Author Liz Amos was interviewed on Radio 5 Live in the early hours of Wednesday (Feb 5) to discuss a forthcoming fundraising event for Portswood community bookshop October Books.

 

Speaking to Johnny l’Anson, Liz acknowledged the shop “is kind of in a bit of a tricky patch at the moment in terms of just the financial pressures on the shop itself”.

She explained the background of the shop, which is community owned and run as a co-operative, and noted that over the past four decades it has operated from various city locations.

The conversation broadened to discuss the role of community-owned organisations in today’s climate, the meaning of the term ‘radical’ and why it’s still important to have indie bookshops.

“One of the things that is lovely about October Books is that it’s not only a bookshop but it also has a community space that other groups can hire, so there are choirs, there is a vegan weekly lunch that happens there, there’s story times – there’s all sorts of other functions that happen within the space.

“So I think that having that additional room, which is where the poetry event will happen … it allows it to be a real hub for the community.”

The fundraising event on Saturday, February 15, from 2.30pm to 5pm, will be a “rolling poetry performance”, and is a good opportunity around Valentine’s day to encourage people who might have been thinking about it to come through the doors and come and hear some local poets, and donate a fiver.

“It’s an opportunity for people to come and show a little bit of love for their independent bookshop,” said Liz.

You can hear the interview on BBC Sounds from this link for a limited period, starting approximately 3 hours 37 minutes in.