LIZZIE MOSSHeron books, bristolLocated in the iconic Clifton Arcade, Heron Books launched in 2022 to a warm local welcome as (potentially) Bristol’s smallest bookshop and Clifton’s only independent. Since opening it’s doors, Heron Books has quickly become one of the UK’s most up-and-coming destination book spaces, having made the list of this year’s The Times readers’ favourites.
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JR: So, Lizzie, you're based in Clifton Arcade, Bristol, this gorgeous Victorian arcade. You're in a suburb of Bristol, you're Clifton's only independent bookshops, and you're one of Bristol's smallest indies. Can you start us off by telling us a little bit about who you are and where we can find you?
LM: Sure, so yeah, we're the only independent bookshop in Clifton. I don't know if I'd use the word suburb, it is a village, which actually surprised me a little bit in that I know lots of areas of Bristol but I hadn't perhaps realised how much it's a village. You know, if you want gossip you just have to walk to the end of the arcade to the vegetable shop. It is a village lifestyle, everyone knows everything, which is quite good fun. And yes, we are said to be Bristol's smallest bookshop but I haven't actually double-checked that so I can't promise that's been fact-checked in a New Yorker-style way. But certainly, the shop is four and a half meters by four and a half meters and it is absolutely rammed with about 4,200 books.
We stock a little bit of everything really as well which always surprises people so we have fiction we have non-fiction we have children's we have quite a wide range for the size of the shop, which is great fun. And yeah, we're based in this beautiful Victorian arcade which has its upsides and its downsides - it's an incredibly beautiful building, it's got a lovely community that we joined when we set up the shop there because we've immediately got this gang of other shopkeepers. Some of them have been there forever and are great characters. But there's no storage space, so I think we might be the most disciplined bookshop in the world. We can't order 100 copies of something and sit on them in a stock room, so that's one of the challenges I would say.
JR: So those 4,200 books are just all on display, are they?
LM: Everything's out, yeah, and you'll find when we've got an event or something we're moving things between my car and the shop and keeping things hidden under tables and trying to find creative ways to find some storage.
JR: I know you're not you're not solely by yourself but it is still a relatively small team.
LM: Yeah, so it's just me and then Harry has recently gone full-time, which is very exciting.
JR: Yeah, I bet.
LM: Yeah, he's a great, great reader and just a brilliant person to have around. We met in the shop. He actually used to work at Registered Veg, the Gossipy vegetable shop. And he started out by helping me with a couple of the book groups, and then I knew that when we could afford to hire someone, he'd essentially done this year-long interview by running all those events with me and stuff. And yeah, I'm thrilled to have him. He's got such brilliant ideas and it's great fun.
JR: It must take a little bit of pressure off you but do you still primarily manage the stock yourself? Or do you share those responsibilities?
LM: Yeah, I mean it's only been a month from being full-time - until very recently I've been in every day except Christmas day since we opened on the first of October 2022.
JR: Oh wow, ok.
LM: So I'm starting to, yeah. Obviously, in terms of managing stock and everything that the shop involves and just trying to slowly show that to Harry. It's quite tricky. Again, and that's another thing with the shop, it's so small that even just gathering both of us around the computer [is tricky]. So we're doing that bit by bit. But yeah, it has indeed taken some pressure off. I didn't even go in on Sunday, I just left him to it.
JR: Hopefully as time goes on you can take a little bit more of a step back but it's still your baby, isn't it?
LM: Exactly, and it's where I want to be, I love it, and there's a whole community around it who come in to chat to me, and now to Harry. So it's kind of finding that balance.
JR: I read somewhere that you were a teacher and a Waterstones manager, is that correct?
LM: Yeah, yeah.
JR: Obviously you've got some bookshop experience but have you always wanted to run your own bookshop? Can you tell us how you got into indie bookselling?
LM: I have, but I never really took that seriously, I think. I never thought that I could actually do it. And I'm sure lots of people, you know, every day someone comes in the shop and goes, ‘Oh, this is my dream!’ And I'm like, that's fine too. I'm doing it. I think I've always been in book adjacent things, like, even when teaching, teaching classics, you know, it was all a love of literature, a love of books. Then I left teaching and started working for Waterstones, I’ve worked briefly in academic publishing as well. I was gonna say I've tried to be a writer. I am still, you know, one day, maybe. It's never too late.
JR: Never too late.
LM: So yeah, it's just always been a dream in the back of my mind and just one day I started looking at spaces in Bristol. When I first moved to Bristol I moved to an area called Bedminster and North Street there is a thriving, very supportive of independent shops kind of a place and I thought this really needed a bookshop. Then I started looking it up and discovered that Storysmith were due to open in about two months' time. If you don’t know Storysmith, they’re an absolutely wonderful, wonderful bookshop here in Bedminster. So I had this thing for a while where I was like, ‘This really needs a bookshop’, and then I was like, ‘Yeah, obviously other people have realised that too!’
So then it was a few years later that I started idling looking at shops that were for rent and thinking about different areas in Bristol. I was working in an administrative role at the university and also trying to do writing, and again it was just this dream. Then one day I'd actually given up on it. It's so hard to rent a shop without already having the business in place, you know, a lot of people want five years of accounts, they want you to sign up for 10 years, and all that kind of thing. And then I discovered that the arcade had a space going and that they don't tie you in for years and years and years, and basically they said pay the first month's rent and here you go. And I just did it, with huge amounts of support from friends and family; it would not be remotely possible without all of that. But with, I would say, a certain level of slight madness, you need some confidence, and I've not always had lots of confidence in my decisions, but I just thought I was gonna try it. So yeah, a dream came true.
LM: Sure, so yeah, we're the only independent bookshop in Clifton. I don't know if I'd use the word suburb, it is a village, which actually surprised me a little bit in that I know lots of areas of Bristol but I hadn't perhaps realised how much it's a village. You know, if you want gossip you just have to walk to the end of the arcade to the vegetable shop. It is a village lifestyle, everyone knows everything, which is quite good fun. And yes, we are said to be Bristol's smallest bookshop but I haven't actually double-checked that so I can't promise that's been fact-checked in a New Yorker-style way. But certainly, the shop is four and a half meters by four and a half meters and it is absolutely rammed with about 4,200 books.
We stock a little bit of everything really as well which always surprises people so we have fiction we have non-fiction we have children's we have quite a wide range for the size of the shop, which is great fun. And yeah, we're based in this beautiful Victorian arcade which has its upsides and its downsides - it's an incredibly beautiful building, it's got a lovely community that we joined when we set up the shop there because we've immediately got this gang of other shopkeepers. Some of them have been there forever and are great characters. But there's no storage space, so I think we might be the most disciplined bookshop in the world. We can't order 100 copies of something and sit on them in a stock room, so that's one of the challenges I would say.
JR: So those 4,200 books are just all on display, are they?
LM: Everything's out, yeah, and you'll find when we've got an event or something we're moving things between my car and the shop and keeping things hidden under tables and trying to find creative ways to find some storage.
JR: I know you're not you're not solely by yourself but it is still a relatively small team.
LM: Yeah, so it's just me and then Harry has recently gone full-time, which is very exciting.
JR: Yeah, I bet.
