The Bookshop Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the Wednesday edition of The Bookshop Podcast! My guest today is writer, creative producer, and learning designer, Megahn Modafferi. Meghan Modafferi is a writer and multimedia producer with a focus on developing compelling educational content and experiences. She’s designed, launched, and facilitated digital and in-person learning experiences for corporate and nonprofi...

Send us Fan Mail Hello fellow bibliophiles!  Today I’m in Belfast, Northern Ireland chatting with Linda Murray from Books, Paper, Scissors, an independent bookshop in Belfast. They stock a curated selection of new fiction and non-fiction, plus classics, Irish writing, and poetry. They also have a children’s room, with choices from newborn to teenager. Beyond books Books, Paper, Scissors stock high...

Send us Fan Mail Hello Vermont and South Carolina! Katie Crouch is the New York Times –bestselling author of Girls in Trucks , Men and Dogs , and Abroad . She has also written essays for The New York Times, Glamour, The London Guardian, Slate , Salon , and Tin House . A former resident of Namibia and San Francisco, Katie now lives in Vermont with her family and teaches creative writing at Dartmout...

Send us Fan Mail This week I’m virtually visiting London and India! I chat with Jo Heygate the bookshop manager at Pages of Hackney in London. Pages of Hackney opened in 2008 and is an award-winning independent bookshop on the Lower Clapton Road owned by Eleanor Lowenthal. The bookshop stocks an eclectic mix of books in the areas of literary fiction, politics, feminism, essays, and life writing as...

Send us Fan Mail Peter Gray, Ph. D., research professor at Boston College, is the author of Free to Learn (Basic Books) and Psychology (Worth Publishers, a college textbook now in its 8th edition). He has conducted and published research in neuroendocrinology, developmental psychology, anthropology, and education. He did his undergraduate study at Columbia University and earned a Ph. D. in biologi...

Send us Fan Mail Today, I’m in Canada, starting in Guelph, Ontario, and moving across to the Sunshine Coast, British Colombia. In the city of Guelph, Ontario is a one-of-a-kind bookstore called The Bookshelf: A bookstore that shows movies. A cinema that serves dinner. A resto-bar that launches books. This is a family-run business, started in 1973 by Barb and Doug Minett, after visiting Britain and...

Send us Fan Mail Today I’m chatting with Betsy Amster, literary agent and founder of Betsy Amster Literary Enterprises, a full-service literary agency located in Los Angeles, California. Before opening the agency, Betsy spent ten years as an editor at Pantheon and Vintage and two years as editorial director of the Globe Pequot Press. She has been described in the Los Angeles Times as “a dogged pro...

Send us Fan Mail On May 2, 2015, Donna Garban and Kate Jacobs opened Little City Books in Hoboken, New Jersey. Donna is by nature a salonista, and Kate likes the Russians and the Victorians, and some of the Edwardians, and is learning to like the Nows. Jane Simon Ammeson is a freelance journalist, food and travel writer, and author. Her book Lincoln Road Trip: The Back Roads to America’s Favorite...

Send us Fan Mail Andrew Chapman has worked in many aspects of publishing over the past 34 years, including as a trade-published and self-published author, owner of two publishing companies, editor, designer, consultant, and in various positions in the publishing divisions of companies. In addition, he has a Bachelor’s Degree in Publishing and Writing from George Mason University, earned with a 4.0...

Send us Fan Mail In the Spring of 2007, my husband and I and our two sons went to Washington D.C. with my in-laws. We visited memorial sites, art museums, the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, Mount Vernon, the White House. We ate great food, met wonderful people, lapped up the history of the United States, and snapped many photos of blossoms.  The trip was emotional, as it would be my father-...

Send us Fan Mail Oh, how I love a wonderful story! On wintry Oregon nights Janet Brown & Linna Thomas dreamed of opening a bookstore. In July of 1973, their dream became a reality when they opened Coalesce Bookstore in Morro Bay, California. This week I enjoyed a wonderful chat with Linna Thomas about the history of Coalesce Bookstore, her booksellers, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. My guest autho...

Send us Fan Mail I first met Cooper Hefner in 2007, and today he is my guest on the Wednesday Edition of The Bookshop Podcast. We chat about community service, his father's commitment to social justice and civil rights, politics, and a host of other topics. Cooper Hefner is an American businessman, teacher, author, activist, and reservist in the United States Air Force. He has worked as the c...

