It wouldn’t be Ventnor Fringe Festival without The Book Bus, so we’re really pleased to see that the 1930’s Parisian Bus, filled with books and lots of pop-up events planned has returned to Ventnor.
Run by our good friends, Jen and Tom, the Book Bus will be situated at St Catherine’s Church from today (Tuesday) until the end of Saturday.
Open each day from 10am to 6pm for you to browse (and hopefully buy) their careful curated selection of books, check the Free Fringe schedule and you’ll find there are several great pop-up events planned too (see below).
What to expect
Make a visit to the Book Bus and you’ll see why it comes up time and time again in people’s lists of favourite spaces at the Fringe.
It might be something about how seats are left free for tired Fringers to curl up for a read between the stacks of books, or the eclectic, laid-back soundtrack, or how houseplants soften the edges and make you feel immediately at home.
Curating the collection
What you’ll find on The Book Bus is not a jumble of books, but a series of carefully curated collections. These guys take their role in choosing the books that they stock very seriously.
Jen explains,
“There’s a huge curatorial element to it all.
“We’re very picky – every book on the bus we’ve chosen. It’s not that it’s all classics, all high literature. It’s just that every book that we carry we think someone will get something valuable from. That’s the criteria.”
Shortlisting incredible books
“That’s it,” adds Tom,
“It’s the constant across this huge range of voices and genres we pull together. We’re not here to tell anyone what they’ll like, just to put all these incredible books in front of people and let them choose for themselves.
“That sort of shortlisting, that’s what makes a good second-hand bookshop so exciting. Bookshops fly or fall on the strength of how well curated their stock is.”
Pop-up events
From a session with Isle & Lies on Ukrainian Folk Tales, to hearing from Ron, a nuclear test veteran, who was sent to Christmas Island after enrolling in the Royal Engineers at the age of 18.
You can hear from an award-winning writer of intriguing contemporary fiction, as well as hear music from Sylvia Clare or make sense of Sandy Kealty and Graham Brown (The Unofficial Secrets Act) and Tony Hands (Honorary Keeper of Secrets).
Saturday brings with it a chance to hear from children’s author, Neal Layton, as well as writer Felicity Fair Thompson.
See the schedule for:
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Image: © Julian Winslow
