Ilkley Book Fair

Friday was a fun day at the Ilkley Book Fair. A couple of years ago, friends in the PBFA (Provincial Booksellers' Fairs Association) kindly invited me to have a stand at the bi-annual crime and detection book fair at Harrogate. I had a lovely time and they invited me back this year, but I was already committed elsewhere. So as an alternative Louise Harrison of TP Books generously offered me the chance to take part in Ilkley Book Fair, which I enjoyed visiting on a quite memorable day more than a decade ago.

I was also given the chance to pop into the Grove Bookshop in Ilkley - a very good shop where I once did an event to celebrate the reissue by the British Library of two of Gil North's Sergeant Cluff novels - to sign copies of Hemlock Bay. Then it was back to the fair and organising my stand. Ilkley is a generalist book fair, unlike Harrogate, so I didn't know what to expect.

As it turned out, I had the chance to talk to a lot of nice people, including old friends such as the Sherlockians John Hall and Paul Charles, and several of the excellent booksellers, notably Phil Woolley of Black Cat (who had some impressive inscribed books by Stephen Maddock, an author of thrillers whose work I'm not familiar with), Stephen Conway, Rob and Catherine Hawley, and Jeremiah Vokes. Not to forget Louise, who went to great lengths to make sure all went well.

I really enjoyed seeing a book fair from an insider's perspective. It is indeed a different experience and watching potential buyers is psychologically fascinating. The time flew by to such an extent that I didn't have much chance to look at other stalls. The setting, in the King's Hall/Winter Gardens, was pleasant and rather atmospheric. I did well in terms of selling books, which was nice (and there was, slightly to my surprise, no pattern at all to which titles were purchased) but more than that, it was good to be part of a world that has long intrigued me. Even if only for five and a half hours.