Books

Woolfson & Tay

Kate Weston | Friday 18 November, 2011 15:27

Woolfson & Tay in the heart of up and coming Bermondsey has far more on offer than just books.

Opened just over a year ago by Shivaun Woolfson and Frances Tay, the shop was never intended to be your bog standard bookshop. Woolfson and Tay were working for a non-profit organisation called Living Imprint – an organisation using the power of real life stories to educate and enlighten – when they began looking for premises to continue their work. Looking south of the river in artsy Bermondsey they came across the last remaining space that had been empty for two years in the corner of the recently rejuvenated Bermondsey Square. It seemed like the perfect setting to house exhibitions, workshops, seminars, teaching and retail. It’s hard to imagine the square would feel the same without the bookshop nestled in the corner, a space for the community and learning.

Inside the shop is spacious, while still being cosy and inspiring. The evidence of people’s stories spill throughout the shop, from the current exhibition on the cafe walls, to the shelves labelled Life stories and Life History Writing rather than Biography, to co-owner Shivaun keen to share their own story with me as well as those of the people exhibiting and writing there.

As we sat opposite the current exhibition in the cafe for a cup of tea she brimmed with enthusiasm for the story themed space they had created and the community in which it resides. Due to appear there in the new year is an exhibition about the Holocaust and a workshop for young people to work with playwrights on a creative response to the riots.

Nominated for the 2011 Independent Bookseller of the Year award Woolfson & Tay have created a warm and inspiring place to explore, learn and create. It seems to me that they’ve reinvented the bookshop in an age when bookshops need to offer more than just a shopping experience, and made somewhere lovely.

For information on what’s on see their website

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