Continuing our amble around London's independent bookshops
Stoke Newington Bookshop is another of London's independent stalwarts, having been going strong for 20-something years. Its TARDIS-like interior - so much bigger than it looks from the outside, plus it's blue - contains a great children's section (as befits such a nappy valley-ish area), large travel and local history sections and a fantastic fiction selection.
They're also no strangers to what seems the first rule of independent bookshops: be part of your community. So they do story times for little 'uns, have hosted readings during the Stoke Newington Fringe (including a heated debate between audience members and Iain Sinclair over his Hackney, That Rose Red Empire), and the shop is also the venue for the monthly N16 Writers and Readers Network. Be there on 9 November if you want to hear Elizabeth Wilson talk about her book War Damage. And if you want further evidence of the kind of place it is, the shop's newsletter will tell you when there's new jigsaws in the kids' corner. How excellent is that?
If you're a bit short on pennies at the moment, you can always explore two bargain bookshops that are part of the same network. One's a couple of doors down at 153 Stoke Newington High Street, while the other's at 134 High Street in Walthamstow.
Stoke Newington Bookshop, 159 Stoke Newington High Street, N16. Continue reading for a map. Images author's own. Know a good bookshop? Email us at londonist (@) gmail.com.
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