess my least favourite part is the admin. It’s just me at Heron & Willow, so if the shop is quiet I crack on with the accounts. Dull but necessary
3. How do you choose the books that line your shelves – is there a particular genre that works well?
Having no previous bookselling knowledge, I could only really come at it from a reader’s perspective. What would I buy? What sounds interesting? What makes me raise my eyebrows? Even, which cover catches my eye? I dabbled with bestsellers at Christmas but I’m more interested in books that unearth untold stories or narratives that go somewhere new. My partner Jayne reads more than I do, so she recommends a lot too. After a year, this seems to have worked as I get nice comments on our selection. Running the shop has moved me away from a lot of non-fiction back towards fiction, which I have enjoyed. Running three book groups, all reading different things, helps with this!
4. What inspired you to think about running a writing club? How does it work, and what is The Book of Jed?
I’m not really comfortable with the idea of being a salesperson and I wouldn’t want to run a shop that was purely transactional. There’s no pleasure in that for me. When I opened the shop I was immediately interested in how it could be used to bring people together. Where we are, in Jedburgh, it is very rural. It is very hard to meet people. The book groups were my first step in looking at this, and I really enjoy them. The writing group was the next step. I was and am keen that Heron & Willow is a place that generates creativity. Because it is healthy and positive for a community. We meet every month and I provide a prompt for people to create a new piece of work. Or they can share a project they have ongoing. We’ve had people at retirement age who have written creatively for the first time since they were at school, and shared with people for the first time. That’s more important to me than running sessions on ‘how to get published.’ Though I’ve also started a free zine called The Book Of Jed which collects some of this work, so they are kind of getting published!
5, And last, but not least, do you have any exciting plans for the shop in the coming months that you would like to share with us?
We have a hidden yard around the back of the shop with a 300-odd year old outbuilding that is very nice. I’d like to develop that space for performances or workshops. I am hoping to repeat our Festival Of Stories which took place in September. And I would really like to develop some story writing sessions for young people and families for the summer holidays too. But most of all, I want to make sure I don’t burnout and get to enjoy being in my shop!
1. We see from your website that you are a long-established bookshop, open for over 45 years. Tell us a little about the history of the shop and the recent move to new premises.
Steve Pritchard opened his bookshop in Crosby in 1975, and it has been at the heart of the community ever since. Over 20 years ago they had to move premises after a large supermarket bought up the land they were on, which meant moving to a smaller shop as this was all that was available in the village. The shop however continued to thrive. I bought the business in 2021 when Steve retired. I knew there was a lot more scope for Pritchards and that as soon as we could, we would expand or move. To have been able to make the move within 2 years was amazing. We have double the square footage, have increased the amount of books and introduced new products and have more room for events.
2. What made you go into bookselling, and what is your favourite part?
I have always loved books, since I was a child, and my parents are big readers. My career has consisted of jobs in retail, customer service, sales and buying, and I have always said I would love to own a bookshop. Coupled with my husband’s desire to own his own business, when this opportunity came up we went for it, no discussion required! My favourite part is the buying; choosing the books during the rep meetings, finding new products to try, and then seeing them sell, nothing beats it!
3. How do you go about choosing the books that line your shelves?
I very much trust the publisher reps I meet with, they are great and this job would be so hard without them. I also analyse what sells in the shop on a daily basis and speak to our customers so I have a good idea of what they want. I also keep an eye on Goodreads and social media to see what is trending. We also like to stock my and my staff’s favourite books because we are always asked for recommendations, and it is important to have a good mix of books, new and older.
4. If you could recommend one book published in the past year, which would it be?
That is a tricky one as some of the best books I have read recently were first published from a few years ago to nearly a couple of decades ago (Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden-Keefe, and Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer). I also reread The Hunger Games trilogy recently which was just amazing. But for a recommendation of a book published in the last year, I would say either Big Swiss by Jen Beagin or Go As a River by Shelley Read.
5. And finally, do you have any exciting plans for the shop in the coming months that you would like to share with us?
Now we have more room I would love to do a regular “story time” for young kids. We are very lucky to have lots of great nurseries and schools close by.
We recently held a Literary Quiz with the bar/restaurant next door which was a big success, so we are hoping to make this a more regular thing. We will hopefully start a book club as well. All the things we could not quite manage in a smaller shop! So watch this space!
1. Tell us more about the shop – how did it come into being and has much changed in that time?
The shop celebrated its 40th birthday last September. It was opened by Mary Ingrams in 1983 and has been lovingly looked after by three careful lady owners since. The shop has always been located at 10c St Martin’s Street and the shop front with its distinctive arched windows remains our logo today. The books and displays change (all the time), but the ethos of the shop (knowledgeable booksellers, happy atmosphere, great books) has remained pretty consistent. We value our customers greatly and always hope that they leave the shop a little more cheery than when they arrived.
