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Indies form Alliance of Radical Booksellers
01.01.70 | Charlotte Williams
A coalition of "left-leaning political bookshops" is to launch in October, creating a support network for independent booksellers.
The Alliance of Radical Booksellers (ARB) will officially launch on 6th October and so far has 17 indie members from across the country, including east London's Newham Bookshop and Brighton's Cowley Club. The ARB seeks to support bookshops working to keep progressive books on the high street.
A spokesperson for the ARB described it as: "An organisation which allows its member booksellers to support each other, promote one another’s work and sell books together."
The alliance already has plans to launch a book prize, called The Bread and Roses Prize, and plans are already in motion for the Alliance members to take part in book fairs together.
Nik Gorecki, bookseller at Housmans bookshop in King’s Cross, London, is a co-founder of the ARB. He said: "We definitely want to speak to publishers as more of a group, but we are [also] more of a support group which comes up with campaigns and promotions."
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Ah!
Inner city riots, Tory government, radical bookshops. It's just like the old days.
The ARB will be launching officially on October 6th, so look out for more details on our work and the prize nearer the time. Many thanks, Nik
There are millions of left leaning people in the UK. Hardly anyone is catering to our tastes. We could do with hundreds of left leaning bookshops and left leaning publishers and left leaning magazines and newspapers. And to cap it all we need a proper left leaning party. A proper opposition party to protect our libraries and demand a proper education for our children. Without any of this we end up with the current state of affairs. With the state owned BBC lying twenty four hours a day and with the monopoly owned press doing likewise. And standards slipping all the time. Everything is cheap and meaningless. We need books not bombs.
I know and London's Newham Bookshop is left wing, would never have thought it! Does Vivian know?
Why not just put up a big sign saying 'customers who do not share our views can bugger off'?
So the Federation of Radical Booksellers rises again. Remember those days?
Coningsby takes an interesting position, that somehow, by definition a left-wing bookshop only wants customers who support the shop's particular views. I've never found a left-wing bookshop yet that does not welcome customers of every persuasion. Housmans in London, for example, has a terrific section of books about London. Do you have to be left-wing to find the section of interest. Gays the Word caters to all sorts of gay people, not just left wing gay people (and not simply gay people either).
Absolutely Ross, actually most of us have a broader range than many other shops, and it is always the unexpected that our customers like to find.
I am delighted to hear it, Ross. But if that is so, it seems to me that the description 'left-wing bookshop' is somewhat misplaced. If it simply reflects the owner's private political views, and has nothing to do with its stock, then an association of radical booksellers would be about as newsworthy as a confederation of stamp-collecting booksellers, or a brotherhood of tall booksellers.
To put it a slightly different way, if a customer were to ask for Roger Scruton's latest, would a radical bookseller reply a) 'Over here, sir', or b) 'We don't stock it on principle, for we belong to the association of radical bookellers. We are, of course, only too happy to order it for you'?
Coningsby - every bookshop chooses its own stock in different ways, for all sorts of different reasons. Radical bookshops usually have a wide range of stock, concentrating on radical books. That is the nature of them and their priorities. This is really no different to other shops in their specialisms - if I go into the National Theatre Bookshop I would expect to mostly find books to do with theatre/plays but the shop also - last time I went - also stocked fiction and other material that might be of interest to their customers. I would not expect to find a sign saying "If you don't like theatre, bugger off". Now I am not a theatre buff, though have a passing interest, and would expect the bookshop - via its stock - to encourage that interest or make me want to read deeper.
The indie bookshop I mostly buy books from has never, to my knowledge, stocked Roger Scruton, and it is not a radical bookshop. I presume they feel that he would not sell there but they would happily order his books if a customer required them. They also don't stock much in the way of radical books, which does not mean the shop is run by a reactionary. If I want to peruse radical books I'll tend to go to a radical bookshop. Why is this a problem>
I see no problem there Ross. Your definition has more than satisfied my original curiosity. Adam Smith would be so proud of us all :)
The ARB website looks very Maoist. Will it welcome lefties of all stripes?
Ah!
Inner city riots, Tory government, radical bookshops. It's just like the old days.
I know and London's Newham Bookshop is left wing, would never have thought it! Does Vivian know?
The ARB will be launching officially on October 6th, so look out for more details on our work and the prize nearer the time. Many thanks, Nik
There are millions of left leaning people in the UK. Hardly anyone is catering to our tastes. We could do with hundreds of left leaning bookshops and left leaning publishers and left leaning magazines and newspapers. And to cap it all we need a proper left leaning party. A proper opposition party to protect our libraries and demand a proper education for our children. Without any of this we end up with the current state of affairs. With the state owned BBC lying twenty four hours a day and with the monopoly owned press doing likewise. And standards slipping all the time. Everything is cheap and meaningless. We need books not bombs.
Why not just put up a big sign saying 'customers who do not share our views can bugger off'?
So the Federation of Radical Booksellers rises again. Remember those days?
Coningsby takes an interesting position, that somehow, by definition a left-wing bookshop only wants customers who support the shop's particular views. I've never found a left-wing bookshop yet that does not welcome customers of every persuasion. Housmans in London, for example, has a terrific section of books about London. Do you have to be left-wing to find the section of interest. Gays the Word caters to all sorts of gay people, not just left wing gay people (and not simply gay people either).
Absolutely Ross, actually most of us have a broader range than many other shops, and it is always the unexpected that our customers like to find.
I am delighted to hear it, Ross. But if that is so, it seems to me that the description 'left-wing bookshop' is somewhat misplaced. If it simply reflects the owner's private political views, and has nothing to do with its stock, then an association of radical booksellers would be about as newsworthy as a confederation of stamp-collecting booksellers, or a brotherhood of tall booksellers.
To put it a slightly different way, if a customer were to ask for Roger Scruton's latest, would a radical bookseller reply a) 'Over here, sir', or b) 'We don't stock it on principle, for we belong to the association of radical bookellers. We are, of course, only too happy to order it for you'?
Coningsby - every bookshop chooses its own stock in different ways, for all sorts of different reasons. Radical bookshops usually have a wide range of stock, concentrating on radical books. That is the nature of them and their priorities. This is really no different to other shops in their specialisms - if I go into the National Theatre Bookshop I would expect to mostly find books to do with theatre/plays but the shop also - last time I went - also stocked fiction and other material that might be of interest to their customers. I would not expect to find a sign saying "If you don't like theatre, bugger off". Now I am not a theatre buff, though have a passing interest, and would expect the bookshop - via its stock - to encourage that interest or make me want to read deeper.
The indie bookshop I mostly buy books from has never, to my knowledge, stocked Roger Scruton, and it is not a radical bookshop. I presume they feel that he would not sell there but they would happily order his books if a customer required them. They also don't stock much in the way of radical books, which does not mean the shop is run by a reactionary. If I want to peruse radical books I'll tend to go to a radical bookshop. Why is this a problem>
I see no problem there Ross. Your definition has more than satisfied my original curiosity. Adam Smith would be so proud of us all :)
The ARB website looks very Maoist. Will it welcome lefties of all stripes?