The Bookshop Podcast

Send us a textIn this episode, I chat with Mairi Oliver, owner of Lighthouse Books, about radical bookshops, feminist writers in Edinburgh, how the world can seem overwhelming, and books!Lighthouse Books is a queer-owned and woman-led independent community bookshop located at West Nicolson Street, Edinburgh. The store is an unapologetically activist, intersectional, feminist, antiracist, lgbtq+ community space, celebrating diversity of thought and expression and championing voices from the margins. The bookshop carries 10,000 titles across most genres, from politics, history, fiction, and travel writing to Children’s books, crafts, and cookery. We are particularly passionate about radical, left-wing, and Scottish politics, intersectional feminism, revolutionary history, environmentalism, LGBT+ writing, poetry, and translated fiction.Lighthouse Books is committed to playing its part in building a greener, fairer, kinder tomorrow. Lighthouse BooksLola Olufemi, authorHarry Josephine Giles, authorAllyson Shaw, authorKnight Errant PressAven Wildsmith, author404ink.com (Inklings Books)Love That Journey for Me: The Queer Revolution of Schitt’s Creek, Emily GarsideDr. Nat Raha, poetSarah Sheridan, authorEris Young, authorThere Is Nothing So Whole as a Broken Heart, Cindy Milstein (editor)Radical Mourning, Cindy Milstein (editor)UnTypical, Pete WharmbyCaliban and the Witch, Sylvia FedericiThe Bookshop Podcast Interview With Ross Bradshaw, Fives Leaves Bookshop  Support the showThe Bookshop PodcastMandy Jackson-BeverlySocial Media Links

Send us a textIn this episode, I chat with Heidi Stemple about her writing practice, the rules and skills needed to write children's books, having  a celebrity writing mother (Jane Yolen), and keeping the writing business in the family!Heidi Stemple didn’t want to be a writer when she grew up. In fact, after she graduated from college, she became a probation officer in Florida. It wasn’t until she was 28 years old that she gave in and joined the family business, publishing her first short story in a book called Famous Writers and Their Kids Write Spooky Stories. The famous writer was her mom, author Jane Yolen. Since then, she has published more than thirty-five books and numerous short stories and poems, mostly for children. Heidi lives and writes on a big old farm in Massachusetts that she shares with one very large cat who lives inside, and a dozen deer, a family of bears, three coyotes, two bobcats, a gray fox, tons of birds, and some very fat groundhogs who live outside. Once a year she calls owls for the Audubon Christmas Bird Count.Heidi StempleBooks by Heidi StempleOwl Moon, Jane YolenThe Tower of Life: How Yaffa Eliach Rebuilt Her Town in Stories and Photograph, Chana Stiefel (author), Susan Gal (illustrator)Too Early, Nora EricsonThe Life And Crimes Of Hoodie Rosen, Isaac BlumA Time to Dance, Padma VenkatramanFlamer, Mike CuratoAll Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto, George M. JohnsonThe Kidlit WorldSupport the showThe Bookshop PodcastMandy Jackson-BeverlySocial Media Links

Send us a textIn this episode, I chat with Two Friends Books owners Monica Diodati and Rachel Stuckey-Slaton about Bentonville, Arkansas, local authors, books they love, and what they learned about bookselling during the pandemic.After spending too much time lamenting the lack of an independent bookstore in Bentonville, friends Monica Diodati and Rachel Stuckey-Slaton resolved to launch their own. In 2018, their popup bookshop appeared at local coffee shops in the area until they moved into their very own brick and mortar shop at 8th Street Market in Downtown Bentonville. Monica and Rachel curate a selection of books from authors and publishers they love passing on to their customers. At Two Friends Books, customers can also enjoy a book with a glass of wine, beer, or coffee. The bookshop carries natural and organic wines, Airship coffee, a rotating selection of beers, and locally made baked goods.Two Friends BooksNora Goes Off Script, Annabel MonaghanA Lady’s Guide to Fortune Hunting, Sophie IrwinThe Dead Romantics, Ashley PostonBraiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall KimmererOzark Dogs, Eli CranorBooks by Donna TartBooks by Miriam ToewsOur Share of Night, Mariana EnriquezBooks by Lisa Kleypas Support the showThe Bookshop PodcastMandy Jackson-BeverlySocial Media Links