2. What is your favourite, and least favourite, part of a normal working day?
My favourite part of the day is interacting with our customers, who are a fantastic bunch. Helping a customer find that perfect book is a joy. Unboxing new books is also great fun – it’s always Christmas at the bookshop. Least favourite part of the day is probably doing the washing up!
3. Have you noticed any trends in the books your customers are buying lately?
Romance, fantasy and romantasy novels continue to grow in popularity, perhaps reflecting that people may be looking to escape the reality of cold January days and a double election year. However, sales of current affairs books remain strong. AI and gut health are also very popular topics just now.
4. We see that you run a monthly book club – how do you choose the books that get discussed?
I rather autocratically choose the book each month, often a couple of months in advance. I choose a mix of fiction and non-fiction and try to vary the publishers each month. We’ll give any genre a go, so long as it’s well written. The book clubbers love it if the author wants to come along (they’re a lovely bunch).
5. And finally, do you have any exciting plans for the shop in the coming months that you would like to share with us?
We are developing our schools’ business and are running a number of book fairs for 5-18 year olds this year, which is exciting. Every year, there is a festival in Wallingford (Bunkfest) and last year we were part of the Spoken Word fringe festival for the first time, We had poetry pop ups in the shop, which our customers enjoyed. We’re hoping to build on this with some poetry readings / workshops throughout the year, and are looking into the possibility of setting up a writers workshop.
When you set up Gloucester Road Books in 2021, what was your vision?
I wanted it to be a bookshop that would entertain and challenge. This is a bookish community, so people here are really receptive to us recommending books and authors they are not familiar with. We have a significant focus on exciting indie press publishing, lots of literature in translation, and an eclectic range of narrative non-fiction. We really want to encourage people to browse and read as widely as possible, to follow their curiosity and pick up books they know nothing about.
What is it like running a bookshop on one of Bristol’s legendary roads?
Gloucester Road is such a brilliant high street, there is just about everything here. People are (rightly) proud of the road and are very supportive of its small businesses. There is a really strong sense of community with the other traders and local residents. We see so many familiar faces every day and get to build our knowledge of what specific people read and respond to. It’s wonderful to feel so embedded within a community.
We love the idea of a translated literature book club – tell us more! How did you come up with the notion and what has been the feedback from customers?
It’s been great fun! We wanted a theme for the book club so that people had some sense of what kind of books they would be reading if they signed up. We’ve read some absolutely amazing books, and the discussions have been really good – open and candid while remaining amiable! We generally have a good healthy disagreement about each book we read, there have been very few that were universally loved, and none (so far!) that haven’t had any defenders. So far we’ve read books translated from Bulgarian, Catalan, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, Finnish, and next up is Danish.
How do you go about choosing the books that line the shelves?
With much agonising and gnashing of teeth. We have a relatively small space here, so we have to be pretty judicious with our ordering. Every month we pore over the lists of new releases and select books that we think will add something to the shop. This is really where that principle of wanting to entertain and challenge plays out. We have a good sense, after a few years of bookselling here, of the kinds of books that we think will be well received but it’s also really important to us that we encourage people to read broadly, to pick up books that they might not have expected to choose but are fascinated by. It’s always a joy when one of these books really takes off. One of our bestsellers over Christmas was A Philosophy of Walking by Frederic Gros which was exactly that.
And finally, do you have any exciting plans for the shop in the coming months you would like to share with us?
We have some wonderful events being planned for February and March. These will start to be announced in the next couple of weeks. We’re also planning to move around some things in the shop to make more space for our poetry section, so that will be expanding significantly in the next couple of months.
1. What is it like running a bookshop in the iconic Battersea Power Station building in London?
It’s a very interesting and unique location to be based in! Our unit incorporates a lot of listed architectural features of the original station, and we had to make sure they were visible and accessible to customers. Being here for the opening of the Power Station in October last year was an amazing experience; the buzz of excitement on the first day was a great thing to be a part of.
2. Who are your customers and what are they buying – have you noticed any trends?
We have a very diverse customer base, including Power Station residents and staff, people living locally in Battersea and the rest of London, visitors from other parts of the UK and international tourists. We are a general bookshop and we stock a large range of different subjects. We sell a lot of Literary Fiction and Children’s Books, and we also have a large Art & Architecture section. Our London Books are very popular, especially books about the history of the Power Station.
