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Booksellers including Foyles, Newham Books, Pages of Hackney and The Book Box will be among those selling titles at the Goldsmith Row Book Market which launches on Sunday (13th May).
The event will form part of the Hackney "Mile of Markets", which includes the popular Columbia Road Flower Market, visited by around 100,000 people a week.
Founder Neil Burgess, director of nb pictures, said he hoped to have a band playing to attract visitors to the event and has distributed flyers with a map directing visitors to the new attraction. He said: “There will be an eclectic mix of small art publishers and even a print on demand artist collective, a number of individual traders to established independent bookshops, including Foyles.
“There are a few people selling second hand books and two children’s booksellers, with other specialities such as books on London, radical books, graphic novels, as well as art, photography and design.” He added: “I’m just hoping for a fine day to kick it all off!”
So far 20 stalls have been taken but there is room for five more to get involved. The market will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the junction of Hackney Road and Columbia Road in Hackney.
Eleanor Lowenthal, owner of Pages of Hackney, said she would be running a stall mainly of Penguin titles, because they had an “iconic’ brand.
“We do a lot of work with Penguin, I thought their books would be perfect for the market and would appeal to customers. I’m really looking forward to it, I think it would be a brilliant day.”
The idea for the Goldsmith Row Book Market derived from independent booksellers’ need to be more entrepreneurial in selling books to counteract competition from chains, internet booksellers and digital books.
Burgess said: “The independent bookseller is making a fighting comeback, and this market is proof of it. With millions of titles available, more and more people are turning to independent booksellers for new books, new ideas and new talent."