Profile Books

The internationally-bestselling Wigtown author introduces us to the latest instalment about his life as one of the booksellers in Scotland's National Book Town. In twenty years behind the till in The Bookshop, Wigtown, Shaun Bythell has met pretty much every kind of customer there is - from the charming, erudite and deep-pocketed to the eccentric, flatulent and possibly larcenous. In Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops he distils the essence of his experience into a warm, witty and quirky taxonomy of the book-loving public. So, step inside to meet the crafty Antiquarian, the shy and retiring Erotica Browser and gormless yet strangely likeable shop assistant Student Hugo - along with much-loved bookseller favourites like the passionate Sci-Fi Fan, the voracious Railway Collector and the ever-elusive Perfect Customer. "All the ingredients for a gentle human comedy are here, as soothing as a bag of boiled sweets and just as tempting to dip into" - Literary Review. About the author: Shaun Bythell has been running The Bookshop in Wigtown since 2001. His previous two books, The Diary of a Bookseller and Confessions of a Bookseller, are both international bestsellers and have been translated into over twenty languages, including Russian, Korean, and French. Shaun will be in conversation with Lee Randall.

Shaun Bythell is a second-hand bookseller in Wigtown, and is the author of two books about book-selling. His third will be published in November. It is guaranteed to offend almost everyone who has ever crossed the threshold of a book shop. This session is presented in celebration of the life of Simon Heald, owner of Slightly Foxed Books and Patron of this Festival.