3. Tell us about your normal working day – what does it entail?
We start with a quick tour round the shop to make sure everything is tidy and no books are where they shouldn’t be. By this time we might have our first delivery of the day so we start opening boxes, checking off delivery notes and putting new books on the shelves. The shop starts to get busy around mid-morning, so we will be greeting customers and helping to find books where needed. After the lunchtime rush we tidy again and work on any deliveries that come in the afternoon. We might spend some time writing recommendations, posting on social media, and ordering more books. We often host author events and book launches in the evening so there might be furniture to move and chairs to put out. We are open from 10am to 9pm every day except Sundays, so we close up late and then home to bed!
4. If you had to pick a favourite book published in the last year, which would it be?
I think it has to be The Future by Naomi Alderman; a recent release but definitely our favourite book this year.
5. And finally, do you have any exciting plans for the shop in the coming months that you’d like to share with us?
We are looking forward to building on our existing events offer in the new year, and have already confirmed a couple of great authors. We will also have a new website launching in 2024 which is very exciting!
1. Congratulations on recently celebrating your 1st birthday! What made you go into bookselling and what’s your favourite part?
Thank you so much! It’s a very strange mix of feelings. It feels like yesterday since we opened the shop but at the same time like it’s all we’ve ever done. We both had different reasons for signing up for the Booksellers’ Association Course “How to Start and Run a Bookshop”. Catherine was ready for a major career change, after spending 22 years running her own company working with children with a diagnosis of autism and owning a bookshop had been a lifelong dream. Claire is a musician and when the theatre work stopped during covid, she signed up for the course out of interest as she had always loved reading. That’s how we met! We discovered we lived round the corner from each other, met up, spent lots of time together and realised that running a shop together could be perfect. It really is! We’ve learned a lot this year but meeting each other and creating our shop and a wonderful community of customers has been amazing.
2. How did you go about finding the perfect location for your shop?
We initially wanted a shop on the main high street but unfortunately didn’t get it. We hadn’t considered being off the high street but when we found the units in Kings Court it was the perfect location, and it’s been wonderful. Away from the traffic, it’s a lovely place to visit with many other independent shops around us. It’s given us the calm we wanted.
3. Tell us more about your subscription and book club services. How do you choose the books you recommend?
We have sixty spaces in our book clubs, split into four groups. Each month we suggest four different books for members to vote on. They can sometimes be themed eg Black History Month or Women’s Prize for Fiction list and are usually books we haven’t read so we can also read something new and join in the discussion.
Our book subscription is currently one book for all as we’re such a small shop. This choice is always a book that one of us has read and we think will have universal appeal.
4. What types of books have your customers been buying recently? Have you noticed any trends?
One trend this year has been fiction in translation. It’s been so popular! Our customers also like books written by local authors.
5. And finally, do you have any exciting plans for the shop in the coming months that you would like to share with us?
We have an event with Brian Bilston in December. His was one of our biggest events last year and he was so generous with his time.
We also have plans for a festival next year so that could be an exciting step forwards for The Heath Bookshop!
1. What made you want to go into bookselling, and what is your favourite part about it?
I’ve always loved books, and owning my own bookshop is a long-held dream. When the pandemic happened and I was made redundant, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to be bold, and make a major life change. There are many things I love about running a bookshop – intimate author events in the shop, the sense of community both within the village, and in the wider bookselling world, the feeling of Christmas every day when you are opening up a new delivery of books. But my favourite moments are seeing a parent and child sitting with a hot chocolate, talking about books, and having special time together – I love that we can create the space to make that happen.
2. What’s it like running an independent bookshop and café in Farsley? What do you hope your shop brings to the local area?
Farsley is a really special village, that has been so welcoming and supportive of me and the shop. I think we fit in perfectly with the array of amazing independent businesses on the high street. I hope that we bring a warm welcoming space for readers to share their love of books, and discover their new favourite reads.
3. You stock a wide range of titles across all genres – how do you choose the books that go on your shelves?
I spend a lot of time choosing what books to stock, and try to have an eclectic range, with a mix of familiar classics, popular new releases, hidden gems, and unusual treasures. I think the joy of a bookshop is happening upon something you weren’t looking for, and haven’t seen anywhere else.
4. We understand you are holding a literary festival this month – tell us more!
The second Farsley Lit Fest is on in October and November, with over 35 book events with authors like Adrian Edmondson, Alice Roberts, Paterson Joseph and Dr Amir Khan. We have a whole day of kids events with fantastic authors like Phil Earle and Tom Palmer, an evening dedicated to crime and mystery writing, and even a bookish quiz to round things off. More information can be found at www.farsleylit.co.uk
5. And finally, do you have any exciting plans for the shop in the coming year that you would like to share with us?
We want to continue to build on our events programme. Bringing readers face to face with their favourite writers is always such a joy.