Global Book Crawl: Visit your Bookshops!
https://www.globalbookcrawl.org/
Nov 11, 2024•49 min
Got Books? Conversations with Booksellers
This podcast is for those who love getting lost in and among books. On most episodes, I talk to Booksellers all around the world, in a tour of some of the world's most charming Bookshops. Sometimes I get a bit sidetracked and chat to Bookmakers - book cover designers, editors & others those who make books possible. Or I just talk about bookshops myself!
Full disclaimer: this podcast's hosts plans to one day open her own bookshop.
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Episodes
S3 Ep10 Alex Holder, Salted Books (Lisbon, Portugal)
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...
Mar 13, 2024•58 min•Season 3Ep. 10
S3 Mini Episode: Opening a Bookshop!
Many of you may know that the main reason Got Books started, years ago, was that I wanted to have my own bookshop and so I figured it would be good to chat to lots of booksellers before I start what seemed like ..a bit of a wild adventure. Then..years passed, many conversations with booksellers were had, but I kept putting this dream of opening a bookshop on hold, for all sorts of reasons. I’m sure you can relate..there’s never a perfect time. A couple of weeks ago though, a small, cozy, kind of...
Feb 04, 2024•3 min
S3 Ep9 Edgars Lielausis, Robert's Books (Riga, Latvia)
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....
Jan 31, 2024•1 hr•Season 3Ep. 9
S3 Mini Episode: Future Booksellers Club and Fun Christmas Gifts
Links: Our website - gotbookspodcast.com Future Booksellers Club 1st Meetup Gifts for Future Booksellers Show notes: Hi everyone! How are you doing? If you celebrate Christmas, are you getting into the holiday mood already? Here is Spain where I am it’s still quite warm, but I’m about to go to Romania, where I’m from, and really hoping for some snow, also so that my daughter can see snow for the first time in her life. I wanted to quickly record this short episode to tell you about a project I j...
Dec 04, 2023•4 min
S3 Ep8 Danny Caine, The Raven Book Store (Lawrence, Kansas, United States)
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 publi...
Oct 24, 2023•46 min•Season 3Ep. 8
S3 Ep7 Hailey Brock, The Nature of Reading (Madison, New Jersey, United States)
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 ch...
Oct 06, 2023•1 hr 15 min•Season 3Ep. 7
S3 Mini Episode: All About Bookshops - Niche Bookshops Everywhere
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'...
Sep 15, 2023•14 min
S3 Ep6 Neil Paul & Brid Conroy, Tertulia (Westport, Ireland)
Welcome back to Got Books, the podcast where we talk to booksellers all around the world. And on today’s episode I am so very glad to be going to Ireland, probably my favourite place in the world. It was my home for a bit over 5 years and more importantly it’s the home of some pretty amazing bookshops. I had a few favourites during my time in Dublin, but today we’ll be going to Ireland’s west coast, to a little town called Westport and a bookshop like no other, Tertulia. Tertulia describes itsel...
Jul 14, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Season 3Ep. 6
S3 Ep5 Federico Lang, Libreria Luces (Malaga, Spain)
Today we are traveling to the south of Spain, to get some sun and more importantly talk to Federico, a bookseller in Malaga's Libreria Luces . This is a bookshop that describes itself as an experience, a literary and cultural experience. Just last week it turned 20, which, if you've been listening to this podcast for a while now, you know is a major achievement for an independent bookstore. If Libreria Luces could talk, it would have quite a few stories to tell: not only did it survive a pandemi...
May 29, 2023•53 min•Season 3Ep. 5
S3 Ep4 Clayton Comber, Bouquiniste (Kiama, Australia)
Today we are going back to Australia, to a small town called Kiama. Here we'll step into Bouquiniste https://shop.bouquiniste.com.au/ , founded in 2017 by Clay and Hannah, two Kiama locals with a background in writing, publishing, retail, hospitality.. and one of them a former DJ. That's Clay, my guest today. When you enter the store, you'll see a disco ball, and that gives you an idea of the space you've just stepped into. This is not a quiet bookstore, but rather a welcoming, a little loud, a ...
May 01, 2023•39 min•Season 3Ep. 4
S3 Ep3 Rakesh Singh, Harmony (Varanasi, India)
Harmony Bookshop opened its doors on Varanasi’s Assi Ghat in December 1996 and ever since it has grown into a cultural hub, bringing together scholars, artists, researchers, and all other book loving travelers, from India and abroad. This is a bookshop like no other. To enter, you must first remove your shoes. After all, books are sacred..and in this small bookshop many of them are resting on the floor and its owner and bookseller, Rakesh, would not like to see them damaged. He's built an incred...
Mar 18, 2023•59 min•Season 3Ep. 3
S3 Ep2 Gesine Tosin, About (Berlin, Germany)
If you walk down Linienstraße in the heart of Berlin's gentrified neighborhood, Mitte, you will come across beautiful little shops, a Japanese cafe, cozy restaurants, and more recently.. an intriguing space called simply.. About . This is a bookshop with a unique concept: its owner, former art curator, picks a theme and then runs with it, selecting books that fit into this theme..for a while. Every 3 months or so, the theme changes. The concept of the bookshop (focusing on temporary topics) expa...
