The Bookshop Podcast

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In this episode, I chat with Andrea and Jordan Minter, third-generation managers of Russell Books in Victoria, British Columbia. Ww trace how a packed Montreal dining room helped spark a business that grew into one of Canada’s most beloved independent bookstores.

We talk about what it’s really like to manage a high-volume shop that carries new books, used books, antiquarian and rare books, remainders, and signed copies. Andrea and Jordan explain how daily trade-ins and estate buying shape the shelves in unpredictable waves, why regulars keep coming back to browse, and how modern systems make it possible to shelve new and used editions side by side without losing track of inventory. If you care about book curation, bookselling instincts, and the quiet craft behind a great browsing experience, you’ll leave with a clearer picture of what keeps an indie bookshop thriving.

Then we get into the fun: the surprising items found inside secondhand books and the behind-the-scenes story of Russell Books’ Guinness World Record book tower built for their grand opening in 2019. We close with what they’re reading right now and a few Victoria travel tips for hiking trails, coffee shops, bakeries, and the local food scene. Subscribe, share this with a fellow book lover, and leave a review wherever you listen.
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Mandy Jackson-Beverly
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In this episode, I chat with Nikky Dunne from Heywood Hill in Mayfair, London.
Step behind the door of a London landmark and discover why a great independent bookshop still beats like a human heart. I chat with Nikky Dunne, bookseller-in-chief at Heywood Hill in Mayfair, to unpack ninety years of tailored bookselling, a wartime chapter powered by Nancy Mitford’s wit, and a present-day practice built on listening first and recommending second. From brown-paper parcels to rare firsts, Nikky shows how curation, not scale, creates lasting value for readers who crave depth, surprise, and beauty.

Across two floors of a Georgian townhouse, Heywood Hill blends new, old, and antiquarian books into a living catalogue where literature, history, architecture, biography, travel, and children’s titles coexist. Nikky explains how the shop sustains its mission with three pillars: research-led library building for homes and offices worldwide, a bespoke subscription service that interviews readers to match their tastes, and a rare book program that partners with passionate collectors. It’s a portrait of bookselling as craftsmanship; intimate, precise, and often delightfully demanding.

We also celebrate the publishers who keep literature adventurous. Independent presses like Fitzcarraldo and Pushkin bring bold voices and translations to younger readers hungry for challenging ideas, proving that serious books have a vibrant audience. The theme is consistent: human rhythms, not algorithms. When a bookseller listens well, a reader’s world widens.

If you believe bookstores are more than retail, places of serendipity, memory, and conversation, this story will feel like home. Subscribe, share with a book-loving friend, and leave a review to help others find the show. What book shifted your reading life? Tell us.
Heywood Hill
Fitzcaraldo Editions
Pushkin Press
Héloïse Press
Charco Press

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A coastal drive, a hard pivot, and a bookstore built on happy endings. 
In this episode, I chat with Mae Tingstrom, founder and owner of Smitten Books in Ventura. Mae explains how a former tech professional learned to say no, embraced a niche, and turned a retail space into a community hub. From digging trenches and pulling drywall to stocking shelves with books written by women and non-binary authors, her journey is equal parts grit and heart.

We trace the moment she left the Bay Area for a smaller town, why construction took twice the time and three times the budget, and how boundaries saved both her energy and her mission. Mae shares how coffee retail led to a bigger idea: a bookstore that online shopping can’t replicate, because the value isn’t just the book—it’s the community. Think six free book clubs across genres, writing and tarot circles, live music, and workshops that give adults a place to meet outside bars and school pickup lines. Purchases don’t just stay local; they fund the programming that keeps neighbors connected.

Romance is the store’s backbone for a reason: it sells, it heals, and it promises a satisfying ending when the world feels unstable. But listening to readers broadened the catalog—fantasy, general fiction, and a women-authored horror and suspense club now thrive alongside rom-coms and self-care. We also get into Main Street dynamics, from parking advocacy with neighboring shops to the serendipity of foot traffic that still discovers Smitten daily. To cap it off, Mae walks us through a jam-packed Valentine’s Day and two-year anniversary lineup—sales, raffles, live music, hands-on workshops—and a used book fundraiser for a local dog rescue.

If you care about independent bookshops, community building, and the business realities behind feel-good spaces, you’ll find practical insight and plenty of heart here. Subscribe, share this episode with a friend who loves indie bookshops, and leave a review to help more listeners discover these stories.
Smitten Bookstore
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This week, I chat with Ann Kjellberg, founding editor of the literary magazine Little Star and Book Post, a bite-sized newsletter-based review delivery service, sending well-made book reviews by distinguished and engaging writers, direct to your inbox.
Start with a single question: who gets to decide what matters in books—algorithms, crowds, or critics who sign their names? We sit down with editor and publisher Ann Kjellberg to trace a life spent inside literature, from Yale and Farrar, Straus and Giroux to The New York Review of Books, Little Star, and her Substack, Bookpost. Along the way, we explore how clarity, curiosity, and community can still hold the center in a noisy culture.

Ann shares how working with émigré writers, including Joseph Brodsky, shaped her view of editing as a craft of ethical clarity—making difficult ideas legible without flattening a writer’s voice. We look at the mid-century boom that birthed the paperback revolution and an expanded reading public, then contrast it with today’s attention economy, where BookTok trends and Amazon ratings often drown out patient, thoughtful criticism. Ann doesn’t dismiss reader enthusiasm; she pairs it with the need for accountable reviews that analyze, cite, and argue—skills that teach us how to think rather than what to buy.

We also celebrate indie and radical bookstores as engines of civic life. From hand-selling that starts lifelong reading relationships to nonprofit partnerships that put free books in schools, these shops build the pluralist spaces many communities lack. Ann explains why Bookpost rotates partner bookstores to steer purchases locally, and why a weekly, well-matched review can re-anchor conversation in substance. If you care about the future of reading, criticism, and the free exchange of ideas, this conversation offers a map—and a reason to keep showing up for books and each other.

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Ann Kjellberg - Book Post
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In this episode, I chat with Lovestruck Books owner and founder, Rachel Kantor. Rachel traces the thread from her years in classrooms and nonprofits to the moment she opened a shop that treats joy and access as serious cultural work. We dig into what it means to put the world’s best-selling fiction genre at the center of an academic neighborhood and how that choice reshapes conversations about taste, representation, and who gets shelf space.

Rachel shares the tightrope walk between mission and margin, revealing how a cafe and wine bar aren’t add-ons but engines of community: inviting readers to linger, meet, and return. We explore the store’s 75% romance focus alongside kids’ books, general fiction, and targeted nonfiction—from memoir to sexual health and wellness—plus a slate of events that range from bestselling rom-com authors to a sold-out pelvic floor workshop and visits from award-shortlisted historians. The mix is intentional, reflecting a wide and lively demographic: students, professors, longtime locals, tourists, and readers across the gender and orientation spectrum.

Representation sits at the center. We talk about the ongoing rise of queer love stories, poly relationships, Indigenous and BIPOC authors, and why fighting book bans and expanding access matter for a healthier literary ecosystem. Rachel offers gateway picks for skeptics, like Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic, alongside current obsessions in sports romance and romantasy, and she explains how recognition, like a member-voted Best Bookstore award, signals that community is choosing this model of joyful, inclusive culture. Join us to rethink what a bookstore can be, and to leave with a stronger, more curious TBR.

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