LM: Yeah, he's a great, great reader and just a brilliant person to have around. We met in the shop. He actually used to work at Registered Veg, the Gossipy vegetable shop. And he started out by helping me with a couple of the book groups, and then I knew that when we could afford to hire someone, he'd essentially done this year-long interview by running all those events with me and stuff. And yeah, I'm thrilled to have him. He's got such brilliant ideas and it's great fun.
JR: It must take a little bit of pressure off you but do you still primarily manage the stock yourself? Or do you share those responsibilities?
LM: Yeah, I mean it's only been a month from being full-time - until very recently I've been in every day except Christmas day since we opened on the first of October 2022.
JR: Oh wow, ok.
LM: So I'm starting to, yeah. Obviously, in terms of managing stock and everything that the shop involves and just trying to slowly show that to Harry. It's quite tricky. Again, and that's another thing with the shop, it's so small that even just gathering both of us around the computer [is tricky]. So we're doing that bit by bit. But yeah, it has indeed taken some pressure off. I didn't even go in on Sunday, I just left him to it.
JR: Hopefully as time goes on you can take a little bit more of a step back but it's still your baby, isn't it?
LM: Exactly, and it's where I want to be, I love it, and there's a whole community around it who come in to chat to me, and now to Harry. So it's kind of finding that balance.
JR: I read somewhere that you were a teacher and a Waterstones manager, is that correct?
LM: Yeah, yeah.
JR: Obviously you've got some bookshop experience but have you always wanted to run your own bookshop? Can you tell us how you got into indie bookselling?
LM: I have, but I never really took that seriously, I think. I never thought that I could actually do it. And I'm sure lots of people, you know, every day someone comes in the shop and goes, ‘Oh, this is my dream!’ And I'm like, that's fine too. I'm doing it. I think I've always been in book adjacent things, like, even when teaching, teaching classics, you know, it was all a love of literature, a love of books. Then I left teaching and started working for Waterstones, I’ve worked briefly in academic publishing as well. I was gonna say I've tried to be a writer. I am still, you know, one day, maybe. It's never too late.
JR: Never too late.
LM: So yeah, it's just always been a dream in the back of my mind and just one day I started looking at spaces in Bristol. When I first moved to Bristol I moved to an area called Bedminster and North Street there is a thriving, very supportive of independent shops kind of a place and I thought this really needed a bookshop. Then I started looking it up and discovered that Storysmith were due to open in about two months' time. If you don’t know Storysmith, they’re an absolutely wonderful, wonderful bookshop here in Bedminster. So I had this thing for a while where I was like, ‘This really needs a bookshop’, and then I was like, ‘Yeah, obviously other people have realised that too!’
So then it was a few years later that I started idling looking at shops that were for rent and thinking about different areas in Bristol. I was working in an administrative role at the university and also trying to do writing, and again it was just this dream. Then one day I'd actually given up on it. It's so hard to rent a shop without already having the business in place, you know, a lot of people want five years of accounts, they want you to sign up for 10 years, and all that kind of thing. And then I discovered that the arcade had a space going and that they don't tie you in for years and years and years, and basically they said pay the first month's rent and here you go. And I just did it, with huge amounts of support from friends and family; it would not be remotely possible without all of that. But with, I would say, a certain level of slight madness, you need some confidence, and I've not always had lots of confidence in my decisions, but I just thought I was gonna try it. So yeah, a dream came true.
JR: Absolutely. So how long were you at Waterstones?
LM: I was only there for about two years, under two years, at the beautiful Cambridge shop, which is over four floors. So obviously extremely different to running a four-metre shop! That gave me a good grounding in bookselling but yeah, it was totally different. There were three of us managing the shop, plus other managers coming in all the time from different shops. Plus a cafe, [it’s] huge, and 30 staff. And we saw that through a major refit that involved, like, each evening, builders coming in and moving entire sections onto a floor when you're coming in the next morning not knowing what to expect. So I feel like experiences like that prepare you for anything. JR: Yeah, 100% and I guess it’s just really solid foundations for whatever you want to go on to do. LM: Yeah, yeah, exactly. I’ve still got good friends from those Waterstones days. JR: Yeah. So going back to moving day, I kind of saw, I think it was on Instagram, it was something like three thousand eight hundred books delivered three or so days before you opened. You'd just painted, you'd built the shelves, you'd been welcomed by some of the locals. What was opening like for you? Obviously, it's a very intense week and those days of stocking before you open the doors are pretty frantic. You did that through Gardners, is that right? LM: I did do that through Gardners, yeah. Since opening, I've used other distributors as well, but Gardners are our stalwart suppliers. And you know, the shop couldn't do our not having storage space without those daily deliveries from Gardners. But yeah, logistically, the delivery of the initial stock actually arrived a day late. JR: Oh, right. LM: There was a Monday where I remember just standing in this empty shop waiting all day and it said it was coming. |
So I was on edge just like, I can't even go to the bathroom. And it didn't come. And brilliantly, people came in and said, ‘Oh, so are you a shop that sells shelves?’ Because I have empty shelves. And I was like, ‘Um, no…’, there were quite a lot of signs up saying BOOKS and COMING SOON and that kind of thing. Anyway, so [the books] all came the next day, my sister came at the drop of a hat to help me because I was suddenly like, ‘Okay, this is going to be very intense.’ And all the boxes were piled up and I'm not hugely tall, but my sister's less than five foot. Honestly, I did think at times I couldn't find her in this tiny shop, behind all those boxes. And yeah, it was a whirlwind week, people just pitching in all over the place. A lot of coffee being inhaled, obviously. We had a little party on the Friday night for everyone who worked in the arcade and had drinks with them. And then opening day on the Saturday, the first of October and it was just a whirlwind. I don't know how much I've had the chance to look back, but it was just amazing. And people showed up. Family and friends came from all over the country. It was just like a warm, gorgeous experience. And we sold lots of books.
JR: That's so amazing. I guess it's always a really terrifying thing to do, but when you've got that kind of support and that kind of anticipation ahead of opening, that's got to really help, doesn't it?
LM: Definitely. It's just it's so lovely to have people really believing in you. And I think one of the reasons it works in Clifton is that there's already a lot of independent shops and Bristol in general is very committed to [indies], you know, they want to go in and support a business where they know the person and that kind of thing. It's that warmth and active support that has made it work. And there are people who came in on that first day who I've never met before, who I now consider among my best friends. That's kind of wild to me.
JR: Yeah, it's amazing, isn’t it? I mean, I've been involved in the opening of three different bookshops over the years, and you get that, you get those regular customer relationships, they form really quickly.
LM: Yeah.
JR: And your customers soon become friends and there are definitely people who you still keep in touch with. I've since moved on from some of those bookshops and still keep in touch with some of those customers.
LM: Yeah, it's amazing.
JR: And I don't necessarily think that's unique to independent bookshops but I do feel like there's something quite unique to bookselling where you can form those kinds of relationships.
LM: Yeah, there’s something so personal about it and I do sometimes say it does feel like the kind of movie version of a bar where people come in and share things. We're not actually serving them a martini at the same time but there's definitely a therapeutic aspect of it because books get people talking so much. It's very special.
