The Bookshop Podcast

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In today's episode, I'm chatting with Annabel Monaghan, author of Nora Goes Off Script about switching from writing YA to adult fiction, what it's like living with a house of males, getting back to in-person book tours, and her publishing story!

Annabel Monaghan grew up in Los Angeles and attended Duke University, where she studied English. She has an MBA from The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania and a brief history as an investment banker. She also taught novel writing at The Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College. Annabel now lives in the suburbs of New York City with her husband, three sons, and a little dog who sheds.

Annabel Monaghan

Nora Goes Off Script, Annabel Monaghan

A Girl Named Digit, Annabel Monaghan

 Double Digit, Annabel Monaghan

 On Gin Lane, Brooke Lea Foster

 The Love of My Life, Rosie Walsh

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Mandy Jackson-Beverly
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In this episode, I chat with Diane Castro, owner of Sweet Home Books, about her dedicated customer base, the skills she's learned since opening her indie bookshop, places to visit in Wetumpka, and local authors.

 Diane Castro opened Sweet Home Books in downtown Wetumpka, Alabama, in May 2021. She has a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology and a Master's Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy and previously worked as a therapist for a non-profit organization. Diane feels blessed to be surrounded by a supportive family, including her husband Tim and their amazing kids, Tyler ( 20) and Ellie (18). Her favorite days are spent at the bookstore--sometimes working alongside Ellie, sometimes with one of her fantastic employees, and occasionally with her high-maintenance Goldendoodle named Bagel. 

Sweet Home Books

Bel Canto, Ann Patchett

Beartown, Fredrik Backman

 The Children on the Hill, Jennifer McMahon

 Other Birds, Sarah Addison Allen

 My Brother’s Faith, Carlton Fisher

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Mandy Jackson-Beverly
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In this episode, I'm chatting with Melodie Edwards, host of The Modern West podcast, about how locals are being outpriced in the Wyoming real estate market, the evolving identity of the American West, and fun things to do if you find yourself in Laramie, Wyoming.

Melodie Edwards is the recipient of the Public Radio News Director award for her investigation of the reservation housing crisis, several regional Edward R. Murrow Awards, and two Hopwood Awards for fiction and nonfiction. She hosts the Edward R. Murrow Award-winning and Peabody-nominated podcast The Modern West and co-owns Night Heron Books and Coffeehouse with her husband in Laramie, WY.

Night Heron Books & Coffeehouse

The Modern West Podcast

The Lesser Known History of African-American Cowboys, The Smithsonian Magazine

Kiss The Ground

Evan Graham Arango Talks about Regenerative Farming on The Bookshop Podcast

Akorena & the League of Crows, Melodie Edwards

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Mandy Jackson-Beverly
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In this episode, I'm chatting with Jhoanna Belfer, the owner of Bel Canto Books in Long Beach, California.

Bel Canto Books, is a proud woman- and BIPOC- owned independent bookstore. Founded by Jhoanna Belfer, a Filipina-American poet and former hospitality executive, Bel Canto Books offers a curated selection of fiction, nonfiction, and children's books, organized around a theme of the month, in particular celebrating books by women and people of color.

Bel Canto Books

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Mandy Jackson-Beverly
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In this episode, I chat with Hillary S. Webb, PhD. about her new book, The Friendliest Place In The Universe: Love, Laughter, and Stand-up Comedy in Berlin, what led her to Berlin, and grappling with depression, fear, and anger after the election of Donald Trump.

Hillary S. Webb, PhD. is a cultural anthropologist, author, and mixed-media storyteller. Her work explores how we human beings make meaning of this wonderful, terrible, ecstatic, startling, and often absurd world in which we live.

 Hillary gained an undergraduate degree in Journalism from New York University, an MA in Consciousness Studies from Goddard College, and a Ph.D. in Existential-Humanistic Psychology from Saybrook University.

 She’s worked professionally as a college professor, a journalist, and research director for an institute dedicated to studying the link between sound and altered states of consciousness.

Hilary S. Webb
Hilary S Webb, Audio Essays
The Meaning of Anxiety, Rollo May

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In this episode, I'm chatting with Ben Gunter, the owner of Dave's Olde Bookshop in Redondo Beach, California, about the pros and cons of gentrification in the South Bay, what he enjoys most about being an indie bookshop owner, and how he's evolving his business.

Dave's Olde Bookshop 

A Gentleman In Moscow, Amor Towles

Rules of Civility, Amor Towles

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Mandy Jackson-Beverly
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In this episode, I caught up with Stephanie Stillo Ph.D. and Emily Moore from the Library of Congress about what's new with the Aramont Library, the definition of "modern book," what they've discovered about themselves while working with the collection, and an exciting symposium taking place next year!

