Book Towns: Forty-five Paradises of the Printed Word by Alex Johnson
Book of the week
Book Towns
Forty-five Paradises of the Printed Word
Author: Alex Johnson
Publisher: Frances Lincoln (UK)
Book towns are part of a growing global movement. In hamlets, villages and towns around the world, like-minded booksellers, calligraphers, bookbinders, curators, publishers and architects are coming together to create this new world. This is the first book bring all of these book towns together, offering a unique history of each one. A book town is simply a small town, usually rural and scenic, full of bookshops and book related industries.
The movement started with Richard Booth in Hay-on-Wye in Wales in 1960s. From the start, the driving force has been to encourage sustainable tourism and help regenerate communities faced with economic collapse and soaring unemployment. The results of the book town crusaders are have been impressive. They are attracting more visitors who then stay in the local hostels and guest houses, dine in the local eateries go shopping in the town shops and gradually rebuild the local economy.
Although they all operate independently, many are members of the International Organisation of Book Towns. The IOBT aims to raise interesting the book town ethos and runs a biennial festival in one of the member towns.
Inevitably not all book towns have stayed the course. But on the brighter side, new locations are in the pipeline. Indian authorise have recently begun what they hope will become a ‘book village’ network. This book documents two Indian examples namely Bhilar, Maharashtra and College Street, in Kolkata.
Simple and straightforward illustration on the cover represents the content well. Profusely printed photographs of the book towns from around the globe are spectacular. Alex has given picture credits to more than a hundred twenty photographers in the book! The paper used, the size of the book (21mm x 16mm), book design, the fonts used collectively makes the book tempting to any prospective bibliophile.
The author, Alex Johnson is a journalist and blogger. He has many interesting titles to his credit. A Book of Book Lists, Improbable libraries, Bookshelf, and Shedworking: The Alternative Workplace Revolution are to list a few. He lives in St Albans with his wife, three children, and plenty of books from all over the world.
At a time when libraries are an endangered species and independent bookshops struggle agains many odes, book towns are beacons of hope in the fight to keep the traditions book alive. Please visit them and buy a book or two.
(Adapted from the introduction)
Auswaf Ahsan
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Cong takes swipe at PM over India not being part of US-led 'Pax Silica' grouping
New Delh (PTI) The Congress on Saturday said it is perhaps not very surprising that India is not part of a US-led strategic initiative to build a secure silicon supply chain, given the "sharp downturn" in the Trump-Modi ties, and asserted that it would have been to "our advantage if we had been part of this group".
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the news of India not being part of the group comes after the PM had enthusiastically posted on social media about a telephone call with his "once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC".
In a lengthy post on X, Ramesh said, "According to some news reports, the US has excluded India from a nine-nation initiative it has launched to reduce Chinese control on high-tech supply chains. The agreement is called Pax Silica, clearly as a counter to Pax Sinica. The nations included (for the moment at least) are the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia."
"Given the sharp downturn in the Trump-Modi ties since May 10th, 2025, it is perhaps not very surprising that India has not been included. Undoubtedly, it would have been to our advantage if we had been part of this group."
"This news comes a day after the PM had enthusiastically posted on his telephone call with his once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC," the Congress leader asserted.
The new US-led strategic initiative, rooted in deep cooperation with trusted allies, has been launched to build a secure and innovation-driven silicon supply chain.
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The initiative includes Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia. With the exception of India, all other QUAD countries -- Japan, Australia and the US -- are part of the new initiative.
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Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump on Thursday discussed ways to sustain momentum in the bilateral economic partnership in a phone conversation amid signs of the two sides inching closer to firming up a much-awaited trade deal.
The phone call between the two leaders came on a day Indian and American negotiators concluded two-day talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement that is expected to provide relief to India from the Trump administration's whopping 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods.
In a social media post, Modi had described the conversation as "warm and engaging".
"We reviewed the progress in our bilateral relations and discussed regional and international developments. India and the US will continue to work together for global peace, stability and prosperity," Modi had said without making any reference to trade ties.
