The Bookselling Research Network will hold its first conference at Hay-on-Wye between Wednesday 7th and Thursday 8th September 2022: The Matter of Bookshops: Histories, Communities, Practices.

The call for papers is now open, and we welcome proposals for papers exploring any aspect of bookshops, bookselling, or booksellers. Following on from our seminars this year, we are particularly keen to see proposals that focus on
•       Histories of bookshops or booksellers
•       The current practices of bookselling, including challenges, training, and international comparisons
•       Bookshops and communities

Please send abstracts of no more than 350 words to Eben Muse (e.****@ba****.uk) and Samantha Rayner (s.******@uc*.uk ) by the end of the day, 29th April 2022. Please make clear if you would like to offer an in-person paper or a recorded presentation. (Note if recorded, you will need to be available for a live-streamed Q&A session during the conference).  Notification of acceptance and the provisional programme will be published in May 2022. 

The conference is expected to take place in person, with some online recorded and streamed presentations for those who are not able to travel to the UK.  It is of course possible that we may need to switch to all online presentations if public health guidelines change over the summer. If you have specific accessibility needs, please note this with your submission.

Registration for the conference if attending in person will be £65 (£45 for unwaged / student participants), for both days, including catering during scheduled sessions. Remote attendance via Zoom will be £10 per day (£5 for unwaged / student participants).

Details on registration, travel, off-campus accommodation, restaurants, and sites will be forthcoming shortly.

If you have any questions, please contact us on the emails listed above.

By Eben J Muse

Dr Eben J. Muse is a Reader in Bookselling at the School of Arts, Culture(s) and Language at Bangor University. He has been Co-Director of Stephen Colclough Centre for the History and Culture of the Book since 2016. He was raised in a bookstore in Massachusetts which he now owns, and he conducts research into the business and culture of bookstores. He is currently editing the Books & Bookselling strand of the Cambridge Elements Series Publishing and Book Culture and co-director of the Bookselling Research Network.