Interview with Jen Campbell (Sunday Times Best Selling Author , Award Winning Poet and Creative…
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Interview with Jen Campbell (Sunday Times Best Selling Author , Award Winning Poet and Creative…
About the Author
About the Author
Jen Campbell and bookstores are a notable and much cherished combination. She is the writer of two volumes of the comical and hilarious ‘Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops’, in light of her experience as a book seller, in which she wrote interesting anecdotes gathered during her years as a bookseller, and ‘The Bookshop Book’, in which she searched out 200 unusually brilliant and independent bookstores across six continents.
She is an alum of the renowned Edinburgh University where she contemplated/studied English. She has a huge following on her YouTube channel (more than 55,000 subscribers) and is currently one of the most beloved and persuasive/influential book vloggers in the UK.
Her first short story assortment ‘The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night’ is published by Two Roads and her first children’s book ‘Franklin’s Flying Bookshop’ is published by Thames & Hudson. Her poetry anthology ‘The Hungry Ghost Festival’ is published by The Rialto.
CHILDREN'S BOOKS
Shortlisted for the IBW Book Award 2019 Franklin the dragon loves stories and loves reading stories to people, too, but…www.jen-campbell.co.uk
THE HUNGRY GHOST FESTIVAL
You pick my arms up and spread them outso we are matching. Our woollen scarvestouch our noses - catch our breath like…www.jen-campbell.co.uk
She won an Eric Gregory Award in 2016.
Eric Gregory Award
The Eric Gregory Award is a literary award given annually by the Society of Authors for a collection by British poets…en.wikipedia.org
Jen is particularly interested in disfigurement , representation, and giving voice to those who often aren’t heard. Her book : The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night explores this; in her story ‘bright white hearts’ the main character has ectrodactyly, a split-hand malformation (which is something Jen has) and considers the historical backdrop of the oddity show; the storyteller in ‘little deaths’ is in a wheelchair; and many of the stories have LGBTQ+ characters. Every story in this assortment is special and told with an enormous amount of creativity and infinite imagination.
Excerpts from the interview:-
Q1) When did you fall in love with books? Did you grew up in a bibliophile centric home?
Jen : I was born with a condition called Ectrodactyly Ectodermal Dysplasia Clefting syndrome, which meant I spent a lot of my childhood in hospital; doctors had to essentially craft hands for me through multiple surgeries, and books were a great way to escape all that. I’d spend every Saturday at the library, and would pick up book and audio cassette bundles — reading the books when I could, and listening to the audio afterwards.
Q2) What was the best thing about writing these books “The Bookshop Book” and “Weird Things Customers say in Bookshop”?
WEIRD THINGS CUSTOMERS SAY IN BOOKSHOPS
Sunday Times Bestseller. Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist. "Can books conduct electricity?" Weird Things Customers Say…www.jen-campbell.co.uk
More Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops [2]
"I don't like biographies. The main character pretty much always dies in the end. It's so predictable!" Weird Things…www.jen-campbell.co.uk
THE BOOKSHOP BOOK
We're not just talking about rooms full of books. We're talking about bookshops in barns, disused factories, converted…www.jen-campbell.co.uk
Jen : Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops was essentially a book that happened by (happy) accident. I was already publishing short stories and poetry, but a blog post talking about my life as a bookseller went viral. It appeared booksellers all over the world could identify, which was heartening! My favourite thing about bookselling itself was the wonderful things children would say — once a young girl asked if she could get to Narnia through one of the bookcases, and I had to say I was sorry but no. She nodded, looking wise beyond her years, and said “That’s ok. Our wardrobe at home doesn’t work for getting to Narnia, either. Dad says it’s because Mum bought it at IKEA.” I love the idea of Swedes deliberately making non-magical furniture, ha. The best thing about writing The Bookshop Book was researching amazing travelling bookshops around the world: bookshops on camels, donkeys, boats, buses. And bookshop towns like Fjaerland in Norway, situated on top of a glacier.
