Book town

A book town is a town or village with a large number of used book or antiquarian book stores. These stores, as well as literary festivals, attract bibliophile tourists. A number of the book towns are members of the International Organisation of Book Towns.

Bookshop in Hay-on-Wye

List of book towns

Book towns with known dates of operation

• Jinbōchō, Tokyo, Japan (early 1880s)
• Hay-on-Wye, Wales (1961)
• Redu, Belgium (1984)
• Bécherel, France (1988)
• Montolieu, France (1989)
• Bredevoort, Netherlands (1993)
• Stillwater, Minnesota, U.S. ^[1] (1993)
• Saint-Pierre-de-Clages, Switzerland (1993)
• Fontenoy-la-Joûte, France (1993)
• Mundal, Fjærland, Norway (1995)
• Wigtown, Scotland (1997)
• Zossen-Wünsdorf, Germany (1997)
• Damme, Belgium (1997)
• Dalmellington, Scotland (1997, though the last bookseller closed in 2005 and the project has folded)^[2]
• Sysmä, Finland (4 July 1997)
• Mühlbeck-Friedersdorf, Germany (1997)
• Kampung Buku Langkawi, Malaysia (3 December 1997)
• Archer City, Texas, U.S. (1999)
• Southern Highlands, Australia (2000)
• Mellösa, Sweden (17 February 2001) ^[3]
• Tvedestrand, Norway (2003)
• Sedbergh, England (2003)
• Blaenavon, Wales (28 June 2003,^[4] though the project had folded by March 2006)^[5]
• Brownville, Nebraska, U.S., (2004)^[6]
• Hobart, NY - Book Village of the Catskills (^[7]) (2005)
• Atherstone, Warwickshire (2005)
• Torup, Denmark (2006) ^[8]
• Kampung Buku Melaka, Malaysia ^[9] (17 April 2007)
• St. Martins, New Brunswick, Canada (2007)^[10]
• Urueña, Spain (2007) ^[11]
• Bellprat, Spain (2008) ^[12]
• Esquelbecq, France (2010) ^[13]
• Clunes, Victoria, Australia (2012)
• Montereggio Mulazzo, Italy
• Borrby, Sweden (2011)
• Óbidos, Portugal (2015)

Book Towns with unknown dates of operation

• Sidney, British Columbia
• Bosu-dong, Jung-gu, Busan, South Korea
• Gold Cities BookTown, Grass Valley, California

References

1. "Booktown.com". Booktown.com. Retrieved 2013-05-02.
2. Goodenough, Mike (11 April 2005). "Dalmellington Book Town - on the road to nowhere". TheBookGuide.
3. "The Book Town in Mellösa". 9 February 2012.
4. "Books open new chapter for Plywood City". The Guardian. 28 June 2003.
5. Goodenough, Mike (17 March 2006). "Blaenafon - The Booktown Experiment Fails". TheBookGuide.
6. (www.brownville-ne.com)
7. "For Those Who Love Books - Home". Hobartbookvillage.com. Retrieved 2013-05-02.
8. torupbogby.dk. Torup Bogby home page.
9. Book Village Malaysia
11. "Turismo Provincia de Valladolid". Diputaciondevalladolid.es. Retrieved 2013-05-02.
12. "Sisena edició, Bellprat Vila del Llibre 2013". Amicsdebellprat.cat. Retrieved 2013-05-02.
13. (www.esquelbook.com)

External links

• International Organisation of Book Towns