Dec 23, 2022•44 min•Season 3Ep. 2
S3 Ep1: Jorge F. Hernandez & Pablo Cerezo, Pergamo (Madrid, Spain)
Welcome back to Got Books?, Season 3! On this episode, I spoke to the new booksellers of Pergamo, the oldest bookshop still in existence in Madrid, Spain. Jorge F. Hernandez and Pablo Cerezo come from two different generations and share a love of books, writing and of course, bookshops. They have just recently taken over Pergamo and are in the process of re-inventing it and opening its doors once again.
Sep 18, 2022•51 min•Season 3Ep. 1
S2 Ep 9: Christmas Special w. Pil Cappelen Smith, Cappelens Forslag (Oslo, Norway)
Today we will be going back to Cappelens Forslag , a bookshop that I'm sure you remember from our first season. And if you missed that episode, do go back and give it a listen , it's a conversation I loved where we even discuss a famous book heist. My guest today is Pil Cappelen Smith, booksellers, owner of Cappelens Forslag and now also a publisher. Christmas may not be his favourite season, but he did join me for a conversation about Christmas book shopping, the joys of the holidays (despite t...
Dec 16, 2021•20 min•Season 2Ep. 14
S2 Ep 8: Christmas Special w. Julia König & David Bloomfield, Golden Hare (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Welcome back to Got Books, the podcast where we talk to booksellers from all around the world. And welcome to this short Christmas series, meant as a mini-Advent Calendar to get you in the holiday spirit. From Dec 3rd to Dec 17th, we'll be publishing an episode every Monday and Friday - that's 5 Christmas episodes for you, in which we're bringing back some of the booksellers that we know and love from past episodes, so they can tell us how they're preparing their bookshops for Christmas, what bo...
Dec 12, 2021•31 min•Season 2Ep. 13
S2 Ep 7: Christmas Special w. Shaun Bythell, The Bookshop (Wigtown, Scotland)
Welcome back to Got Books, the podcast where we talk to booksellers from all around the world. And welcome to this short Christmas series, meant as a mini-Advent Calendar to get you in the holiday spirit. From Dec 3rd to Dec 17th, we'll be publishing an episode every Monday and Friday - that's 5 Christmas episodes for you, in which we're bringing back some of the booksellers that we know and love from past episodes, so they can tell us how they're preparing their bookshops for Christmas, what bo...
Dec 09, 2021•22 min•Season 2Ep. 12
S2 Ep 6: Christmas Special w. Stephen Fowler, Monkey's Paw (Toronto, Canada)
Welcome back to Got Books, the podcast where we talk to booksellers from all around the world. And welcome to this short Christmas series, meant as a mini-Advent Calendar to get you in the holiday spirit. From Dec 3rd to Dec 17th, we'll be publishing an episode every Monday and Friday - that's 5 Christmas episodes for you, in which we're bringing back some of the booksellers that we know and love from past episodes, so they can tell us how they're preparing their bookshops for Christmas, what bo...
Dec 05, 2021•32 min•Season 2Ep. 11
S2 Ep 5: Christmas Special w. Charlotte Delattre, Desperate Literature (Madrid, Spain)
Welcome back to Got Books, the podcast where we talk to booksellers from all around the world. And welcome to this short Christmas series, meant as a mini-Advent Calendar to get you in the holiday spirit. From Dec 3rd to Dec 17th, we'll be publishing an episode every Monday and Friday - that's 5 Christmas episodes for you, in which we're bringing back some of the booksellers that we know and love from past episodes, so they can tell us how they're preparing their bookshops for Christmas, what bo...
Dec 03, 2021•15 min•Season 2Ep. 10
Mini-Episode 5: News in Books & Book Review w. Emily Feetham (Girl in the Walls by A. J. Gnuse)
Welcome back to Got Books, the podcast about books, booksellers and bookmakers. Today I'll share with you 5 articles I read this week from the world of books, and then we'll chat to my guest Emily Feetham about one of her favourite books this year. Let's get to it. The Marginalian gives us a wonderful list of best books https://www.themarginalian.org/2012/01/30/writers-top-ten-favorite-books/ 11 New Books to be grateful for this week: https://lithub.com/11-new-books-to-be-grateful-for-this-week/...
Nov 26, 2021•24 min•Season 2Ep. 9
S2 Ep 4: Carmen Oliart, Sabina Editorial (Madrid, Spain)
Publishing houses. Big and small, they are the book makers, the ones who work with the authors we love to make their books and dreams come to life. They support writers throughout the exciting and perhaps sometimes terrifying journey of turning their work from a manuscript into a book, to be found on the shelves of our bookshops. Today we will enter the world of a small, artisan publishing house in Spain - Sabina Editorial , a publishing house passionate about books well made that talk about the...