JR: So how was that first autumn-winter period and that first Christmas for you? Obviously, you're settling into indie bookselling but you were also settling into being a business owner as well.
LM: Yeah, a very steep learning curve, to use a cliche. All the things that you need to do as part of the business that people don't really see. They think that if you're in the shop alone you’re just waiting for them to come in. I’m like, ‘No, there’s quite a lot of things I need to do!’ But it was obviously quite a whirlwind because it was straight into Christmas. I was learning what would sell in the area. I mean, I've got friends who work in publishing who might say, you know, ‘This is our biggest title at the moment’. And, ‘How many of those have you got in?’ And I'm thinking, ‘...I haven't got any.’ Because that's just not what the shop, what the customers are here for. And you're learning that over time. But it was lovely to find that people were really into lots of nature-memoir writing and natural history writing, that was really great. In terms of fiction, it definitely skews towards the literary fiction angle, which is great for me, it makes me very happy. I would say a big thing for me was trying to hone my children's book knowledge because I was definitely aware that I hadn't read lots of children's books. It wasn't my strength as much. And one of the really fun things that Harry and I have done is we do a… we call it a children's book club, but it's just us two. Each week we read a book and share it with each other and we've been doing that since the start of the year when he was part-time. And it's so much fun. So that's been really great. But yeah, that was another kind of steep learning curve. I would say.
JR: How do you feel the arcade has helped with bringing in an audience? Do you think it helped at Christmas with that big Christmas browsing? And do you think being in the arcade helped bring people in even after that crazy mad festive period?
LM: It's certainly a lot busier after Christmas in the arcade, I would say. I've had two Januarys now and both times I've been preparing myself for a big fall off and it actually came more in March. In January everyone's quite depressed and cold and they want books, and they're also excited about those ‘what books are coming out this year’ type lists and stuff like that. So I would say it comes a bit later on. In terms of the arcade itself, it's just a special place and when you've got things like a choir singing on the steps at the back of the arcade that draws people down.
But equally, businesses are struggling and there have been several empty units in the arcade and that has not lent itself to bringing people in. There's a sobering issue behind all of that, not everyone is thriving and when you're in an arcade I think that has an effect on everyone, and some businesses are still there but have changed. For example, [some have] closed for two days a week and so then the arcade goes very quiet. People might peer down from the entrance and think, ‘Oh, there's nothing open in there’, and walk away. So obviously you have to do things with A-boards to bring people in and try and have a big song and dance about the fact that you're there. But yeah, it's got its tricky aspects and obviously some businesses and people are struggling.
JR: That's so amazing. I guess it's always a really terrifying thing to do, but when you've got that kind of support and that kind of anticipation ahead of opening, that's got to really help, doesn't it?
LM: Definitely. It's just it's so lovely to have people really believing in you. And I think one of the reasons it works in Clifton is that there's already a lot of independent shops and Bristol in general is very committed to [indies], you know, they want to go in and support a business where they know the person and that kind of thing. It's that warmth and active support that has made it work. And there are people who came in on that first day who I've never met before, who I now consider among my best friends. That's kind of wild to me.
JR: Yeah, it's amazing, isn’t it? I mean, I've been involved in the opening of three different bookshops over the years, and you get that, you get those regular customer relationships, they form really quickly.
LM: Yeah.
JR: And your customers soon become friends and there are definitely people who you still keep in touch with. I've since moved on from some of those bookshops and still keep in touch with some of those customers.
LM: Yeah, it's amazing.
JR: And I don't necessarily think that's unique to independent bookshops but I do feel like there's something quite unique to bookselling where you can form those kinds of relationships.
LM: Yeah, there’s something so personal about it and I do sometimes say it does feel like the kind of movie version of a bar where people come in and share things. We're not actually serving them a martini at the same time but there's definitely a therapeutic aspect of it because books get people talking so much. It's very special.
JR: So how was that first autumn-winter period and that first Christmas for you? Obviously, you're settling into indie bookselling but you were also settling into being a business owner as well.
LM: Yeah, a very steep learning curve, to use a cliche. All the things that you need to do as part of the business that people don't really see. They think that if you're in the shop alone you’re just waiting for them to come in. I’m like, ‘No, there’s quite a lot of things I need to do!’ But it was obviously quite a whirlwind because it was straight into Christmas. I was learning what would sell in the area. I mean, I've got friends who work in publishing who might say, you know, ‘This is our biggest title at the moment’. And, ‘How many of those have you got in?’ And I'm thinking, ‘...I haven't got any.’ Because that's just not what the shop, what the customers are here for. And you're learning that over time. But it was lovely to find that people were really into lots of nature-memoir writing and natural history writing, that was really great. In terms of fiction, it definitely skews towards the literary fiction angle, which is great for me, it makes me very happy. I would say a big thing for me was trying to hone my children's book knowledge because I was definitely aware that I hadn't read lots of children's books. It wasn't my strength as much. And one of the really fun things that Harry and I have done is we do a… we call it a children's book club, but it's just us two. Each week we read a book and share it with each other and we've been doing that since the start of the year when he was part-time. And it's so much fun. So that's been really great. But yeah, that was another kind of steep learning curve. I would say.
JR: How do you feel the arcade has helped with bringing in an audience? Do you think it helped at Christmas with that big Christmas browsing? And do you think being in the arcade helped bring people in even after that crazy mad festive period?
LM: It's certainly a lot busier after Christmas in the arcade, I would say. I've had two Januarys now and both times I've been preparing myself for a big fall off and it actually came more in March. In January everyone's quite depressed and cold and they want books, and they're also excited about those ‘what books are coming out this year’ type lists and stuff like that. So I would say it comes a bit later on. In terms of the arcade itself, it's just a special place and when you've got things like a choir singing on the steps at the back of the arcade that draws people down.
But equally, businesses are struggling and there have been several empty units in the arcade and that has not lent itself to bringing people in. There's a sobering issue behind all of that, not everyone is thriving and when you're in an arcade I think that has an effect on everyone, and some businesses are still there but have changed. For example, [some have] closed for two days a week and so then the arcade goes very quiet. People might peer down from the entrance and think, ‘Oh, there's nothing open in there’, and walk away. So obviously you have to do things with A-boards to bring people in and try and have a big song and dance about the fact that you're there. But yeah, it's got its tricky aspects and obviously some businesses and people are struggling.
JR: I've spoken to other booksellers who've opened initially in an arcade and they've found that the opening hours have been slightly restricting and not the best for events and things. Have you found that getting in the way of some of the things you want to do?
LM: Yeah, and we've always known that that was going to be - I always say we, by the way, and I really mean I, but I think as a we - I've always known that that was potentially an issue and that the arcade is a temporary stepping stone to something larger where I can control my opening hours. We are always looking out because we have reached… I don't want to say reached capacity, but we're ready to grow, basically. But within the village, we're very much rooted in the village, so it's looking out for anything that comes up. JR: And in the year and a half of being open, have you seen any changes in the kind of sales you're making? Do you think your customer base has changed at all? Do you think the type of books you're selling is different? LM: Certainly, yes. We've got more regulars. I think it's really hard to say, actually, because we’ve only had one full summer so far and last summer was really interesting to see how the tourists changed what we might be selling. So July and August we were selling a lot of books on Bristol and that kind of thing, we're right next to Clifton’s suspension bridge so you've got that as a good draw for people. |
But we haven't yet got into feeling like there are lots of tourists, I don't know if that's to do with the weather. I mean, Bristol's rainy at the best of times but it's been a pretty wet time.
