Left behind towns around the world are searching for new relevance. And in not unrelated news, the global footprint of the book towns is growing.
In truth, book towns have become a recent obsession of mine!
Clunes, a small historic town in central Victoria approximately 36 km north of Ballarat, is Australia’s only internationally recognized book town and one of only a few in the southern hemisphere. Although expect that to grow.
I can well understand your close connection to Barnsley, Eric, having lived here with your parents and experienced Barnsley as it was. Three years ago when I came to Barnsley, I was immediately struck by its history and what I had never known!
Learning Barnsley's past, as you rightly say, is vital for its future development. It is a town doing really well.
Thank you for the web site about book towns.
There is a lovely old fashioned book shop in Barnsley.
I'm sure there will be others, as yet undiscovered!
Looking forward to that, Eric. You wrote a paper about Barnsley in South Yorkshire, which as a recent resident, learning about Barnsley, its history and its regeneration, I found very relevant. There is a strong book and arts culture in Barnsley, along with its many areas of growth.
Thanks, Marny. My Dad studied for his master's when I was between the ages of 2 and 3 and as a family, we loved our time living in Birdwell, with Barnsley as our main town. It was in the 1960s, but Barnsley has always felt like part of my life. My Mum and I reminisced as I was writing the article. She remembers that time so fondly. It's great to see Barnsley on the up. We were known as a British Steel family, and I think we feel a close affinity with just how challenging life has been for people in former mining communities and the grit it takes to stay the course and come out the other side.
I'm not aware of an English National Book Town. It's Wigtown in Scotland and Hay on Wye in Wales. I'm not sure but there might be a gap in the market: https://internationalbooktowns.org/
Left behind towns around the world are searching for new relevance. And in not unrelated news, the global footprint of the book towns is growing.
In truth, book towns have become a recent obsession of mine!
Clunes, a small historic town in central Victoria approximately 36 km north of Ballarat, is Australia’s only internationally recognized book town and one of only a few in the southern hemisphere. Although expect that to grow.
I can well understand your close connection to Barnsley, Eric, having lived here with your parents and experienced Barnsley as it was. Three years ago when I came to Barnsley, I was immediately struck by its history and what I had never known!
Learning Barnsley's past, as you rightly say, is vital for its future development. It is a town doing really well.
Thank you for the web site about book towns.
There is a lovely old fashioned book shop in Barnsley.
I'm sure there will be others, as yet undiscovered!
Looking forward to that, Eric. You wrote a paper about Barnsley in South Yorkshire, which as a recent resident, learning about Barnsley, its history and its regeneration, I found very relevant. There is a strong book and arts culture in Barnsley, along with its many areas of growth.
Thanks, Marny. My Dad studied for his master's when I was between the ages of 2 and 3 and as a family, we loved our time living in Birdwell, with Barnsley as our main town. It was in the 1960s, but Barnsley has always felt like part of my life. My Mum and I reminisced as I was writing the article. She remembers that time so fondly. It's great to see Barnsley on the up. We were known as a British Steel family, and I think we feel a close affinity with just how challenging life has been for people in former mining communities and the grit it takes to stay the course and come out the other side.
I'm not aware of an English National Book Town. It's Wigtown in Scotland and Hay on Wye in Wales. I'm not sure but there might be a gap in the market: https://internationalbooktowns.org/
Very interesting indeed
Thanks, Marny. I’ve another book town article coming out in a couple of months looking at Featherston, New Zealand.