Q3) When working on a new book, what’s the first thing you do? How do you keep things fresh, for both your readers and also yourself?
Jen : That really depends — I write nonfiction, children’s books, poetry, short stories… all of these things are different. I suppose the jumping between genres/subjects is what keep things fresh!
Q4) As a picture book author, you have a lot of freedom to create unconventional and wonderful characters. What inspires you when you’re thinking up new characters? How do you ensure that your characters will resonate with young readers?
Jen : Part of my job is teaching poetry to children in schools, so I pay close attention to the things that they enjoy, that make them giggle. It was the same when I worked as a children’s bookseller, too. Franklin’s Flying Bookshop is about a dragon who loves books and wants to share them with as many people as he possibly can, only the local villagers are scared of him. With the help of his new friend Luna, they build a travelling bookshop (as I mentioned, one of my favourite things!) on Franklin’s back, and fly to the village to share their love of books. So, yes, this book is about a dragon, but it’s also about acceptance and friendship and learning empathy through reading. On not judging people based on the way they look. As someone with a disability, those messages are important to me — and to so many others out there.
Q5) How did the transition from bookseller to Youtuber come about? Did you see bookselling as a route to vlogging, or was it a hobby that developed into a unique idea?
Jen : No, vlogging was not a thing then I started bookselling thirteen years ago. After a few years of working in a new bookshop, I started working in an antiquarian bookshop (selling old books) and I missed talking about new releases. Booktube was something I wanted to try as a hobby. I didn’t expect it to grow as much as it did. I’ve been making videos about books for six years now, with 55,000 subscribers, and it has become part of my job, alongside lots of other freelance work.
Q6) You worked for some years in one of London’s independent bookstores, Ripping Yarns, before settling on a career as an author and vlogger at Youtube. We go on hearing talks about the ‘demise of the bookshop’, and yet the best of them continue to make our soul happy and surprise us by staying in the business. Are you positive that will always be the case, especially now that we are going through this pandemic?
Ripping Yarns
Formally of 355 Archway Road - 0207 485 8219 - [email protected] We are a secondhand bookshop in North London, formerly…www.rippingyarns.co.uk
Jen : Bookselling has always been tough for one reason or another and I think people are really realising the value of local shops and businesses right now but it’s a complex issue — I wrote a whole book about it, called The Bookshop Book, if anyone would like to read more.
Q7) Any memorable incidents from that period. And what inspired you to write Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores.
Jen : I think I’d had a particularly strange day where a customer vomited on my shoes. But in funnier times, once a young girl lost her hamster in the bookshop and we had to spend half an hour trying to find it, constantly worrying we were going to accidentally stand on it. That was a hilarious, ridiculous time.
Q8) I have seen one of your vlogs about Shakespeare & Company, Paris. It is my dream to visit that particular bookstore because of its rich history. How was your experience when you first saw that writer’s haunt? Did you met Sylvia Whitman or any of the tumbleweeds who work at the bookstore?
Shakespeare & Company, Paris : An Interview with Sylvia Whitman
I had a wonderful & insightful conversation and Q&A session with Sylvia about Bookselling Business Ecosystem.medium.com
Jen : Yes, I’ve met Sylvia a few times. She’s fabulous. It was wonderful to sleep in the bookshop, and to do an event there. It’s one of those places you can’t help but get emotional about — the flat above the bookshop where authors sleep looks out over Notre Dame, all lit up at night. I hope it survives forever.
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Bookstore: Monday to Thursday, & Sunday, 2:30pm to 7:30pmFriday & Saturday, 12pm to 8pm Café: Every day, 10:30am to 8pm…shakespeareandcompany.com
Q9) Being surrounded by books every day must give you plenty of opportunity to discover new authors. Who are your all-time favourites?
I have a lot of love for Ali Smith, Michel Faber, Jeanette Winterson. Some of my favourite books this year are Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo, In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado, and The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld.
