Riddle me this: Literary magazine pops up with an indie bookshop
Riddle Fence magazine is putting a spotlight on emerging writers this week, with a pop-up bookshop in downtown St. John's.
Author and Riddle Fence acting executive director Elisabeth de Mariaffi says the shop — located at 100 Duckworth St. and open until Saturday — is filling a gap in the area.
"One of the things that St. John's really doesn't have — and hasn't had for a long time — is a good independent bookstore downtown," said de Mariaffi. "We've got a couple of chains sort of on the outskirts or in the mall, but we really feel like this is missing from our downtown."
The shop will have a selection of books from different publishers, including Breakwater Books and Running the Goat. It will also cover a wide range of subjects like cookbooks, children's books, art books and fiction, she added.
"There's lots of books. But we also really wanted to make sure that emerging writers were having a place to sell their books and to have a presence," said de Mariaffi.
Poet Matthew Hallett, for instance, has a poetry collection out through independent publisher Brick Books, which doesn't have a distribution deal with bookstore chain Chapters so his book wouldn't be available locally without a store like this one, she explained.
It's very exciting for us to be able to stock books that otherwise aren't actually on the island. - Carmella Gray-Cosgrove
Carmella Gray-Cosgrove, a senior editor for the arts and culture journal and the imprint, said it can be challenging for emerging writers to get into bookstores in Newfoundland and Labrador.
"It's very exciting for us to be able to stock books that otherwise aren't actually on the island," said Gray-Cosgrove.
Gray-Cosgrove has had first-hand experience with how tricky it can be to get books into readers' hands.
"My publisher had a really hard time as a West Coast publisher out of Vancouver," she said. "[It] had no connections to bookstores in Newfoundland, and so I had a very hard time getting distribution in Newfoundland."
Busy week planned
Riddle Fence is known as a publication for emerging artists and writers — and recently announced it was getting into book publishing — so it made sense for Riddle Fence to pop up as a bookstore, said de Mariaffi.
"To me, it's just a really natural expansion of what we do already, right? We're bringing emerging writers and emerging artists more visibility," she said. "We're giving them a place for publication now. We're giving them a store to actually be part of a place to have events."
Moreover, everyone in the store will know what they have in stock and be able to make recommendations, something indie bookstores offer that readers don't always get with chain bookstores, she said.
"We've got something for everyone in the store."
In addition to the pop-up bookstore, Riddle Fence is hosting special events, including bringing in Toronto-based activist and journalist Desmond Cole to join the magazine on its Wednesday night launch party at Bannerman Brewing Co.
There are also several readings planned for its 100 Duckworth Street shop. On Tuesday night, Maggie Burton read from her new book of poetry, Chores, joined by Allison Graves, who has a collection of short stories coming out in a few months. On Saturday, Diana Daly will be at the store to read her children's book, A Wonderful Bigness.