Send us a textIn this episode, I chat with Fonda Lee about what prompted her decision to become a serious writer, her innate love and respect for animals, her novella Untethered Sky, and her path from her first finished manuscript to finding an agent and publishing deal.Fonda Lee is the author of the epic fantasy Green Bone Saga, beginning with Jade City, continuing in Jade War, and concluding with Jade Legacy. She is also the author of the science fiction novels Zeroboxer, Exo, and Cross Fire, and two novellas, the Green Bone Saga prequel The Jade Setter of Janloon, and the upcoming Untethered Sky. Fonda is a winner of the World Fantasy Award, the Locus Award, and a four-time winner of the Aurora Award (Canada’s national science fiction and fantasy award), as well as a multiple finalist for the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the Oregon Book Award. Her novels have garnered multiple starred reviews and appeared on Best of Year lists from NPR, Barnes & Noble, Syfy Wire, and others. Jade City has been translated into a dozen languages, named to TIME Magazine’s Top 100 Fantasy Books of All Time, and optioned for television development.  She has also written acclaimed short fiction and been an instructor at writing workshops including Viable Paradise and Clarion West. Fonda is a former corporate strategist and black belt martial artist who loves action movies and Eggs Benedict. Born and raised in Canada, she currently resides in the Pacific Northwest.Fonda LeeUntethered Sky, Fonda LeeIn The Lives Of Puppets, TJ KluneTOR.COM Support the showThe Bookshop PodcastMandy Jackson-BeverlySocial Media Links

Send us a textIn this episode, I chat with Claire Harris, manager of Lutyens and Rubinstein Bookshop, about how the demographics of Notting Hill affect the curation of the bookshop, their bespoke services, independent stores in the area, and books!Lutyens and Rubinstein Bookshop was founded in 2009 by literary agents Sarah Lutyens and Felicity Rubinstein. The emphasis for the curation of the bookshop is on excellence in writing and narrative across a broad range of genres. The core stock was assembled by canvassing hundreds of readers – writers, publishing contacts, and friends (both adults and children) about which books they would most like to find in a bookshop.  Every book stocked has its place because somebody loves and recommends it.Shop Manager Claire Harris and Partnerships Manager Tara Spinks joined the bookshop team before opening and are supported by Children’s Buyer Caroline Eade and Booksellers Christy Matthews and Ella Wright.Lutyens and Rubinstein BookshopLutyens and Rubinstein Bespoke Services Why I Love Indie Bookshops, Mandy Jackson-BeverlySmall Things Like These, Claire Keegan Sorrow and Bliss, Meg Mason Books by Kate Morton Books By Elizabeth Sprout Books by Annie Ernaux Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie GarmusSupport the showThe Bookshop PodcastMandy Jackson-BeverlySocial Media Links

Send us a textIn this episode, I chat with Annabelle Gurwitch about her career in acting, speaking, and writing, her experience with SPY (Safe Place For Youth), her first publishing story, and her new book You're Leaving When?Annabelle Gurwiitch is a New York Times Bestselling author, actress and activist whose most recent collection of essays You're Leaving When? Adventures in Downward Mobility is a 2021 New York Times Favorite Book for Healthy Living, a Good Morning America Must Read and a finalist for The Thurber Prize for American Humor Writing 2022. In both her speaking and writing, Annabelle uses personal stories and humor to illuminate issues in the social zeitgeist including "harnessing resilience and learning how life’s disappointments can teach you about the things that matter most” (Tara Parker Pope, New York Times). She's written for The New Yorker, New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Magazine, and Hadassah amongst other publications. Her five books include The New York Times bestseller and Thurber Prize finalist I See You Made an Effort.She was the longtime cohost of Dinner & a Movie on TBS and a regular commentator on NPR. She's performed on the Moth Mainstage, at Carolines on Broadway, and at arts centers around the country. Her acting credits include: Seinfeld, Murphy Brown, Boston Legal and Dexter and once in while she returns to acting playing a rabbi on Better Things on FX or a therapist for an FBI agent in Michael Bay’s Ambulance. She's been featured in Time Magazine’s annual “10 Ideas That are Changing the World,” GMA, Real Time with Bill Maher, CBS Early Morning, Oprah, and PBS Newshour.Annabelle had been chronicling living with stage iv lung cancer and inequities in healthcare in the New York Times and Washington Post since her out-of-the-blue diagnosis during covid. She's given patient advocate talks at scientific conferences around the globe including: Vienna, Rome, and Brisbane. She co-hosts Tiny Victories, a podcast, dedicated to appreciating  small mercies and minor triumphs. ​She's guest lectured and taught essay writing and storytelling at The School of the New York Times, University of CA Redlands graduate writing program, Miami Dade Community College, Thurber House, George Washington U, Maine Media College, and University of Dayton, Ohio. Annabelle Gurwitch You’re Leaving When? Adventures in Downward Mobility, Annabelle Gurwitch Annabelle Gurwitch: Real Time With Bill Maher Tiny Victories PodcastI Have some Questions For You, Rebecca MakkaiBootstrapped, Alissa Quart Unraveling, Peggy OrensteinSupport the showThe Bookshop PodcastMandy Jackson-BeverlySocial Media Links

