Two Booksellers Talking!
Join us during Independent Bookshop Week as Carrie talks to writer and fellow bookseller Katie Clapham about her new book Receipts from the Bookshop: A Bookseller’s Year
Many of us dream of owning a bookshop but for Katie Clapham it happened by accident, when she moved back to the seaside town she grew up in and went into business with her mum.
Once a week, Katie sits behind the counter and chronicles the day’s comings and goings – mostly people who were actually hoping to catch her mother. The triumphs here are small but hard-won: a tea crisis averted, a book title correctly identified from a cryptic clutch of clues. Not to mention the emotional rollercoaster of being named the 7th Best Bookshop in the Country by The Times in a week where daily takings came to around £16.98.
Customers appear for a browse and a chat, in search of a recommendation or the perfect gift. Others enter the shop for more unexpected reasons – to borrow a screwdriver, locate a priest or simply to ask if there’s ‘a nice place for an omelette around here’. Each day brings its own joys and frustrations, though not always in equal measure . . .
Funny, surprising and affectionate, here is a bookseller’s year in all its weirdness and wonder – a life-affirming celebration of bad weather, good books and the irreplaceable role of a local bookshop.
This is sure to be a funny, warm and uplifting event celebrating the highs and lows of being an independent bookseller.
Reviews
‘Absolute heaven’ – India Knight
‘Funny, self-deprecating and always warm and uplifting . . . a joy and a much-deserved tribute to the world of local booksellers . . . A must-read for anyone who loves books’ – AJ Pearce
About the author
Katie Clapham is the co-founder, with her mother, of independent bookshop Storytellers, Inc. She was named a Bookseller Rising Star in 2011 and Young Bookseller of the Year in 2012, and Storytellers, Inc. has been nominated for Bookseller industry awards seven times. Katie is also the author of several books for children and young adults.
Tickets: £8 without book (ticket redeemable against a signed copy of Receipts from the Bookshop) or £19 with book ( includes signed copy of Receipts from the Bookshop)