here are many ways to be a literary tourist.

You can browse the shelves of used bookshops and rare book libraries, attend literary festivals, antiquarian book fairs and plays at playhouses; visit authors’ houses, participate in writers workshops…

For me, it’s all of this and more, but mostly it’s about interviewing people who’ve written great books. Not just written. Also edited, designed, published, sold, collected, read, studied…

Many of my encounters with these impressive people have been joyful and memorable; what I try to record here is some measure of the excitement I’ve experienced getting out and tracking them down, plus a little bit of what I’ve learned. ‘Little journeys’ if you like.

I HOPE they encourage you in a small way to do something similar. Engaging with books and book people has enriched my life immeasurably. Perhaps it’ll enrich yours too.

As I say, it’s about the people, but it’s also about the places. The bookstores, libraries, bars and cafes. In case you hadn’t noticed, I love to photograph these places and tell the colourful backstories. Interesting my tendency to feel guilty if I don’t also buy at least one book at every shop along the way. I wonder if you feel the same?

⁋ In case you’re interested, you can listen to the interviews I’ve conducted here at THE BIBLIO FILE podcast website. Most of the backstories are here on this website. Some of the more recent ones can be found here, older photos here.

I hope you enjoy browsing Literary Tourist. Thanks for visiting.

Nigel Beale.