The Aardvark Blog

Back from travels and about to go on holiday!
5/11/2022

The male Aardvark has had a fairly peripatetic few weeks including a flying trip to the Frankfurt Bookfair, a visit to the Booksellers Association Conference, and various trips round the country picking up and buying in books. The end result of which is - as the saying goes - when the going gets tough, the tough go on holiday - which we will be for a few days next week. Worry not as the rest of the Aardvark team will be keeping things going in our abscence.

It was great to be in Frankfurt after a few years absence due to the plague etc, and I found the fair much as I left it. A slightly smaller haul of books this year due to the continuing issues with getting goods across the border ( don't get me started ), but I was absolutely delighted with what I found there. Some fantastic new art and childrens titles and the odd more unusual item.

Back in the UK the next weekend found the Aardvarks at the Booksellers Association conference for which the guest speaker this year was none other than Graham Norton. As amusing and self-deprecating as one would expect. Met lots of fantastic and friendly booksellers - can't wait to visit La  Biblioteka Sheffield and Red Lion Books in Colchester. Heard about lots of fantastic new titles and ate a lot of surprisingly tasty free food ( nothing tastes as good as a free lunch). However if any-one out there fancies taking a walk a) in the footsteps of a famous or not famous person, or b) to find plants, birds, animals, hats, talking goldfish etc, please don't write a book about it as over the last year some-one else will have already done so. Also how many times can one hear the words 'lockdown novel' without starting to gently die inside.

Back from the bright lights of the BA conference held at the fabulous Hinckley Island ( oh so romantic than it sounds and in the shade of one of Amazon's largest distribution warehouses), the Aardvarks set off intrepidly in a van to buy even more fabulous art books. Yes I know we have nowhere to put them but then when did anything in bookselling make sense.

And so after two days off to enjoy a good old fashioned streaming head cold I am back in the shop today and have even managed to make a small dent in the massive book processing pile. With a few days left until we leave I hope to leave some spectacular piles of books to file before we depart.

Don't forget to put the 4th of  December the date of our brilliant Xmas event in the diary, and I hope to see you on our return from the reviving Norfolk coastline.