Q10) In “The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night” you had juxtaposed pretty fascinating dark content and themes. It is full of Gothic delights and dramatic tension. The imaginative exuberance of these stories makes it such an enjoyable and stunningly fascinating book. What was your source of inspiration while you were writing this book? How did you came up with the plots and characters?
THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT
Spirits in jam jars, mini-apocalypses, animal hearts and side shows.A girl runs a coffin hotel on a remote island.A boy…www.jen-campbell.co.uk
The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night
Full disclosure: Jen Campbell is a friend of mine and the publisher sent me a free copy of this book. However, all…www.goodreads.com
Jen : Thank you. I’m very interested in the history of fairy tales; on the ones society chooses to enter into the collective conscious, and on the way that storytelling depicts bodies, disfigurement and queerness. So, a lot of these stories explore those themes. The title story is in script format, because it’s about two characters talking in the dark in the middle of the night, so I only wanted their voices to be visible, to reflect the subject. The last story in the collection, Bright White Hearts, is an extension of a poem called Merlasses I wrote a few years before. Sometimes narratives spring out of past writings, and I find that really interesting. Topics demanding to be explored in more detail.
Q11) Are you working on anything at the present you would like to share with your readers about? Tell our readers here about your creative writing workshops.
Jen : I’m working on several new books at the moment, though I’m afraid I can’t talk about any of them yet. My most recent published piece is called Miss Juniper’s Academy for Wild Girls, which you can find in the anthology Outsiders, published by 3ofCupsPress. Outside of writing, another aspect of my job is running online writing workshops and editorial services.
WRITING WORKSHOPS
Hi, I'm Jen Campbell; I'm a bestselling author, award-winning poet and short story writer. I've run writing workshops…www.jen-campbell.co.uk
EDITORIAL SERVICES
I offer editorial feedback on novels, children's picture books, short stories and poetry. If you are in need of writing…www.jen-campbell.co.uk
It’s a pleasure to help other people hone their craft and learn new writing techniques. You can find out more about those on my website www.jen-campbell.co.uk
Q12) What’s the best advice you’ve ever received about writing (or your writing specifically)?
Jen : “Read like a butterfly, write like a bee” — Philip Pullman
“Finish things.” — Neil Gaiman
Q13) A great deal of budding writers share their contemplations about writing through their websites or blogs. What guidance would you give somebody simply beginning in the blog space? One thing that is especially striking about your journey is that you have a great online presence, something that a few creators aspire to have. You have built a decent literature network and community on the web, yet does having such a functioning YouTube account help or act as a bump on your writing, and would you encourage aspiring writers to keep away from web based life?
Jen Campbell
Hello, my name's Jen. I'm an award-winning poet and short story writer. My debut short story collection 'The Beginning…www.youtube.com
Jen : It’s true that having a Youtube channel has helped me reach readers I perhaps otherwise wouldn’t, but I started it as a branching off point from bookselling, not from writing. When I make videos, it’s about other people’s books; about my thoughts on disfigurement and disability; I have a series on the history of fairy tales; and I also take viewers behind the scenes of the book industry. So, I would always encourage people to set up a Booktube channel if they would like to talk about books that they adore — because it’s fun — and I’d especially recommend it if they can make videos on specific topics that perhaps other people don’t. It’s important to find your niche. But I wouldn’t recommend starting a channel to promote your own work; that’s not really how the internet works — and it’s not how it should work, either. Make sure you’re creating content for the right reason. Anything else that comes out of that is a bonus.
Thank you all for reading and a big thanks to Jen Campbell for collaborating in today’s post!
It’s a pleasure!
If any of my readers here , enjoyed this content and wishes to support her work they can consider supporting her on Patreon.
Also , do open the links mentioned below. It has all the essential details about her online store, portfolio , podcast and event details.
Website : http://www.jen-campbell.co.uk/
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/jenvcampbell/
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/Jen-Campbell-100868973691/
Twitter : https://twitter.com/jenvcampbell
