Book Towns: Part II

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Here is the second part to an already awesome list of Book Towns. I hope you enjoy these ones as much as
Book Towns: Part I

 


Here are 6 more stunning little Book Towns:

St_Martins_NBSt. Martins, New Brunswick
A beautiful Canadian village 40 km east of Saint John, it is situated on the Bay of Fundy. The village was founded by a Loyalists in 1783, and was originally known as Quaco. St. Martins has a population of approx. 304 (2006.) In 2007, the St. Martins Book town Initiative was formed.
Soon after that the New Brunswick Legislative Assembly officially proclaimed St. Martins as New Brunswick’s official Book town. There are now nearly a dozen booksellers located in the village.

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Wigtown, Scotland
Wigtown was officially designated as Scotland’s National Book Town in 1998 and is now home to over 20 book-related businesses.

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wigtown

A book lovers haven; it has over a
festival-450quarter of a million books to choose from, old and new. It would be impossible to escape this town empty handed. Every year Wigtown book Festival offers more than 180 events for adults, children and young people; including literature, music, film, theatre, arts and crafts. The festival takes place for 10 days each autumn.

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Fjærland, Norway
Fjærland has 300 inhabitants, and is part of Sogndal municipality. The centre in Fjærland is Mundal, about 3 km from the main road, down the fjord. Most people in Fjærland are engaged in farming and tourism.

A simple and beautiful book town; with book shops situated in old cow sheds and pigpens, there are also book shops on the ferry quay, and
in the Hotel Mundal. An absolutely picturesque little village!

multimedia-tvic-2009_2FMar_2FACF2290_t300Clunes, Victoria (Australia)
The charming Goldfields village of Clunes is famous for its bookshops, set amidst a heritage rich landscape. From the collectibles to the bargains, from small shops to large shops stocking thousands of titles. Clunes is located 36 km north of Ballarat.
It is a member of the International Organisations of Book Towns.
This year Clunes celebrates it’s 10 year book town anniversary.
images (1)The idea of transforming Clunes into a European-style book town was first conceived and developed by Councillor Tim Hayes, Linda Newitt, Graeme Johnston, and Tess Brady. Clunes held its first ‘Booktown for a Day’ event on 20 May 2007. Clunes Museum
Over 50 booksellers from around Australia set up shop for the day in the town’s heritage buildings.
Clunes  has a population of 1656 (2011) and more than 60 booksellers. With millions of books and 15,000 visitors, it has impressively become the largest collection of books in any regional centre of Australia.Header-Images_Fraser-Street-Clunes---Clunes-Motel_30

131482_a25398c9Sedbergh, Cumbria (England)
A lovely town laced with old world atmosphere. There are only about eight bookshops in Sedbergh, but one of these books shops is enormous. Westwood Books, is a family business that moved to Sedbergh from Hay‑on‑Wye in 2005. As a former cinema it holds about 70,000 titles.
sedbergh-finkle-street-01 The other smaller shops sell books in the town itself and at Farfield Mill Heritage Centre, a mile and a half away. Among these are some small‑scale specialists: Avril’s Books at Farfield Mill (craft, textiles and applied arts), Sleepy Elephant (vintage children’s books, local interest and guides), Sedbergh Information and Book Centre (18 different dealers represented, with specialisms including fine art, transport and sport).

7536026772_099c8f4177Bredevoort, Netherlands
A small medieval town in the Netherlands with a population of approx. 1600. The town was designated a book town in 1993 because of its more than 20 secondhand and antiquarian bookshops.
Every third Saturday of the month, the town square hosts a book market, attracting book dealers from all over the country to sell English, German, and Dutch books. Bredevoort is one of the founding members of the International Organisation of Book Towns, and hosts many literary events to support the local book economy.Boekenmarkt_Bredevoort

These are just some of the most popular and well known book towns, but there are many more. My heart is so warmed by these little treasures. I hope you enjoyed learning about them as much as I did. 

Which one/s are your favorite?

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65 thoughts on “Book Towns: Part II”

  7. Pingback: Book Towns: Part II - 4 My Dollar

  8. What a great idea. I didn’t even know there was such a thing as book towns. Not only do I want to visit them because of all the deliriously wonderful books, but those towns look absolutely charming. When I first looked at the pictures I thought they were “book towns” because they should be IN a book.

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  9. Good ole Clunes! Glad an Aussie town featured, I’ve been to that one. Gorgeous quaint town about two hours from my home. But the one I’d really love to go to is the one in Norway, it looks so beautiful.

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  12. So wonderful! I’ve always wanted to visit somewhere like this … it’s every bookworms dream! I honestly would love to live somewhere like that; my Mom says sometimes my obsession with books is too severe and it becomes an issue. Thank you for compiling this list of places so that we don’t have to do it ourselves!

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  13. I’d have mentioned Leipzig, too. Printing was invented there and every year, there is the Leipzig bbok fare, which is open to the public abd very impressive. But it propably hasn’t ever been elect book town in the context you use….

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    • It must not have because it never came up in my research. However I feel that it’s a bit of a disservice to the town to not be a “book town.” There must be a lack of actual books shop to population ratio.

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  14. http://www.hay-on-wye.co.uk/ one more for you, on the border between Wales and England –
    if I knew how to add a photo I would send you a picture of a certain book shop front that hated Kindles :-o)
    My wife & I stayed there a few years ago and we managed to cover every bookshop – only bought a few because of weight and flying home, unfortunately.

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  25. Traverse City hosts a Writer’s Festival, we have horizon Books which has a 30+ year history of local service, Brilliant Books which is newer, -10 years in our town but began 17 miles away in Suttons Bay, the Bookie Joint which is a used book trade/seller with 40+ years of service, a handful of free libraries (heavily regulated), a gorgeous public library and the gratuitous Big Box store Books•A•Million, Barnes & Noble holding on for dear life in the Mall.
    We lost Walden, which was my most personal bibliophile tragedy, over 20 years ago and the traveling discount bookstore (hardcovers for less than 6.00), Borders has risen as BAM and the used books dealers of unpronouncable name who also did restorations are gone. The used book warehouse next to the drive in one county over are gone too. The recession hurt a lot of businesses. But the few book shops we have are holding on, going strong and in some cases expanding. Brilliant Books is still in Suttons Bay.

    I skipped school my senior year to hang out in Horizon when it was a little two story store with a sunny afternoon window seat upstairs. It moved into the JC Penny that closed and is doing fine. Walden was my first mall books shop experience and never disappointed. First book club too.

    I’d love to have another little seller with big impact in town.

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  26. These are the countries where reading isn’t ‘forced’ on children at an early age. They do formal reading education at age six, yet children are read aloud to from birth. No wonder they have great book towns!

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  27. Pingback: Book Towns: Part I | Cafe Book Bean

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