Send us a textIn this episode, I chat with journalist, documentarian, and author Livia Manera Sambuy about her new book In Search of Amrit Kaur, the difficulties of researching her subject, her work as a journalist, and Indian culture.Livia Manera Sambuy is an Italian writer whose book of profiles of American writers, Don't Write About Me, was published in 2015. She has been a staff writer at the literary pages of the Italian national daily Corriere della Sera for more than twenty years and is the author and co-director of two documentary films on Philip Roth. She divides her time between Paris and Tuscany.Livia Manera SambuyIn Search of Amrit Kaur, Livia Manera Sambuy Author Patrick Leigh Fermor Child Marriage USA Council on Foreign Relations (child marriage USA)  Support the showThe Bookshop PodcastMandy Jackson-BeverlySocial Media Links

Send us a textIn this episode, I chat with Jan Smedh, co-owner of The English Bookshop in Uppsala, Sweden, and the events manager Stina Björkelid about what it's like to live in Sweden during the winter months, the history of the area, and how reading fiction develops empathy and tolerance.In 2018, The English Bookshop in Uppsala, Sweden was chosen by the London Book Fair as its International Excellence bookstore of the year. Jan Smedh and his colleague Christer founded the bookshop in 1995 in the historic town of Uppsala; since then the bookshop has grown to two other locations.   The English Bookshop, UppsalaBridgerton, Julia QuinnBest Men, Sydney Karger Sense and Sensibility, Jane AustinGorgeous, Paul RudnickFarrell Covington and the Limits of Style, Paul RudnickThe Impossible Us, Sarah Lotz Don Winslow BooksGloriana: Or The Unfulfill’d Queen, Michael MoorcockHamnet, Maggie O’Farrell    Support the showThe Bookshop PodcastMandy Jackson-BeverlySocial Media Links

Send us a textIn this episode, I chat with Daniela Barani about living in Verona, global travels, languages, and books!Daniela Barani is an English book club and event planner in Verona, a member of the library committee in Sommacampagna, and an Educational Consultant for Oxford University Press. She is an avid supporter of independent bookshops and runs the Albion Road Book Club in Verona, Italy. Albion Road Book ClubThe Island of Missing Trees, Elif ShafakBlack Cake, Charmaine WilkersonCarlo Rovelli BooksSupport the showThe Bookshop PodcastMandy Jackson-BeverlySocial Media Links

Send us a textIn this episode, I chat with E.A. Aymar about his latest novel No Home For Killers, the D.C. Noir at the Bar series, and the Latino BIPOC thriller writing community.Anthony Award-nominated E.A. Aymar’s most recent thriller, No Home for Killers, received praise from the New York Times, Kirkus, and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. His previous thriller, They’re Gone, was published to rave reviews in Publishers Weekly, Kirkus (starred), and named one of the best books of 2020 by the South Florida Sun Sentinel. He is a former member of the national board of the International Thriller Writers and is an active member of Crime Writers of Color and Sisters in Crime. Ed Aymar was born in Panama and now lives in the D.C. area, where he runs the D.C. Noir at the Bar series, and his column, “Decisions and Revisions,” appears monthly in the Washington Independent Review of Books. E.A.AymarNo Home For Killers, E. A. AymarThe Last Policeman, Ben H. WintersMore Than You’ll Ever Know, Katie GuitierrezSupport the showThe Bookshop PodcastMandy Jackson-BeverlySocial Media Links