Stephanie Stillo is the Curator of the Lessing J. Rosenwald Graphic Arts Collection in the Rare Book and Special Collection Division at the Library of Congress. After receiving her Ph.D. in the Early Modern Atlantic World from the University of Kansas, Stillo served as the Mellon Professor of History and Digital Humanities at Washington and Lee University. There she taught classes on digital exhibition and design, public history, and digital storytelling. She also served as a CLIR/Mellon fellow in the Library of Congress’ Preservation, Research and Testing Division researching how preservation technology can reveal important historical information about the Library of Congress's rare book collection.

Emily Moore is the Assistant Curator of the Aramont Library in the Rare Books and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress. With a BA in Art History and Cinema from the University of Toronto and an MLIS from the University of Maryland, Moore brings her passion for art into the world of archives, examining how production and process intersect with memory and object. At RBSC, you will find her processing the archive of book artist and publisher Walter Hamady or in the stacks, dreaming over the livre d’artistes of the Aramont Library.

Library of Congress

From The Vaults! Illustrating Langston Hughes 

Man Ray's Revolving Doors

From The Vaults

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In this episode, I chat with Tom Nissley owner of Phinney Books in Seattle, about his book A Reader's Book of Days, what he learned from being an eight-time champion on Jeopardy!, living in the Pacific Northwest, and what he loves about indie bookshops.

Phinney Books in Seattle is a general-interest independent book store selling a carefully chosen selection of new books across a variety of categories. Owner Tom Nissley is an eight-time champion on Jeopardy! and a former editor at Amazon, where he launched their books blog, Omnivoracious. He holds a Ph.D. in English literature and has written for the Paris Review Daily, The Millions, and The Stranger. He blogs, mostly about books, at Ephemeral Firmament, and he lives in Seattle with his wife and two sons (and, half the year, his mother-in-law).

Phinney Books
A Reader's Book of Days, Tom Nissley
The Ice Palace, Tarjei Vesaas
In Love: A Memoir of Loss and Love, Amy Bloom

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Mandy Jackson-Beverly
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In this episode, I'm chatting with Abbigail Nguyen Rosewood, a Vietnamese and American writer and author of If I Had Two Lives from Europa Editions and Constellations of Eve.

Abbigail holds an MFA in creative writing from Columbia University. After spending over 20 years in the U.S, she is now a reverse immigrant living in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Constellations of Eve is the inaugural title forthcoming from DVAN/TTUP,  a publishing imprint founded by Isabelle Thuy Pelaud, a scholar of Asian American history and literature, and Pulitzer winner Viet Thanh Nguyen to promote Vietnamese American literature.

She has written for TIME Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, Salon, Cosmopolitan, Lit Hub, Electric Lit, Catapult, Pen America, and BOMB. In 2019, her hybrid writing was featured in a multimedia art and poetry exhibit at Eccles Gallery. Her fiction has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best American Short Story 2020, and she was a finalist for the 49th New Millennium Writing Award. She won first place in the Writers Workshop of Asheville Literary Fiction contest. 

She currently serves on the graduating thesis committee at Columbia University. She is the founder of Neon Door, an immersive art exhibit.

Abbigail Nguyen Rosewood

If I Had Two Lives, Abbigail Nguyen Rosewood

Constellations of Eve, Abbigail Nguyen Rosewood

Neon Door

I Moved To America For A Better Life. Here's Why I'm Leaving. Abbigail Nguyen Rosewood

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Mandy Jackson-Beverly
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In this episode, I chat with Ben O'Connell about running a third-generation bookshop, his love of Australian historic architecture, and the magic ingredients that make indie bookshops thrive.

O'Connell's Bookshop is Adelaide's Oldest Secondhand & Antiquarian Bookshop.  The bookshop was established in 1957 by Reg O'Connell and is now run by his grandson, Benjamin. The shelves are filled with a vast selection of books, including classics, popular fiction, art, history, Aboriginal culture, military, Australiana, music, philosophy, 'Beat' writers, children's, first occult, esoteric & attractive Folio editions.

O’Connell’s Bookshop

 A Fortunate Life, A.B. Facey

 Jack London Books

 Australian poets

 A Hunter-Gatherer’s guide to the 21st Century: Evolution and the Challenges of Modern Life, Heather Heying, Bret Weinstein

 Thomas Sowell, author

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Mandy Jackson-Beverly
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