I suppose we've got more events and more book groups now and that obviously changes the flavour of what we're doing but equally, we did start all of that quite early on. We've had a monthly poetry series since just a few months in and now we run that every month, which is again one of those things from having met a load of poets who came into the shop and realising how big the poetry scene is in Bristol and how many incredibly talented poets there are around and nearby. It's really grown. I would just really love it if I could grow the poetry section itself in tandem with that, but space is very limited. But yeah, that's been perhaps one of my favourite aspects of it I think, our monthly poetry series, and I've been allowed to open a bit later and that's been really special. You look up at this big glass roof as Jonathan Edwards reads a poem about a nun on a bicycle, and you think, ‘This is pretty good!’
JR: I did want to ask about your events. I think hosting poetry events is an amazing thing and I think being able to host poetry events and still get an audience for poetry is brilliant and it just goes to show the kind of community you've got and the reach that poetry has in Bristol. Because I think every bookshop apart from those that specialise in it would love to have a larger poetry section, but you need to warrant that growth. You can't just push it on people even though you wish you could.
LM: I can't pretend it's a massive money spinner or anything. We've pretty much put those poetry events on for the love of poetry and it means that people hopefully will come back in again at another stage and think, ‘Oh yes, remember that lovely shop?’ And it might not be that they buy poetry, but they remember the event. So yeah, I would say it's done for the love of it, which may not be what... Well, I think that is what a good business should do. They should do things for the love of it.
JR: And what kind of size audiences can you get in the shop?
LM: We used to do them literally inside the shop and we have tables that are on wheels, which my dad built for us, which we push aside. And I think there was one August poetry event where we did squeeze 30 people in and I think that probably broke some kind of regulation. It was everyone right up next to each other immediately becoming very intimate. Now that we can do it outside, we can happily seat 42 people because that's the number of chairs I own.
JR: Oh, amazing. Okay.
LM: And when I say outside, sorry, I mean in essentially the aisles of the arcade, out of hours.
JR: I love the sound of that. But I think getting 40 people to any event is amazing, don't you think?
LM: Yeah, I mean it's not guaranteed, there will be events that are quieter. I mentioned Jonathan Edwards, we had an event with him a couple of weeks ago and it was one of those moments where it felt like everyone was experiencing the same thing at the same time and there was a spell, there was a hush over everything, and it was just incredibly special, a really wonderful experience.
JR: Do you do any external events as well?
LM: We've done a few things supporting the Clifton Library. They've got an incredibly good team, a friends of Clifton Library, who put on the Clifton Lit Fest. We've done a few author events with them. We've got one coming up in October, with Brad Evans writing about the Welsh countryside and Welsh mining [How Black Was My Valley, Reapter Books]. For the Clifton Lit Fest, I'm going and interviewing Noreen Masud, which will be very fun - the author of A Flat Place.
JR: Oh, incredible!
I suppose we've got more events and more book groups now and that obviously changes the flavour of what we're doing but equally, we did start all of that quite early on. We've had a monthly poetry series since just a few months in and now we run that every month, which is again one of those things from having met a load of poets who came into the shop and realising how big the poetry scene is in Bristol and how many incredibly talented poets there are around and nearby. It's really grown. I would just really love it if I could grow the poetry section itself in tandem with that, but space is very limited. But yeah, that's been perhaps one of my favourite aspects of it I think, our monthly poetry series, and I've been allowed to open a bit later and that's been really special. You look up at this big glass roof as Jonathan Edwards reads a poem about a nun on a bicycle, and you think, ‘This is pretty good!’
JR: I did want to ask about your events. I think hosting poetry events is an amazing thing and I think being able to host poetry events and still get an audience for poetry is brilliant and it just goes to show the kind of community you've got and the reach that poetry has in Bristol. Because I think every bookshop apart from those that specialise in it would love to have a larger poetry section, but you need to warrant that growth. You can't just push it on people even though you wish you could.
LM: I can't pretend it's a massive money spinner or anything. We've pretty much put those poetry events on for the love of poetry and it means that people hopefully will come back in again at another stage and think, ‘Oh yes, remember that lovely shop?’ And it might not be that they buy poetry, but they remember the event. So yeah, I would say it's done for the love of it, which may not be what... Well, I think that is what a good business should do. They should do things for the love of it.
JR: And what kind of size audiences can you get in the shop?
LM: We used to do them literally inside the shop and we have tables that are on wheels, which my dad built for us, which we push aside. And I think there was one August poetry event where we did squeeze 30 people in and I think that probably broke some kind of regulation. It was everyone right up next to each other immediately becoming very intimate. Now that we can do it outside, we can happily seat 42 people because that's the number of chairs I own.
JR: Oh, amazing. Okay.
LM: And when I say outside, sorry, I mean in essentially the aisles of the arcade, out of hours.
JR: I love the sound of that. But I think getting 40 people to any event is amazing, don't you think?
LM: Yeah, I mean it's not guaranteed, there will be events that are quieter. I mentioned Jonathan Edwards, we had an event with him a couple of weeks ago and it was one of those moments where it felt like everyone was experiencing the same thing at the same time and there was a spell, there was a hush over everything, and it was just incredibly special, a really wonderful experience.
JR: Do you do any external events as well?
LM: We've done a few things supporting the Clifton Library. They've got an incredibly good team, a friends of Clifton Library, who put on the Clifton Lit Fest. We've done a few author events with them. We've got one coming up in October, with Brad Evans writing about the Welsh countryside and Welsh mining [How Black Was My Valley, Reapter Books]. For the Clifton Lit Fest, I'm going and interviewing Noreen Masud, which will be very fun - the author of A Flat Place.
JR: Oh, incredible!
LM: So yeah, we've worked with them and some others. There's a concert hall, well, a converted church, called St George's Bristol and we did an Alice Roberts event there, which was very exciting, we've supported Alice Oswald, and we worked with an organisation called Poetry by Heart, do you know them? They’re a kind of educational charity getting children to learn poetry differently. I'm sure I'm missing people…
JR: No they all sound great. It's just an extra string to your bow, being able to do these external ones. And it's amazing and just goes to show the hard work you've been putting in that people are approaching you for these things. LM: Yeah, it's definitely a mixture of the two, us approaching them and them approaching us. I did a great event last week, which was organised by someone else, at the RWA [The Royal West of England Academy], a beautiful art gallery at the top of Park Street in Bristol that was celebrating Black queer writers and so it was Travis Alabanza, Okechukwu Nzelu and Jackson King. And that was just one of those events where I wrote them and said, ‘Do you think you need a bookseller for this?’ And then went along and it was the most joyful, incredible event and a lot of the writers read from some of their published work, but also some of their unpublished work and it was really, really interesting to hear. JR: And that's amazing as well, finding that balance between your kind of village vibe in Clifton, but also being part of Bristol and having that amazing sort of slightly more city-centre, diverse audience that you can definitely push events like that and you can go to events like those which I think in smaller rural villages you probably couldn't get the audience for. LM: That's true, absolutely. It's that fun mix that Bristol has, I always think it feels like a lot of little villages come together but yeah, it is a city. JR: I know you've got so many book clubs on at the moment, too. You have your fiction book club on the last Wednesday of the month. But you've got non-fiction and a ‘Ruthless’ one as well. Can you tell us about those? |
LM: Yes. Ruthless is great fun. As you'd imagine, it's anything brutal, genre-bending, weird and out there. It's basically our way of saying, there's no holds barred, like, come along, we're going to read weird things. Like, we read Jackdaw by Tade Thompson last, a couple of weeks ago, which is about someone being given the job of writing a book about Francis Bacon and going mad in a very Francis Bacon way. And one of the best book clubs we've ever done. It was just a fascinating discussion. Everyone was eager to speak, like that level where everyone's only very slightly talking over each other, so nothing rude about it. But everyone was just so excited. It was great fun.
