End of Week Round-up #24

This week has bee a great week for reading, I finally got round to reading ‘Driving Over Lemons’ a book I’d had on the shelf for ages, showed some interest when Richard E Grant visited the farm on the telly, then sat there for about another year once more. Really wished I’d read it sooner, one of the best reads ever.

Then I started ‘Storyland’ by Amy Jeffs and finished half of it in a day, this is another great read.

I also wrote three of my mini- book reviews this week!

What I’ve been up to this week and other news.

I’ve started adding stub pages to the #BrowseABookshop and #PublisherProfile sections of the site this week as well as fleshing out the directory spreadsheet with more information.

Though the majority of the week has been taken up with setting up draft posts for about 20 new book reviews as I really want to get caught up with these, well at least the NetGalley ones.

The response to the Author Q&A has been very promising and I’ve enough to do me until October now I think!

The new Author Q&A this week is for romance writer, Jeevani Charika, why not read about her books and writing process. If you want to be included please contact me at contact@bigbeardedbookseller.com.

Other news.

This year sees the 21st Aldeburgh Literary Festival running between the 5th and 8th of May, and as always it is run without sponsorship and grants, the only income being from ticket sales.

This year there are some great events; including Steven Walker talking about Yuri Gagarin, Charles Spencer recounting the tale of The White Ship, and many more. You can explore these in the programme.

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Recently added bookshops and publishers.

• Fabulosa Books (bookshop - North America)

• Casa Del Libro Rosario Mascali (bookshop - Italy)

• Little Deer Comics (bookshop)

• The Old Electric Shop (bookshop)

• Upper Street Bookshop (bookshop)

• Word on the Street (bookshop)

Submissions and applications.

• Lindisfarne Prize for Crime Fiction, closes 30/06/22

• A Pocket Anthology of Addiction and Recovery, Acid Bath Publishing are looking for submissions for. this publication, closes 05/08/22

• Spectrum Poetry Competition, Renard Press is looking for poems up to 100 lines or 750 words, closes 21/05/22

• Truffle Magazine, submissions open for Issue 5, not sure of closing day yet

• Young Scot’s Writer of the Year, all genres all media, under 1000 words or five minutes, closes 24/06/22

Upcoming events.

• An Evening with Douglas Stuart, The Portobello Bookshop, 7pm-8pm 18/04/22

• Aye Write Book Festival, hybrid festival in Glasgow, between 06/05/22 and 22/05/22

• Barnes Children’s literature Festival, various venues in and around Barnes, between 21/06/22 and 26/06/22

• Bloody Scotland, scheduled between 15/09/22 and 18/09/22

• Books by the Beach, various venues in Scarborough, 11/06/22 to 12/06/22

New and upcoming book releases.

• Why Patti Smith Matters – Caryn Rose – Faber (21/04/22)

• Orlam – P J Harvey – Picador (28/04/22)

• Very Cold People – Sarah Manguso – Picador (28/04/22)

• Villager – Tom Cox – Unbound (28/04/22)

• The Candy House – Jennifer Egan – Little Brown (28/04/22)

Job links.

• Assistant Management Accountant with Hachette, closes 15/04/22

• Commissioning Editor with Octopus, closes 22/04/22

• Press Officer with Profile Books, closes 20/04/22

• Rights Manager with Hachette, closes 15/04/22

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Literally A Bookshop, Wallasey

Literally A Bookshop can be found in Wallasey, almost at the tip of the Wirral peninsula looking out into the Irish Sea.

They can be found selling old and new books opposite the New Brighton train station.

Literally A Bookshop
12 Atherton St
New Brighton
Wallasey
CH45 2NY

Website: https://literallyproductions.co.uk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/literallybooks
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LiterallyBooks/

Literally…

How did you come up with the name of your bookshop?
Our shop is called Literally A Bookshop.

When we told friends we were opening a bookshop the inevitable response was “Literally A Bookshop?” It seemed as good a name as any.

Who are you? Owns the bookshop?
Our bookshop is a storytelling bookshop. Our storyteller’s chair is made with driftwood from the beach at the end of the street. I am a storyteller known as Tugboat Cath (because I have a tugboat) and my other half is Peter Grant who, as a well respected journalist has spent most of his adult life sharing stories.

Where are you?
Our shop is in a small row of shops opposite New Brighton station. New Brighton is across the Mersey from Liverpool at the tip of the Wirral Peninsula, on the edge of Liverpool Bay.

We like to celebrate local myths and legends.

What makes your bookshop special?
We are both good listeners which is at least fifty percent of what we do in the shop. Our customers love to tells us tales. Storytelling is catching.

Do you stock a variety of genres or do you specialise?
We specialise in unusual local books, vintage children’s books and anything that puts a smile on your face.

What is your favourite childhood book?
My favourite childhood book is probably Ladybird’s The Elves and the Shoemaker. (From the 1960’s)

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What’s happening next week?

"You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it."

I hit my targets this week and will continue with these in the week coming;

• write one new book review

• complete an author Q&A post

• write a post for an independent bookshop

• write a post for an independent publisher

Additionally to these targets, next week will see me continuing to set up draft posts for all the reviews I’ve to catch up on so at least all I’ll have to do is write the review when I get around to it :)

I’ll also be doing a training course with Affinity Publisher to start working on the ‘book’ of indie publishers.

There will be occasional relax time as well, maybe.

And, as always, if you have any news or offers you would like included in the newsletter please email me at contact@bigbeardedbookseller.com and I’ll get it on ASAP.

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A reminder that a paid subscription to this newsletter is only the cost of a large coffee once a month. This helps with lots of things but right now it would help with domain and hosting costs for the various projects.

Thanks to the current number of paid subscribers I’ve been able to get a monthly subscription to The Bookseller. Cheers!

All information is going to continue to be free so this is just a thank you to me for collating and developing it all.

The links to the various projects can be found at: