OUTLINE INSIGHT
THE
BOOK HIVE
The Book Hive recognised as one of the gems in the Norwich Crown, so we went along to meet Henry to find out more...
I’ve read that you have a background in drama, and of course in publishing, what was your journey towards founding The Book Hive? I was working in theatre still, in London, and I went to work in the bookshop in the National Theatre, just as a job in between acting and writing, but then I fell in love with it. I did however know that I wanted to move back to Norfolk, and when I moved back here I wondered whether there were proper independent bookshops open in Norwich, and there weren’t, and that was what made me decide. What do you think the importance of independent businesses, and particularly bookshops, are to the community? It’s kind of the other way around, in a way. The shop wouldn’t be able to exist without the support of the community, who choose to come to The Book Hive, which is a very different experience to visiting a non-independent bookshop. Right from day one we have really tried to get involved in the community. Do you think being an independent bookshop fosters a certain ideology, perhaps of freedom of thought? I don’t think it fosters it, but I think it’s at home here. The collection of everything that is in here is not driven by the market, but by personal choice,
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OUTLINEONLINE.CO.UK
it reflects a lot of the city. It’s not about selling bestsellers, and so that kind of ideology does exist in a place like this. Do you think that’s reflected in your publishing imprint Propolis’ books? Your website alludes to the ‘under- represented’ and ‘subversive’. Yes, I do. Right from the beginning when I started with Galley Beggar Press, which I co-founded, that was driven by the fact that I think, in the bigger world of publishing, too much emphasis is put on simply ‘how can we make money?’. Brilliant quality books, and amazing writers, are being ignored, because they don’t look like big money makers. It’s not necessarily that we’re championing writers like that because we’re trying to be subversive, it’s just that I think these people should have their voices heard. Clearly a lot of work and love goes into choosing the books here, how would you say that the way in which they are arranged impacts the experience of visiting the shop? The idea was that it would be a bit like going to someone’s house, where there were lots of things that you liked, but you can actually take them home. We also wanted to make it more accessible, which is why we have the books facing outwards. It feels less like a warehouse full of things, and more like a giant display case, in a way.
Both The Book Hive and Propolis have names that allude to bees, is there a reason for that? I was opening the shop, and asked a friend to come up with some suggestions. He wrote down a few, one of which was The Book Hive, just because the building itself has the shape of a hive, and I liked the connotations. Propolis is then related to that, but I also like the idea of what it means, it means ‘for the city’, and ‘for the people’, it’s the stuff that bees make to seal up the gaps in the hive, so it’s very much doing something for the good of the community. What’s the future for both The Book Hive and Propolis? Coming up at the end of October we’re publishing our next book, The Ballad of Syd and Morgan (Haydn Middleton), and it’s a beautiful book about an imaginary meeting between Syd Barrett and E. M. Forster that explores life and art. As for the shop, there are lots of good events coming up in the next few weeks, and now we’re already beginning to talk about how we’re going to celebrate 10 years.
Meg Harris
We could only get a taste of the interview in print to read the full version go to
Oultineonline.co.uk
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