And then yes, we've recently started a couple of book groups in the day, which I think really appeals to everyone in the village because the library's not always open. There are not a lot of spaces with things happening in the day. And you know, the population is a little bit older than we are. There are a lot of retired people, but there are also students who somehow seem to be free during the day. Go figure! And so yeah, we've got our poetry and our short fiction book groups during the daytime. And I feel like Harry's currently coming up with more ideas for book clubs but five between us is probably where we should halt, if only because once you've got the first Wednesday of the month, second Tuesday of the month, and all that kind of thing, you’re like, ‘Oh, we can never take a holiday!’
JR: Never take a holiday, but also it is kind of informing your monthly reading, isn't it?
LM: Yeah, yeah.
JR: Which is good, it's nice to have a bit of structure, but it's not like you don't have enough to read already.
LM: Indeed. And I write a weekly newsletter which features different things and so I think I am, by the way, I'm a slow reader, I'm reading like four or five books a week. And someday I am going to need to go to sleep!
JR: It just goes to show how much you can juggle with being a small business, but also an independent business and you can choose what you take on and what you don't.
LM: Yeah.
JR: And I suppose in the future, if you were to expand a little more or get another member of staff, that's again just another opportunity to introduce something else that you're not doing at the moment. It's just amazing, not just the book clubs you do, but other ways that you're working with the community and other types of events that you've put on. I know in the past you've been part of a Bristol Bookshop Crawl, and more recently for Independent Bookshop Week, I was really happy to see your And Other Stories collaboration.
Can you tell us a little bit about how that came about and what you got up to?
LM: So we were a little bit in love with And Other Stories and their new imprint had grabbed us as well, or the new style of their books, putting words at the heart of the cover and really showing where it's been translated, really championing the translator. And I'm an obsessive Deborah Levy fan, so that had always meant that I really loved what And Other Stories do. And so we just thought we’d write to them and see if they want to do something together for Independent Bookshop Week. And brilliantly, they said yes, even though the shop is a tiny, quite new shop. And so yeah, we just came up with a few things we wanted to do.
We had a poetry event with Stefan Tobler, the brilliant publisher and translator of Lutz Seiler. He came along and that was fascinating to discuss with him as the translator. It felt like a really successful, brilliant conversation. We did a book club reading Deborah Levy's short stories, which again, was lovely. We did a flash fiction competition because they [AOS] have such amazing short fiction, and we wanted to see something that honoured that with the theme of independence. And the winner Adrian Bridget, their story, I mean, if you haven't read it, it's on our website, I think it's extraordinary.
And then yes, we've recently started a couple of book groups in the day, which I think really appeals to everyone in the village because the library's not always open. There are not a lot of spaces with things happening in the day. And you know, the population is a little bit older than we are. There are a lot of retired people, but there are also students who somehow seem to be free during the day. Go figure! And so yeah, we've got our poetry and our short fiction book groups during the daytime. And I feel like Harry's currently coming up with more ideas for book clubs but five between us is probably where we should halt, if only because once you've got the first Wednesday of the month, second Tuesday of the month, and all that kind of thing, you’re like, ‘Oh, we can never take a holiday!’
JR: Never take a holiday, but also it is kind of informing your monthly reading, isn't it?
LM: Yeah, yeah.
JR: Which is good, it's nice to have a bit of structure, but it's not like you don't have enough to read already.
LM: Indeed. And I write a weekly newsletter which features different things and so I think I am, by the way, I'm a slow reader, I'm reading like four or five books a week. And someday I am going to need to go to sleep!
JR: It just goes to show how much you can juggle with being a small business, but also an independent business and you can choose what you take on and what you don't.
LM: Yeah.
JR: And I suppose in the future, if you were to expand a little more or get another member of staff, that's again just another opportunity to introduce something else that you're not doing at the moment. It's just amazing, not just the book clubs you do, but other ways that you're working with the community and other types of events that you've put on. I know in the past you've been part of a Bristol Bookshop Crawl, and more recently for Independent Bookshop Week, I was really happy to see your And Other Stories collaboration.
Can you tell us a little bit about how that came about and what you got up to?
LM: So we were a little bit in love with And Other Stories and their new imprint had grabbed us as well, or the new style of their books, putting words at the heart of the cover and really showing where it's been translated, really championing the translator. And I'm an obsessive Deborah Levy fan, so that had always meant that I really loved what And Other Stories do. And so we just thought we’d write to them and see if they want to do something together for Independent Bookshop Week. And brilliantly, they said yes, even though the shop is a tiny, quite new shop. And so yeah, we just came up with a few things we wanted to do.
We had a poetry event with Stefan Tobler, the brilliant publisher and translator of Lutz Seiler. He came along and that was fascinating to discuss with him as the translator. It felt like a really successful, brilliant conversation. We did a book club reading Deborah Levy's short stories, which again, was lovely. We did a flash fiction competition because they [AOS] have such amazing short fiction, and we wanted to see something that honoured that with the theme of independence. And the winner Adrian Bridget, their story, I mean, if you haven't read it, it's on our website, I think it's extraordinary.
So that was really fun. We had temporary tattoos - And Other Herons tattoos - and new window displays from our window artist Emily Stevens. Basically, we threw everything at it. I think on social media, I was doing a post every day about an And Other Stories book, which involved each morning, going back over that book and reminding myself of it. So I think I read like, because of that and the book clubs and other things happening that week, I think I read - a ridiculous [number], yeah, it was wild. I don't think I slept that week, but it was so much fun. And I was so covered in temporary tattoos by the end of it!
JR: Yeah, it was like 500 tattoos you'd given out or something? LM: Not all of them were on me! But yeah, I mean, it's just great fun. I think they're such a brilliant publisher. I think everything from their decision making, their books are just incredible, but also they're environmental [stance] - they really care, they're not for profit, they're exactly what I think the world needs, basically. JR: Yeah, I love what Stefan and the group do. They're certainly one of my favourites. I mean, I was really lucky, once I started doing this last October, Stefan was the first person I interviewed. They were the first publisher I featured. And they've just been so generous with their time, talking events and other things that are going on in the background. Considering they are still a very small publisher. LM: I know, I don't know how they do it sometimes. I can look at what's coming out and I just think, ‘There's only a few of you and this is huge!’ They're absolutely brilliant. |
JR: Yeah, I was lucky enough to go to the Inpress sales conference in Newcastle last month and it felt like the entire And Other Stories team just descended on Newcastle. But, I mean, there's not that many of them, but they were all there!
