Introduction: Gather round . . .
Some starting points
Hello! Welcome to this space: pop by, stay for the whole duration, or dip in and out – this is an attempt to capture my sabbatical bookselling adventures, alongside reflections on connected reading, snippets of bookselling history, and other bits and bobs. It’s going to be more like a commonplace book in terms of content – a collection of pieces, rather than a cohesive narrative, so am putting that warning out there now!
It's an auspicious time to begin this: the Booksellers Association annual conference begins tomorrow, and in yesterday’s Bookseller there was a wonderful article by Meryl Halls and Fleur Sinclair (BA MD and President, respectively) entitled ‘Why bookselling is everyone’s business’. So this, in essence, is exactly what I am investigating in the coming months:
The contemporary bookshop is a community hub, a creative industries epicentre and a launchpad for the readers of today and tomorrow. The bookseller of 2025 is an innovative entrepreneur, a grassroots community builder and a skilled curator.
What are the various ways indies are creating these gathering spaces? And can I try and capture why and how bookshops help some people feel safe, or de-stressed, or joy?
I’ve been involved in wellbeing work as part of my day-job, and this means I’m especially interested in the ways books and book-spaces can impact on our health. I also know that for many people, these spaces can signify stress and anxiety, and given the sharp decline in reading across all ages at the moment, would like to explore ways to reduce that. As this year unfolds, it will take in the progress of the National Year of Reading which will pull this conundrum into sharp focus; this will provide a constant backdrop to my research.
There’s also a very personal element to all this, too: my very first ‘proper’ Saturday job (I grew up on a farm, so the fruit and hop-related holiday work I did there seemed to count less!) was at the local town library, and I loved it. Another Samantha and I split the Saturdays between us – I did the mornings, and she did the afternoons – and I was convinced I wanted to be a librarian. Shelving, serving the customers, covering the books – it was all good. And then when I found I needed to take a gap year before going to university, I got a job at my nearest Hammick’s bookshop (more on Hammick’s will follow – a medium-sized chain which got swallowed up by others, and so has now disappeared) and spent that time (and every university holiday afterwards) learning the bookselling ropes under the expert guidance of a manager who knew the book trade extremely well. I’ve also done short stints at Galloway & Hodgson in Bangor (now also no more) and Blackwell’s at Reading University . . .and although life drew me away to follow other career paths, including secondary school teaching, everything has come together in my work as a university lecturer, teaching a module to students on bookselling, and looking at bookshops as my major research area.
It's been an eclectic and far from straightforward road that’s brought me to this point, but bookshops and libraries have always been constants. So I am very excited to have this chance to do some deep dives into indies in the coming months – I’ll be travelling around the UK, working alongside booksellers where they will have me, and seeing how they create the connections with their customers and maintain these communities, these gatherings, as well as running as viable businesses.
I’d love it if you’d keep me company on my travels via this sub-stack, and feedback, share your own stories, advise and correct me if I get things wrong . . .
My first trips are to Edinburgh and then Grasmere (Portobello Books, Toppings, and Sam Read Bookseller) starting at the end of this month, so stay tuned as I prepare for that in the coming days!