Got Books? Conversations with Booksellers

Welcome back to Got Books, the podcast where we talk to booksellers all around the world. My guest today is Alex, co-founder of the first and only bookshop selling new english books in Lisbon, Portugal, Salted Books. This conversation was yet another proof, in case you needed one, that women can indeed do it all, if they set their mind to it. Alex has started Salted Books with her partner Mark, and she has done so without giving up her work and while raising two children. She’s created a magical space that only opened its doors about 5 months ago but has already received raving reviews from readers and writers in Lisbon, and if you head over to their Instagram page you’ll see why. The book curation couldn’t be more relevant, the design of the space is bold and beautiful and it just feels fresh and exciting and like you want to be there. Alex is also hosting intimate and very safe writing spaces, where early on a Tuesday mornings writers come together to write in silence, by candlelight. She’s bringing new voices to Lisbon and encouraging those in Lisbon to write and get creative. This conversation felt encouraging and uplifting and it confirmed a suspicion I’ve had for a while now, interviewing bookshop owners all around the world: starting and running a bookshop is a bit of an art form and there’s a lot of artistic freedom in how it can be done. Here’s my conversation with Alex.

Welcome back to Got Books, the podcast where we talk to booksellers all around the world. My guest today is Edgars, owner of Robert’s Books, in Riga, Latvia. Robert’s Books was Riga’s first English bookshop and it has become, over the years, much more than that - a community space, a place to meet, work, relax, think, discuss, have fun, read and just be. It has also been a space for social experiments, one of its more recent ones involving a bit of a.. grey area: a sex shop inside the bookshop. Robert’s Books first opened its doors in 2008 and since then has changed its location twice. Edgars story of how he came to own Robert’s Books is perhaps one of the most unbelievable stories I’ve come across, one fit for a novel. The father of Robert’s Books is journalist Robert Cottrell, who then gifted the shop to Edgars. Not a bad start to bookselling. Edgars was very young at the time, but he was not alone, he had a small team and together they not only kept the shop open, but they made it thrive and become the community and safe haven it is today. Here’s my conversation with Edgars.

Welcome back to Got Books, the podcast where we talk to booksellers all around the world. My guest today is Danny Caine, bookseller and co-owner of ⁠The Raven Bookstore⁠ in Lawrence, Kansas. The Raven was founded in 1987 as a mystery-specialty store, and today you can walk in to find books of fiction, current events, environmental writing, children's books, science fiction, romance, and poetry. The poetry section in particular might have something to do with today’s guest, who is himself a published poet. But we’ll come back to that. In recent years, the Raven and especially it’s majority owner Danny have become small business and anti-Amazon activists, through viral tweets turned into books, media appearances, such as this one, and a growing collection of activist zines. And as of 2022, the Raven is one of the very few employee-owned bookstores. The Raven stands for something. It believes that reading books won't fix the world's problems, but they can be a pretty good place to start. It believes that Amazon is bad and the United States Postal Service is good. And it believes that small businesses and independent bookstores are vital to their communities. Danny wrote 2 books on the topic too, so I’ve invited him on Got Books to talk about his career as a bookseller, his popular books encouraging us to protect independent bookstores and of course..books. Here’s my conversation with Danny Caine, from The Raven Book Store in Lawrence, Kansas.

Welcome back to Got Books, the podcast where we talk to booksellers all around the world.  Today we are going to the United States, in Madison, New Jersey, to a bookshop with the most fitting of names - The Nature of Reading. The concept of this bookshop feels quite unique to me: pulling together the joy and wonder of the natural world with the knowledge and passion to fight for its survival. It is an environmental bookstore sand it specializes in seasonal reading, nature writing, and climate change books, helping spread the messages of local environmental groups and leading both children and adults to reconnect with nature and reading.I love so many things about this bookshop - how it began as a pandemic quest for more meaning, how young and brave Hailey, its founder, is, how it first started as a pop up bookshop and then with community support turned into what it is today, how it has a tree inside the shop (ok, not a real tree..but not all kids can tell), and especially how it wants to raise awareness and action when it comes to the climate crisis by taking a gentle approach rooted in love and appreciation for nature. Here's my conversation with Hailey.

On this mini episode, I talk about niche and quirky bookshops from different parts of the world. Pillow-Cat Books is all about animals in books. Wonderland Bookshop! are all in on the Alice-in-Wonderland theme. Robert Humm & Co. is "Britain's largest railway bookshop". Libreria il Mare in Italy is a store that's all about H2O. Libreria Griot is an Italian bookstore that's all about African literature. Heading to Berlin, we've got the Bibliotheca-Culinaria Kochbuchantiquariat, a food lover's paradise, with over 15,000 vintage cookbooks. In London, Bookmarks is the place to be for radical and socialist reads. Now, let's cross the Channel to Librairie des Femmes, a Parisian gem that celebrates women's writing. La Anonima, in Madrid, aims to pay tribute to those women who have been silenced, unable to sign their texts, and have signed, in many cases, as Anonymous. Like Chicago’s Women and Children First In Brussels, it's a two-in-one deal at Cook & Book. This bookstore slash restaurant offers nine unique rooms with different atmospheres and book selections. And for all you theater buffs, head to Germany's EINAR & BERT THEATERBUCHHANDLUNG. From children's theater to operas, they've got all things stage-related. Finally, in the heart of Madrid, we've got La Librería, a treasure trove of literature dedicated to the vibrant history and legends of Madrid. La Casquería is a bookstore located in a stall at the San Fernando market in Lavapiés. Just like neighboring fruit stands, butchers, and fishmongers, here, everything is sold by weight." And The Nature of Reading is an environmental bookstore specializing in seasonal reading, nature writing, and climate change books, pulling together the joy and wonder of the natural world with the knowledge and passion to fight for its survival.