LM: I think they do seem like such a connected gang, don't they?
JR: Yeah, yeah, definitely.
LM: Which must make it work, that's what makes it work.
JR: And it feels like they've got that independence at heart, you know, they really wear that on their sleeves.
LM: Yeah.
JR: But talking of independence, going back to the arcade, it seems to be such a unique space to be in. And arcades, I think, having that small community of independent shops in a hub like that, everybody supports each other, especially when you're starting off as a new business you can ask for help.
Did you feel like you can ask for help and say, you know, ‘How does this work?’, or, ‘How do you do that?’
LM: Absolutely, yeah. You've got this kind of ready-made group of people who you can ask for help and, importantly, run out and get coffee for each other. We really, really can't emphasise enough that need. But yeah, I feel like the most useful thing that was said to me when I was starting was people would come up from other shops and I'd be like, ‘I really don't know what to do’ and they'd be like, ‘None of us do! And I've been here 10 years’, and stuff like that, and there was that support throughout and I think you really can't undervalue how important it is - especially when you're exhausted and freezing cold or whatever - and you come in and at least you've got you've seen some people, some friendly faces.
JR: And not just being part of that arcade but the independent bookselling community is also incredibly supportive and Bristol has so many great ones right now.
LM: Yeah, yeah, everyone is just brilliant. I love all of them. I wish I had more time to go and actually say hi to them in their own shops. And my plan is now that I have Harry full-time, I will have more time to do that. But yeah, and it's really fun because we opened at a quite similar time to The Small City Bookshop out in the East end. But yeah, people just immediately kind of came in and said, hi, like, I'm scared now if I start naming bookshops that I'll forget to name one of them.
JR: But you've got so many, don't you? I mean, you've got bookhaus, Max Minerva’s, Storymmith. You’re really spoiled in Bristol now.
LM: Yeah. And one of the funny things is, we'll look at what they're talking about in their shop, and obviously, there is an overlap and there are things that we're all obsessed with, but we clearly do have really different markets because of the different areas of Bristol. So, Max Minerva’s, it's only a very short distance north from us, but they have clearly got a totally different market. And so it does feel like we're complementary to each other. And Sam [Taylor] from Max Minerva’s was instrumental in organising the Bristol Bookshop Crawl and that just had such a lovely feeling to it. I think people want to say, ‘Oh, you're in competition with so-and-so’, and I'm like, ‘No, it really doesn't feel like that.’ Like, we love, you know, when people come in and say, ‘I’m so sorry, I went to a different independent shop!’ I'm like, ‘That's okay. I'm very, very happy with that.’ I mean, we've got Waterstones around the corner, and they've been really lovely. You know, it does feel like having more bookshops is better, basically.
JR: Yeah, definitely. And yes, there's so much on your doorstep, but it's still brilliant to see that amongst that brilliant list of shops, and considering the size of your shop as well, you are getting recognition for doing a great job. You were listed in The Times' Reader's Favourites, which must have been a massive boost.
LM: It was, it was absolutely lovely. I think they put out a call for people to write in about their favourite bookshops and Bob Bolton, who is a poet and a brilliant writer generally and has become a very good friend, had written in. I didn't know that he had done that and it was amazing and I do now have to correct people a lot because they do come in - I've been told to stop correcting people who tend to come in - and tell me that we won an award. ‘I heard you're the best bookshop…?’ but I'm like, ‘No, no.’
LM: I think they do seem like such a connected gang, don't they?
JR: Yeah, yeah, definitely.
LM: Which must make it work, that's what makes it work.
JR: And it feels like they've got that independence at heart, you know, they really wear that on their sleeves.
LM: Yeah.
JR: But talking of independence, going back to the arcade, it seems to be such a unique space to be in. And arcades, I think, having that small community of independent shops in a hub like that, everybody supports each other, especially when you're starting off as a new business you can ask for help.
Did you feel like you can ask for help and say, you know, ‘How does this work?’, or, ‘How do you do that?’
LM: Absolutely, yeah. You've got this kind of ready-made group of people who you can ask for help and, importantly, run out and get coffee for each other. We really, really can't emphasise enough that need. But yeah, I feel like the most useful thing that was said to me when I was starting was people would come up from other shops and I'd be like, ‘I really don't know what to do’ and they'd be like, ‘None of us do! And I've been here 10 years’, and stuff like that, and there was that support throughout and I think you really can't undervalue how important it is - especially when you're exhausted and freezing cold or whatever - and you come in and at least you've got you've seen some people, some friendly faces.
JR: And not just being part of that arcade but the independent bookselling community is also incredibly supportive and Bristol has so many great ones right now.
LM: Yeah, yeah, everyone is just brilliant. I love all of them. I wish I had more time to go and actually say hi to them in their own shops. And my plan is now that I have Harry full-time, I will have more time to do that. But yeah, and it's really fun because we opened at a quite similar time to The Small City Bookshop out in the East end. But yeah, people just immediately kind of came in and said, hi, like, I'm scared now if I start naming bookshops that I'll forget to name one of them.
JR: But you've got so many, don't you? I mean, you've got bookhaus, Max Minerva’s, Storymmith. You’re really spoiled in Bristol now.
LM: Yeah. And one of the funny things is, we'll look at what they're talking about in their shop, and obviously, there is an overlap and there are things that we're all obsessed with, but we clearly do have really different markets because of the different areas of Bristol. So, Max Minerva’s, it's only a very short distance north from us, but they have clearly got a totally different market. And so it does feel like we're complementary to each other. And Sam [Taylor] from Max Minerva’s was instrumental in organising the Bristol Bookshop Crawl and that just had such a lovely feeling to it. I think people want to say, ‘Oh, you're in competition with so-and-so’, and I'm like, ‘No, it really doesn't feel like that.’ Like, we love, you know, when people come in and say, ‘I’m so sorry, I went to a different independent shop!’ I'm like, ‘That's okay. I'm very, very happy with that.’ I mean, we've got Waterstones around the corner, and they've been really lovely. You know, it does feel like having more bookshops is better, basically.
JR: Yeah, definitely. And yes, there's so much on your doorstep, but it's still brilliant to see that amongst that brilliant list of shops, and considering the size of your shop as well, you are getting recognition for doing a great job. You were listed in The Times' Reader's Favourites, which must have been a massive boost.
LM: It was, it was absolutely lovely. I think they put out a call for people to write in about their favourite bookshops and Bob Bolton, who is a poet and a brilliant writer generally and has become a very good friend, had written in. I didn't know that he had done that and it was amazing and I do now have to correct people a lot because they do come in - I've been told to stop correcting people who tend to come in - and tell me that we won an award. ‘I heard you're the best bookshop…?’ but I'm like, ‘No, no.’
But anyway, it's quite funny but yeah was lovely, it was such a boost and I, yeah, I'm quite overwhelmed by it, actually. I was overwhelmed by that and we're also in the Hoxton [Mini Press] An Opinionated Guide To Bristol. I'm still just totally amazed!
