About this item
The so-called "Book Towns" of the world are dedicated havens of literature, and the ultimate dream of book lovers everywhere. Book Towns takes readers on a richly illustrated tour of the 40 semi-officially recognized literary towns around the world and outlines the history and development of each community, and offers practical travel advice. Many Book Towns have emerged in areas of marked attraction, such as Urea in Spain or Fjaerland in Norway, where bookshops have been set up in buildings including former ferry waiting rooms and banks. While the UK has the best-known examples at Hay, Wigtown and Sedbergh, the book has a broad international appeal, featuring locations such as Jimbochu in Japan, College Street in Calcutta, and major unofficial "book cities" such as Buenos Aires.
About the Author
Alex is a writer and journalist, part of The Independent's online team since 2007. He runs Shedworking (www.shedworking.co.uk) which inspired the 2010 book 'Shedworking: The Alternative Workplace Revolution' published by Frances Lincoln and Bookshelf (www.onthebookshelf.co.uk) which was the basis of the book 'Bookshelf' (Thames & Hudson, 2012) .'Improbable Libraries', a survey of the most unusual and intriguing libraries around the world, was published by Thames & Hudson in April 2015 and 'A Book of Book Lists' in October 2017 by The British Library. Alex's book on book towns around the world, 'Book Towns' was published in 2018 by Frances Lincoln, and 'Shelf Life' (a collection of essays about books and reading by famous writers) the same year by The British Library. His co-authored 'Shed Manual' was published in spring 2019 by iconic publisher Haynes. His most recent books are 'Edward Lear and the Pussy Cat: Famous Writers and Their Pets' (British Library, 2019) and another co-authored title 'Menus That Made History' (Kyle, 2019) . His latest book is 'How To Give Your Children A Lifelong Love Of Reading' (British Library, 2020) . In July, 'The Soundtrack to Life' in collaboration with Scala Radio is published by Kyle and 'Art Day by Day' from Thames & Hudson. 'Writers' Rooms' will be published by Quarto in 2022.
