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In this episode, I chat with Nikki Dunn 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 Nikki Dunn, 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, Nikki 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. Nikki 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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Mandy Jackson-Beverly
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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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Mandy Jackson-Beverly
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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.

Enjoyed the conversation? Subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a rating or review so more readers can find the show.

Ann Kjellberg - Book Post

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