JR: But people not only love hunting out bookshops, right? I think bookshop people become a little obsessed over hunting out new bookshops, you know, you can't go away without visiting another shop. LM: Yeah, of course! JR: And we all talk to each other. We're all seeing what others are up to, and so those little guides are amazing because actually, it reinforces the idea that we are just book nerds at heart. We're just collecting. If it's not books, it's bookshops, or it's booksellers. LM: We’ve found out tribe! JR: Exactly, yeah, and I think it is just amazing to see the support you've received in admittedly a very short amount of time. But that time has nearly matched your time at Waterstones, is that right? |
LM: Yeah, it probably is almost bang on, which is weird.
JR: How do you think your time at Waterstones has helped shape your views on that bookshop community? Because, as indies, I think Waterstones sometimes get quite a bad rap, but how do you feel having done both and being able to compare that kind of big machine of Waterstones, especially the Cambridge one, which is on another level, to the community atmosphere that we've got as independents?
LM: Yeah, I think it's important that we don't pretend that doesn't sort of happen in Waterstones too. I think you sort of said that earlier as well. But, you know, in Waterstones at nine o 'clock every morning when I opened those doors, there were a group of people who arrived who were clearly there because they needed somewhere to go. They needed someone to talk to. They were alone. And I think Waterstones in Cambridge is essentially providing, and bookshops everywhere, are providing a service that was once provided by libraries that have been so horrendously defunded. So I think it shaped my experience in terms of that understanding, you know, I think all bookshops are quite different from any other shop. There aren't really many other shops that you could go in and browse for an hour and not be like, I don't know -
JR: Chased out!
LM: - yeah, it’s a bit strange. So yeah, I think Waterstones shaped everything for me. I've got that great book knowledge from working there. There were people there who'd been working in bookselling for years, and have seen every change Waterstones has gone through - everything from the WHSmiths, the HMV days, the Kindle days, they've seen it all. So it's just fascinating to talk to them. And the people who I worked with were all like, ‘We've got to be the John Lewis of customer service’, you know, ‘...got to deliver exceptional customer service.’
Would I go back now that I run my own business? No. I love being able to make my own decisions and be in control of the business. And of course, that's terrifying sometimes, especially when you set up at the start of a Liz Truss government. Yeah, I love it.
JR: So, I generally finish these, or the last 10 minutes or so, by talking about books. So I was wondering if maybe just to start us off with you could give us an example, or a few examples, of some of your current bestsellers. Anything that's really jumping out at you.
LM: Sure, definitely things that are what I describe as the warm hugs of books, so, like Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, and we always sell lots of Leonard and Hungry Paul by Ronan Hession, and The Summer Book by Tove Jansson, those kinds of warming things. We're having a lot of fun with Summer in Badan-Baden [Leonid Tsypkin] and those Faber Editions. Yeah, I really love that series, I think they're extraordinary. I'm really enjoying talking to people about Rosarita by Anita Desai. Have you read it?
JR: I haven't yet, no, but it sounds really interesting.
LM: It is one of those, like a kind of Claire Keegan, in where you're like, ‘How have they done something this massive in so few pages?!’ So it's about a woman who's gone from India to Mexico for a language course and she's sitting in the park and a woman comes up to her and says, ‘Oh, you're the spitting image of your mother who I knew when she came here to be an artist’, and the woman's like, ‘My mother never came here and she was not an artist.’ And it splits her world open, basically. She starts to question everything. I think it's like 80 pages but it's bigger than anything.
JR: Oh, amazing.
LM: Yeah, so that's been good fun. I guess, from those examples, I've inadvertently listed a lot of fiction titles, which probably… Is it true that fiction is selling particularly well? I think things like The Heart of the Woods by Wyl Menmuir is selling really well though, and so nature writing, again.
JR: And I love that. I love Wyl, I think he's amazing.
LM: Yeah!
JR: We did an event with him last month for that one.
LM: OK, how did it go?
JR: Oh, it was brilliant. I mean, we did it at The Sill up by Hadrian's Wall.
LM: Oh, wow.
JR: Yeah, and it was that proximity to Sycamore Gap that really drew me there. And the importance of that tree to its community, I thought was a really strong theme for the book. Yeah, it was amazing. How has that book resonated with you and with your customers?
LM: Yeah, it really has. And actually, when we first opened, The Draw of the Sea was out and that was our bestseller for the first month or something ridiculous. Every day. It was one of those where it hadn't quite clicked to start with because everything was so turbulent and busy, and then I started realising, ‘Hang on a second, this book, everyone is finding a connection with it.’ I think that's what his writing is doing. Gosh, that sounds like an amazing event.
JR: It was great. I mean, The Draw of the Sea, as well, when I was still working at the bound in Whitley Bay, I hosted Wyl at our local lighthouse for that one.
LM: Oh my god!
JR: I know! That was gorgeous as well and it was just a perfect combination of things, you know. We had a brilliant summer evening, people had to walk across the causeway to get to us, and so we had to time it really specifically for the tides.
LM: Wow, you didn't make your life very easy.
JR: No, no, oh god, no. Absolutely!
LM: What a great thing to do.
JR: But you know, we had dolphins that night and we had seals, yeah it was incredible so no that was such a highlight, I think that's one of my all-time favourite events, actually. It was just the perfect cocktail of things and I think everybody was in the perfect mood for it as well.
LM: That sounds amazing.
JR: I always like to know what people are looking forward to in terms of books or events, so are there any books that haven’t been published yet that you're particularly looking forward to?
LM: Oh, a new Olga Tokarczuk will be hugely exciting [The Empusium, Sept 2024]. Coming out this week as Ralf Webb's book Strange Relations which is about John Cheever, James Baldwin, Carson McCullers, and Tennessee Williams, is one that I'm really excited about, and Ralf has read his poetry in the shop so I feel like a kind of connection to his work. There's Fire Exit [Morgan Talty, Oct 2024], the And Other Stories one that looks amazing. I haven't read it yet, though I have got a proof - oh, and Mammoth [Eva Baltasar, Aug 2024], obviously.
JR: Fire Exit was brilliant, I really enjoyed that.
LM: I'm just really excited to see what comes out of the Forward Prize because the list last week was amazing. The Marjorie Lotfi book [The Wrong Person To Ask] was one I've been obsessed with ever since it first came out, so I was really excited to see that on the debut list. But yeah, I’m just very excited for that, again, I think, to raise the profile of poetry.
JR: Absolutely. And that’s something you're definitely championing as a bookshop.
LM: Yeah, well, it's great fun.
JR: As our final note of the interview it may be a good opportunity to plug any events that you're particularly excited about coming up soon.
LM: Yeah, so our Poetry in Herons [book club] is kind of planned out for the whole year and the next one is really special. This is with Martyn Crucifix, whose new translation of [Rainer Maria] Rilke has just come out [Change Your Life, Pushkin Press]. So it's a little bit different from the normal format of someone coming and doing a poetry reading, it's having him come and he will do some reading, but also talk about that translation aspect of it. And obviously, Rilke is someone who I think people connect with on so many levels, so I’m really looking forward to that in August. And in September we have an author event with Orla Owen, author of Christ On A Bike.
