To celebrate Independent Bookshop Week (Saturday 15 – Saturday 22 June), we are teaming up with indie bookseller and community hub Script Haven, in Worcester, UK. We interviewed Script Haven’s founder, poet and spoken word artist Leena Batchelor to launch our partnership.
Norvik Press: What would be the first line of the story of Script Haven?
Leena Batchelor: A dream manifested into reality, against the odds.
NP: How did bookselling begin for you?
LB: As a self-published author, I usually take my own books to events to sell. I was disappointed to discover mainstream bookshops wouldn’t stock them, especially when I won a publishing contract with a local publisher as part of winning the Worcestershire Poet Laureate competition in 2020. Gradually, I became aware of other indie authors and publishers who had the same experience, and decided I wanted to try and correct the situation.
NP: Which books are your favourites to hand-sell?
LB: Always those by indie authors and indie publishers, especially the more esoteric titles.
NP: Do you host or belong to any reading groups?
LB: We do! We have a monthly book group called Worcester Worms run by one of our very successful crime authors, Carla Kovach.
NP: Where do you usually discover or learn about new books to add to stock?
LB: From a variety of sources. Often, authors and publishers reach out to us, and the Booksellers Association is a great resource (and support!).
NP: How does the local community make use of Script Haven?
LB: Wow – where do I start! We host a huge variety of community events to support local causes, and provide a safe haven for those who simply want somewhere to come and relax. To date, we have facilitated sign language sessions, LGBTQ+ talks, open mic poetry events to raise awareness of issues such as Multiple sclerosis (MS), homelessness, Amnesty’s work, mental health, the list is growing! We’re all about ensuring the local community can easily engage with creativity in all its forms in a safe and welcoming environment.
NP: Script Haven is also an events space. Tell us about what’s coming up/what you’re looking forward to 🙂
LB: We host 3–5 events a week, so our diary is crammed! We’re excited for our first CreARTivity Festival during the May half-term, a week full of family-friendly events and evening performances, each day having a different theme. We’ve got numerous book launches booked in (pun intended!), including TM Logan (The Holiday, The Catch) and Melita Thomas (1000 Tudor People). We’re also holding an event to celebrate Lughnasadh with a meal and stories.
We’re all about ensuring the local community can easily engage with creativity in all its forms in a safe and welcoming environment.
LEENA BATCHELOR
NP: Script Haven is dog-friendly – tell us about the dogs who come in!
LB: They are fluffy, snuggly, and great characters! They adore the treats we provide too. Our furry friends add so much life to our days, and we have quite a few regulars, too. I know I’m biased, but my favourite is my youngest daughter’s Irish Doodle, who is the size of a small pony already at 7 months old, but such a gentle cuddly teddy-bear!
NP: What shows up on your TikTok ‘For You Page’? We’re intrigued by the cellar you featured on your account recently – the perfect spooky addition to any bookshop…!
LB: Cute animals and book- and coffee-adverts! The cellar was an unexpected find during renovation works. Turns out our building dates back to the 16th century, and was at one stage a hotel, with the cellar being used to store barrels; the original barrel chute is still there. It’s a perfect spooky theme for us as we also host 42Worcester, the UK’s only alternative-genre spoken word event (think gothic horror, fantasy, sci-fi). I also write and perform at the event monthly.
NP: What was the last meme or post that made you laugh?
LB: It would either be a video of my cat, Mozart, giving my Social Media Manager head-boops when she was looking after him; or a meme she sent me, with a pigeon and the caption ‘send this to someone so that they have to open their phone and see this pigeon bopping his head uncontrollably’ – of course I had to open it!
NP: Do you read any zines/literary magazines?
LB: I try to fit them in when I can, and we stock The Palimpsest edited by Chloe Hanks. I love reading novels as an escape, and am currently enjoying The Innocents by Bridget Walsh, a Victorian-noir mystery.
NP: You have Finnish heritage. Have you ever visited Nurmes, or would you like to visit one day?
LB: Sadly I haven’t yet, but absolutely. I’d love to meet up with my aunt and her children, who I haven’t seen for over 30 years.
NP: Would you like to share a snippet of your poetry with us?
LB: Sure. This is a poem I wrote recently about what words and writing mean to me:
Illuminated letters
As scribes of old with desire of coloured ink upon parchment wrote,
You illume my life.
As whirlpools swirl the waters and seas,
I find my heart wrapped in yours.
As the moon calls to the tide,
The sun to life, and winds to breath,
So you encompass treasures in my life.
NP: Thank you, Leena!
Stay tuned for our ‘twinning’ with Script Haven this summer.
Script Haven opened in August 2023 and is Worcester’s only independent bookshop. It predominantly supports indie authors and publishers, and in January was voted by The Times readers as the 3rd Best Indie Bookshop in the UK.
Support Script Haven by ordering from their Bookshop.org shop here.
A reading and panel discussion with author Dorrit Willumsen and translator Marina Allemano