Browse

A celebration of the greatest kind of shop in the world, by an award-winning cast of writers including Ali Smith, Andrey Kurkov, Elif Shafak and Daniel Kehlmann

A cabinet of curiosities, a time machine, a treasure trove - we love bookshops because they possess a unique kind of magic. In Browse Henry Hitchings asks fifteen writers from around the world to consider the bookshops that have shaped them; each conjures a specific time and place.

Ali Smith chronicles the secrets and personal stories hidden within the pages of secondhand books; Alaa Al Aswany tells of the Cairo bookshop where revolutionaries gathered during the 2011 uprisings; Elif Shafak evokes the bookstores of Istanbul, their chaos and diversity, their aromas of tobacco and coffee. Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor recalls the quandary of choosing just one book at a favourite childhood store in Nairobi, while Iain Sinclair shares his grief on witnessing a beloved old haunt close down. Others explore bookshops they have stumbled upon, adored and become addicted to, from Delhi to Bogota_.

These inquisitive, enchanting pieces are a collective celebration of bookshops - for anyone who has ever fallen under their spell.

Henry Hitchings is an award- winning writer, reviewer and critic. He has written for the Guardian, TLS, Financial Times and Wall Street Journal, and is currently the Evening Standard's theatre critic. He is the author of several acclaimed books on language, literature and culture, including Dr Johnson's Dictionary and The Language Wars. In 2008, his book The Secret Life of Words won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and the Somerset Maugham Award, and in 2009 he was shortlisted for the title of Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year.