Matt Haig

Since we announced that @thegoldenbookshop will be arriving to Brighton we have been SWAMPED. We have already had about two hundred applications and work enquiries even though we hadn’t asked for any. But we are very grateful. Just a little unprepared. And it is hard to keep track of everyone. So now we have set up an email specifically for anyone with work enquiries - hello@thegoldenbookshop.com That said, we are still in the early phases and won’t be able to respond to everyone and at this point don’t know yet everything we need. Our first step, after we have renovated the space will be getting a manager who knows their stuff and who we trust. Anyway, we are very grateful to how the people of Brighton and Seven Dials have responded. Everyone has been so kind. Okay we did have ONE anonymous hate message but that is a pretty good ratio these days on the internet. But the stats are that indie bookshops don’t eat each other they build each other. Books breed books. And in the age of Bezos and AI we need as many as possible. And this space would have ended up being bought by a supermarket. If a chef sets up a new restaurant are they told they should just support other restaurants instead? In America it is a tradition for authors to set up bookshops. One American tradition I really like. It’s going to be good. We are fizzing with ideas. We are inspired by our fave bookshops in the world from Edinburgh and the Cotswolds to Seoul and Paris and San Francisco and Santorini and Lisbon. And we aim to be good for readers, employees and the community and just add a new beautiful thing to the world. Have a lovely weekend.

I hate to be THAT DAD but Pearl has just this second set up an Instagram for her music. It is @pearl_is_a_singer (give her a follow if you want). This is her first ever post anywhere after 17 years on earth so she is nervous about it. She is music obsessed and has been working SO HARD. She has even taught herself bass and guitar. Learning music has helped her with her confidence. She has loved Bruno Mars from a very young age so decided to start with this. If you could go to @pearl_is_a_singer and check it out that would mean a lot. She is the only person in the world who genuinely finds my jokes funny so I have to do this. Thank you!!

The third and FINAL book in the Midnight World will be the sequel to The Midnight Library. Make sense? Nora and Mrs Elm think so.

This has annoyed a few people in my stories so I will post it here as I am in an annoying mood. There is nothing less human, less romantic, less poetic, less tactile, less caring, less beautiful than a QR code menu.

We are opening a bookshop and coffee place. It will be called GOLDEN. It will be in Brighton. It will be for everyone because even if not everyone is a coffee drinker everyone, deep down, is a reader. Even if they don’t know it. We have the place. It was possibly going to be an extension of a supermarket chain but now it will be a bookshop in a part of Brighton - Seven Dials - that currently doesn’t have a bookshop. My belief, as someone who grew up in a town without a bookshop, is that all communities should have a bookshop because bookshops save civilisation and make life interesting. This bookshop will be about freedom. We won’t be pushing things we don’t want to push. Just good books. Curated by me and people I trust. Mind-bending books. Tearful books. Banned books. Fun books. Graphic novels. Kids books. Grownup books. Really cool music and art books. Books with words. Books that have no words but are really gorgeous to flick through. Books that are actually vinyl records. The best dead and living writers. It will also have some comfy places to sit and drink some really good coffee. The occasional evening event. No stuffy vibes. No genre snobbery. No high/low book classism. You are welcome here. And so is your dog. We are aiming to open by Christmas. Follow @thegoldenbookshop for updates. Stay gold.