“the most charming of tourist destinations…” [Alex Johnson on Book Towns]
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Sidmouth is very lucky to have four bookshops – with its oldest now on the market, which will hopefully find a buyer. The Guardian’s review of independent bookshops in the South-West was certainly full of praise.
Locals have been complaining for some time about the number of charity shops on the high street – and indeed, the town council has been worried about there not being ‘level playing field’ when it comes to business rates.
However, most of the charity shops also stock a considerable amount of second-hand books – some more than others.
The question is whether these literary offerings would be enough of a basis for Sidmouth to look to becoming a ‘book town’ – of which there are many in the UK and worldwide. And to make it happen, such a town has to be ‘made for book lovers’:
What makes a book town?
It can’t be too big—not a city, but a genuine town, usually in a rural setting. It has to have bookshops—not one or two, but a real concentration, where a bibliophile might spend hours, even days, browsing. Usually a book town begins with a couple of secondhand bookstores and later grows to offer new books, too.
But mostly, they have a lot of books for sale...
In the forthcoming Book Towns, journalist Alex Johnson catalogues these most charming of tourist destinations. He spoke to ‘Atlas Obscura’ about the pleasures of out-of-the-way places defined by their books.
The most famous is of course Hay-on-Wye in Wales, with its literary festival. But there are also tiny little places that have revitalised themselves, from Wigtown in Scotland to Fjaerland in Norway:
Fjærland is a book town, and no matter the weather, bookcases line the main road of this literary-loving community whose population numbers just 300. This is Norway’s answer to Hay-on-Wye, and this summer the town’s population will swell as Fjærland hosts its own literary festival in June.
Located on the banks of the Fjærlandsfjorden in western Norway – an offshoot of Sognefjord, Norway’s longest fjord – Fjærland became Norway’s first book town in 1995 after residents decided it was time to revitalise their declining community.
One of Sidmouth’s bookshops organises a literary festival – and whilst the event in June had to be cancelled, there have been other very well-attended sessions this year.
Would this, the ‘new bookshops’ and the charity bookshelves form the basis for “Sidmouth, book town”?
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