Thu 16 October 2014 at 6.00 pm

Will Bookshops Exist in 100 Years’ Time?

A panel discussion taking place at Blackwell's Bookshop in Broad Street, Oxford

19:00 - 20:00

Taking Place: Blackwell's, Broad Street, Oxford

The death of the book has been prophesised since the days of monks diligently making copies of books for a wider readership. In more recent times, the Internet, e-readers and supposedly shorter attention spans have all been cited as factors which predicate the certain demise of books and reading and therefore bookshops themselves. Join our fabulous and illustrious panelists as they discuss whether the book-lovers of 2114 will be able to walk into a bookshop (or indeed, whether there will even be book-lovers in a century's time).

The line-up of participants include: Jen Campbell, author and bookseller, whose new book, The Bookshop Book, looks at over two hundred wonderful bookshops across six continents; Mark Forsyth, the author of Horlogicon and Etymologicon, whose latest work, The Unknown, Unknown explores why it's only in a bookshop that you'll find something you never knew you wanted to read; Ulric van den Bogaerde, the Manager of the world-famous Norrington Room, the vast academic basement of Blackwell's Bookshop in Oxford which has served generations of students and scholars; Angus Phillips, Director, Oxford International Centre for Publishing Studies and the author of Turning the Page: The evolution of the book (Routledge, 2014); Juliet Mabey, co-founder and Director of Oneworld Books, Monty Kimball-Evans, Higher Education Sales Executive at Taylor and Francis & former Blackwell's bookseller; and Andy Miller, author of The Year of Reading Dangerously.