Letter

We had a good scrub of the back windows this past week, in what still seems a rather vain attempt to invite in the sun. Alas, we await the day when we can leave the back door open and have lunch in the garden. Maybe by the next fortnight’s letter?

Earlier this month we had a small party for Joanna Cannan’s Princes in the Land. A good number of Joanna’s relations came along to celebrate the publication. A few days later I began a ‘new era’, as my friend noted, in my book group by holding a meeting at Lamb’s Conduit Street. And just last week we welcomed a loyal Persephone reader and a dozen of her friends in for a birthday luncheon – lots of jackets and aprons were both modelled and sold and their “party favour” was a Persephone Book each! The shop’s lovely atmosphere is a special joy of the place and holding various events here carries on a long tradition of use.

EDGE Publications, a newsy website from America, has recently reviewed several of our books. Their discovery yielded such comments as: ‘I don’t who assembled the collection or where they find the witty, clever and smart books that they’ve assembled, but someone at Persephone is doing things exactly right. The collection of short fiction, non-fiction, essays and more – all by female writers and usually with a womanly twist – is in a nutshell, brilliant.’ edgeboston.com
It’s nice to see our readership expanding and diversifying. On a global note, we were excited to sell our books to Journeys Bookstore in New South Wales, Australia – our international readership continues to prosper.

We were interested to read in the Independent this week that Waterstones has kicked off a new promotion of lost classics. They have given the literary parlour game a new twist and asked a selected group of popular contemporary writers to pick a favourite over-looked or forgotten book – essentially defining Persephone’s mission. Disappointed as we were, therefore, not to be included in the list of books, we could take some comfort in Sebastian Shakespeare’s comment on the promotion in Tuesday’s Evening Standard: ‘It is debatable,’ he said, ‘whether many of the titles chosen have been forgotten, let alone neglected.’ While Waterstone’s idea is perhaps an interesting and innovative way to vary the ‘3 for 2’ campaigns, it remains to be seen how it will succeed if the books make it out to the tables. Persephone Books too relies on people spreading the word, just as Waterstone’s fiction buyer Rodney Troubridge notes: “Word of mouth is such a powerful recommendation and these books are ones that the authors and our booksellers love and passionately want more people to read.”

Many thanks as always to all our readers who do pass the word along. ‘In discussion with bookish friends about the low qualities of English book production,’ writes one from another literary press, ‘I was teaching them how to check the grain of a paper page. Samples of cross-grained books were plentiful around the room but the hunt for a proper long-grained contemporary book were more difficult to find. But I did bet that Persephone’s were and lo! and behold! you supplied the examples of good practice!’ Comments such as these encourage and validate the extra care we put into our printing.

Looking ahead, there is a second annual ‘Lamb’s Conduit Street Festival’ on Saturday 20 May. In addition to the Pimm’s that we will be serving here (a spring-like alternative to the mulled wine we had at the Winter Festival), the Woman’s Institute has just planned to have a stand with tea and scones outside the shop. It will add quite a female ‘Persephone-esque’ flare to the festival, which hopes to see a good mix of visitors and residents. The deli next door will build on its highly successful pig roast and feature fresh produce and delicacies from an outside organic supplier. If you are thinking of planning a trip to London this spring, we would love to see you at the Festival. You might get to meet Vicky or Jennie, who help us out in the shop once a week, and would definitely find Lisa and myself.