Send us Fan Mail Today I’m in Austin, Texas, speaking with Charley Rejsek, general manager at BookPeople. Charley and I chat about the future of indie bookshops, and what a day in her life as an indie bookshop general manager looks like, and about the phrase Keep Austin Weird.   My guest author is Jo Ivester, who focuses on LGBTQ and civil rights advocacy. Her books include the memoir The Outskirt...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the third and final episode regarding The Aramont Library at the Library of Congress . In this episode, I chat with the Collector's daughter who shares stories about her father's love of books, and the impetus behind donating the collection to the Library of Congress. On February 11, 2021, the Library of Congress announced they had received a private donation,...

Send us Fan Mail This episode features interviews with BrocheAroe Fabian and Ali Wenzke. BrocheAroe Fabian is the owner of River Dog Book Co., the little indie bookstore with a big personality. A nontraditional independent with a mission to create community and foster cross-cultural communication and understanding via access to literature and literacy-related events.  Ali Wenzke is the author of T...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to part 2 of 3 interviews regarding the Aramont Library. On February 11, 2021, the Library of Congress announced they had received a private donation, known as the Aramont Library, containing rare books by important authors and artists. Today’s guest is Stephanie Stillo, PhD. Curator of the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection and Aramont Library  Stephanie Stillo is the Curato...

Send us Fan Mail Today I’m in Cambridge, Massachusetts speaking with Marika McCoola at Porter Square Books. Marika is the author of Baba Yaga’s Assistant , a YA graphic novel. In the second part of this episode, I chat with the author, Fran Hawthorne. Fran is a journalist and author of five non-fiction books: Ethical Chic, The Overloaded Liberal, Pension Dumping, Inside the FDA, and The Merck Drug...

Send us Fan Mail On February 11, 2021, the Library of Congress announced they had received a private donation, known as the Aramont Library, containing rare books by important authors and artists. In addition, the Aramont Foundation donated a $1 million endowment to fund virtual public programming beginning in 2021. The Aramont Library began in the early 1980s and contains 1,700 volumes, comprised...

Send us Fan Mail Hi, This is the third interview I’m releasing today to celebrate Independent Bookstore Day . Eliot Peper is a novelist based in Oakland, CA. You can find Eliot Peper’s books at your local indie bookshop and order them through  bookshop.org or wherever books are sold.  He is the author of Veil , Breach , Borderless , Bandwidth , Cumulus , Neon Fever Dream , and the Uncommon Series...

Send us Fan Mail My guest today is author Kevin Winchester. Kevin Winchester lives in North Carolina and holds an MFA from Queens University. His story, “Waiting on Something to Happen,” won the 2013 Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize. Other works has appeared in Tin House, Gulf Coast, Barren Magazine, StorySouth Barrelhouse, Dead Mule , and the anthologies Everything But the Baby and Making Notes: Music...

Send us Fan Mail Happy Independent Bookstore Day! Thank you to indie bookshop owners and booksellers worldwide and those in the USA celebrating Independent Bookstore Day. Join the fun: Take a literary selfie – Tag @ your indie bookstore – Us the hashtags: #BookstoreShoutOut #IndieBookstoreDay #TheBookshopPodcast Tag me: Instagram and Facebook: @thebookshoppodcast  Twitter: @MJacksonBeverly    I’m...

Send us Fan Mail I love synchronistic moments; that’s how I met this week’s first guest, Kerry Slattery. Now retired, Kerry was the original general manager of Skylight Books in Los Angeles. Before this, she acted in shows such as It’s Gary Shandling , The Twilight Zone , Hunter , and Code Red . Kerry shares her knowledge of years in the bookshop industry and offers suggestions for anyone consider...

Send us Fan Mail This week I'm chatting with Henry Mooney, Ph. D. about plastics, oceans, and our environment.  Henry holds a Ph. D. in Global Systems, a Masters in Sustainable Development, and a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies. The bulk of his research focuses on the modern processes by which terrestrial and marine spatial boundaries are drawn, armed conflict over finite socioecol...

Send us Fan Mail Today I’m in Turin, Italy, speaking with author, journalist, editor, and critic Bruce Sterling.  Bruce and I chatted about writing, India, Italy, Harlan Ellison, William Gibson, fantascienza, AI translations, and much more. I hope you enjoy listening to Bruce as much as I enjoyed interviewing him – even though it was 5:00 a.m.! Bruce Sterling Bio: Bruce Sterling, author, journalis...

Send us Fan Mail Dear Listeners, This week I start the episode in Washington D.C., speaking with Hannah Oliver Depp, owner of Loyalty Bookstores, and finish in Boston, Massachusetts chatting with author K.P. Kyle about the Peace Corp, alternate realities, dogs, and writing. Enjoy the show, and remember to leave a review on your podcast listening platform of choice. Mandy Here are links from the sh...