JR: Ooh, yeah, I loved that one too, it was great.
LM: Yeah, just love Bluemoose Books and everything they stand for, so I think that's going to be really fun.
JR: How do you think your time at Waterstones has helped shape your views on that bookshop community? Because, as indies, I think Waterstones sometimes get quite a bad rap, but how do you feel having done both and being able to compare that kind of big machine of Waterstones, especially the Cambridge one, which is on another level, to the community atmosphere that we've got as independents?
LM: Yeah, I think it's important that we don't pretend that doesn't sort of happen in Waterstones too. I think you sort of said that earlier as well. But, you know, in Waterstones at nine o 'clock every morning when I opened those doors, there were a group of people who arrived who were clearly there because they needed somewhere to go. They needed someone to talk to. They were alone. And I think Waterstones in Cambridge is essentially providing, and bookshops everywhere, are providing a service that was once provided by libraries that have been so horrendously defunded. So I think it shaped my experience in terms of that understanding, you know, I think all bookshops are quite different from any other shop. There aren't really many other shops that you could go in and browse for an hour and not be like, I don't know -
JR: Chased out!
LM: - yeah, it’s a bit strange. So yeah, I think Waterstones shaped everything for me. I've got that great book knowledge from working there. There were people there who'd been working in bookselling for years, and have seen every change Waterstones has gone through - everything from the WHSmiths, the HMV days, the Kindle days, they've seen it all. So it's just fascinating to talk to them. And the people who I worked with were all like, ‘We've got to be the John Lewis of customer service’, you know, ‘...got to deliver exceptional customer service.’
Would I go back now that I run my own business? No. I love being able to make my own decisions and be in control of the business. And of course, that's terrifying sometimes, especially when you set up at the start of a Liz Truss government. Yeah, I love it.
JR: So, I generally finish these, or the last 10 minutes or so, by talking about books. So I was wondering if maybe just to start us off with you could give us an example, or a few examples, of some of your current bestsellers. Anything that's really jumping out at you.
LM: Sure, definitely things that are what I describe as the warm hugs of books, so, like Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, and we always sell lots of Leonard and Hungry Paul by Ronan Hession, and The Summer Book by Tove Jansson, those kinds of warming things. We're having a lot of fun with Summer in Badan-Baden [Leonid Tsypkin] and those Faber Editions. Yeah, I really love that series, I think they're extraordinary. I'm really enjoying talking to people about Rosarita by Anita Desai. Have you read it?
JR: I haven't yet, no, but it sounds really interesting.
LM: It is one of those, like a kind of Claire Keegan, in where you're like, ‘How have they done something this massive in so few pages?!’ So it's about a woman who's gone from India to Mexico for a language course and she's sitting in the park and a woman comes up to her and says, ‘Oh, you're the spitting image of your mother who I knew when she came here to be an artist’, and the woman's like, ‘My mother never came here and she was not an artist.’ And it splits her world open, basically. She starts to question everything. I think it's like 80 pages but it's bigger than anything.
JR: Oh, amazing.
LM: Yeah, so that's been good fun. I guess, from those examples, I've inadvertently listed a lot of fiction titles, which probably… Is it true that fiction is selling particularly well? I think things like The Heart of the Woods by Wyl Menmuir is selling really well though, and so nature writing, again.
JR: And I love that. I love Wyl, I think he's amazing.
LM: Yeah!
JR: We did an event with him last month for that one.
LM: OK, how did it go?
JR: Oh, it was brilliant. I mean, we did it at The Sill up by Hadrian's Wall.
LM: Oh, wow.
JR: Yeah, and it was that proximity to Sycamore Gap that really drew me there. And the importance of that tree to its community, I thought was a really strong theme for the book. Yeah, it was amazing. How has that book resonated with you and with your customers?
LM: Yeah, it really has. And actually, when we first opened, The Draw of the Sea was out and that was our bestseller for the first month or something ridiculous. Every day. It was one of those where it hadn't quite clicked to start with because everything was so turbulent and busy, and then I started realising, ‘Hang on a second, this book, everyone is finding a connection with it.’ I think that's what his writing is doing. Gosh, that sounds like an amazing event.
JR: It was great. I mean, The Draw of the Sea, as well, when I was still working at the bound in Whitley Bay, I hosted Wyl at our local lighthouse for that one.
LM: Oh my god!
JR: I know! That was gorgeous as well and it was just a perfect combination of things, you know. We had a brilliant summer evening, people had to walk across the causeway to get to us, and so we had to time it really specifically for the tides.
LM: Wow, you didn't make your life very easy.
JR: No, no, oh god, no. Absolutely!
LM: What a great thing to do.
JR: But you know, we had dolphins that night and we had seals, yeah it was incredible so no that was such a highlight, I think that's one of my all-time favourite events, actually. It was just the perfect cocktail of things and I think everybody was in the perfect mood for it as well.
LM: That sounds amazing.
JR: I always like to know what people are looking forward to in terms of books or events, so are there any books that haven’t been published yet that you're particularly looking forward to?
LM: Oh, a new Olga Tokarczuk will be hugely exciting [The Empusium, Sept 2024]. Coming out this week as Ralf Webb's book Strange Relations which is about John Cheever, James Baldwin, Carson McCullers, and Tennessee Williams, is one that I'm really excited about, and Ralf has read his poetry in the shop so I feel like a kind of connection to his work. There's Fire Exit [Morgan Talty, Oct 2024], the And Other Stories one that looks amazing. I haven't read it yet, though I have got a proof - oh, and Mammoth [Eva Baltasar, Aug 2024], obviously.
JR: Fire Exit was brilliant, I really enjoyed that.
LM: I'm just really excited to see what comes out of the Forward Prize because the list last week was amazing. The Marjorie Lotfi book [The Wrong Person To Ask] was one I've been obsessed with ever since it first came out, so I was really excited to see that on the debut list. But yeah, I’m just very excited for that, again, I think, to raise the profile of poetry.
JR: Absolutely. And that’s something you're definitely championing as a bookshop.
LM: Yeah, well, it's great fun.
JR: As our final note of the interview it may be a good opportunity to plug any events that you're particularly excited about coming up soon.
LM: Yeah, so our Poetry in Herons [book club] is kind of planned out for the whole year and the next one is really special. This is with Martyn Crucifix, whose new translation of [Rainer Maria] Rilke has just come out [Change Your Life, Pushkin Press]. So it's a little bit different from the normal format of someone coming and doing a poetry reading, it's having him come and he will do some reading, but also talk about that translation aspect of it. And obviously, Rilke is someone who I think people connect with on so many levels, so I’m really looking forward to that in August. And in September we have an author event with Orla Owen, author of Christ On A Bike.
JR: Ooh, yeah, I loved that one too, it was great.
LM: Yeah, just love Bluemoose Books and everything they stand for, so I think that's going to be really fun.
If you enjoyed reading about these staff recommendations events, and Lizzie's bookselling journey, make sure you pay Heron Books a visit in person or online to show them your support this summer, and beyond.
Look out for more of their poetry evenings and book clubs coming soon! |