Wandering around New York, it’s very likely that you will stumble upon or make it your mission to get into one of the fantastic four McNally Jackson bookstores located in Soho, Williamsburg, Downtown Brooklyn or Seaport. Each a well-lit, cleanly-designed literary oasis away from the maddening crowds but with their own flair and ambiance. McNally Jackson became a bookshop in 2004 and it offers a beautiful collection of curated books, highlighting small presses and zines and arranged by the region of the author.

Our guest today is Madeline Gressel, a writer and a marketing director at McNally Jackson. Her work has appeared in Virginia Quarterly Review, Brooklyn Rail, and Bookforum, and she is at work on her first novel.  Maddie first started working at the original McNally Jackson in Soho as a bookseller and her love of books, readers and the art of bookselling never really waned. We caught up with Maddie while she was in Rome, working away at her first novel.