Nov 18, 2021•54 min•Season 2Ep. 8
Mini-Episode 4: News in Books & Book Review w. Daniela Barani (A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles)
Welcome back to Got Books. Today, I want to share books related news that caught my eye this week that I hope you'll find interesting, and we'll then move on to review one of my favourite books of the past years. Let's get started. First, an article I read in the BBC talks about Somali women breaking tradition to write novels. For centuries, Somalia has been known as the "nation of poets" but this tradition has largely been the preserve of men. It is unusual for Somali women to be the primary st...
Nov 12, 2021•27 min•Season 2Ep. 7
S2 Ep 3: Nadia Wassef, Diwan (Cairo, Egypt)
Diwan is a story, not just a store. And today's we will hear the story of this Egyptian bookshop from its founder, Nadia Wassef. Opened in 2002 as the only independent bookstore of its kind in Egypt, Diwan enchants its patrons with its mix of east and west, old and new, serious and playful. They say ... "Our approach is to enrich our clients’ lives by transforming the act of “buying a book” into a cultural, artistic, and culinary experience, and offering them a visually appealing and relaxing am...
Nov 04, 2021•42 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Mini-Episode 3: News in Books & Book Review w. Victoria Wood (Assembly by Natasha Brown)
To get in touch (and maybe do a book review on a future episode), drop me a voice message at Anchor.fm/GotBooks or on Instagram / Twitter / Facebook - search for GotBooksPodcast Welcome back to Got Books! On today's episode we'll first look at news from the book world and then go to our book review, with a new guest. We'll talk about famous bookshops from around the world, the impact the Taliban's takeover has on the Future of Kabul Booksellers, the Booker Prize and a couple of much awaited book...
Oct 28, 2021•23 min•Season 2Ep. 5
S2 Ep 2: Book Cover Design w. Terry Miura & Darya Solomenko
Do you judge a book by its cover? Well.. let's face it, most of us do. And that's probably alright. T oday we will go behind the scenes of Book Cover Design. How does one capture the essence of a book in just one beautiful image? Where do you even start? And how does the entire process unfold? These are some of the questions I'll be asking my two guests. As with most jobs in the book industry, there's a certain romance associated with book cover design. For many, this sounds like a designer's dr...
Oct 21, 2021•53 min•Season 1Ep. 2
Mini-Episode 2: News in Books & Book Review w. Molly Hills (Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney)
News in Books 1. The French parliament is protecting booksellers: https://www.euractiv.com/section/digital/news/french-mps-vote-against-free-book-deliveries-targeting-amazon/ 2. Rare Birds Books, Scotland’s first female-centric bookshop, opens in the heart of Edinburgh: https://www.scottishfield.co.uk/culture/books/scotlands-first-female-centric-bookshop-is-a-hit/ 3. 9 Very Niche Bookstores: https://lithub.com/9-very-niche-bookstores-for-your-very-specific-interests/ Book Review: Beautiful World...
Oct 14, 2021•18 min•Season 2Ep. 3
S2 Ep 1: Golden Hare (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Today we step in to Golden Hare , a design-led bookshop taking its cues from design museums. The difference here is that you can touch the art, pick it up and discover what’s inside. Golden Hare Books in Edinburgh is one of the city’s most charming and thoughtfully curated independent bookshops. It boasts a wall of beautifully displayed face-out books, an inviting fireplace (with real fire) for those chilly Scottish winters and one of the prettiest, bluest shopfronts ever. The self-confessed rea...
Oct 07, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 1
Mini-Episode 1: News in Books & Book Review w. Phoebe (Attached by Amir Levine and Rachel Heller)
News in Books 1. Book Sales are up in the US https://www.wbjournal.com/article/revival-the-independent-bookstore-industry-is-growing-with-a-loyal-customer-base-wanting-to and in the UK https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/05/covid-19-book-sales-reading/ 2. Shelf Life: Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller is coming out soon! 3. Literati: a bookclub you may want to join 4. Speaking of curating books.. 5. The New Futures, an initiative by Bookshop.org & The Booksellers Association Book Review: Attac...
Sep 30, 2021•17 min•Season 2Ep. 1
Season 2: Trailer
This is the 2nd season of Got Books, the (now weekly) podcast where we celebrate our love for books and those who make and sell them. On our first season, we spoke to booksellers from the UK, Canada, Australia, all the way to Senegal, Singapore, Palestine.. On this next season, coming Oct 1 2021, I decided to dive a bit further into the world of books. We'll continue having conversations with booksellers, while inviting other people from the book industry to join us, like book cover designers, b...
Sep 27, 2021•1 min
S1 Ep. 17: Future Booksellers & Ana Sipciu, Asteroidul B612 (Bucharest, Romania)
This is the final episode of our 1st season, so we thought we'd make it a bit different. On this episode we chat to..future booksellers. We usually chat to booksellers from quirky bookshops all around the world (and we hope you've enjoyed these conversations so far). But for today's we prepared something special: you'll be listening to our conversation with a group of children who recently completed a Bookseller's Internship. The children we've interviewed for this episode, Barbu, Timea, Vanessa...
Sep 10, 2021•37 min•Season 1Ep. 17
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