Village Squire, 1974-06, Page 44bookseller. Because unless the books are
available and are seen to -be available right
across Canada and not only in the major cities
then people are not going to know, and
become aware of and read Canadian writers.
"I am quite shocked to learn, for example,
how little most high school kids know about
Canadian writers and that's because their
teachers don't know about Canadians writers
either. Very few teachers come into a book
shop from my experience. Hense, very few
students do. Books are not part of people's
lives a great deal in Canada and the United
States.
"I found that when I was in England any
working class home had a bookshelf or
book case. You can go into many well-to-do
homes in Canada and the U.S. and never see
a book at all. Books are not an essential thing.
People who would hate to do without
Kentucky fried chicken for a week can go for a
whole year without buying a book. I'd like to
see bookshops as well supported and as well
franchised as Kentucky fried. I'd like to see
them available in the same universal way.
"That's a job to which I'm dedicated:
getting more books to more people. That's
why I'm here, because Stratford is a place
where there is great exposure to books
because people come to Stratford from all
over the country and the United States.
Therefore it's a gathering place for people
who are very literate generally, people who
are book oriented, people who are on holiday
with leisure time...this is why the book
publishers set up an exhibit here and that's
why I saw it as a good place to promote
books."
It would do your heart good, she says, to
see the people lining up at the cash register in
the summer with arms full of books "and they
are not the kind of people asking 'does it
come in paperback"', she says. The Festival
visitors know the value of books and are
willing to pay for hard cover books. Mrs.
Stafford admits a preference for hardcover
books because of the better quality of paper,
the larger type and just the feel of the book,
though she does carry a Targe number of
quality paperbacks in her shop. All her
paperbacks are personally chosen, not as in
supermarkets and drug stores where
wholesale companies select the books to be
sold and the owners have no control.
"This is why people who come here in the
summer are surprised at the diversity,
because we have more diversity than most
book shops. We don't handle just the best
sellers, we don't handle just the staple
items. We handle...well the books I consider
important, I suppose. I suppose I tend to
reflect my own interests. Because I'm not a
businesswoman I tend to reflect my interests
One of the lost joys about running a bookshop, Mrs. Stafford says, is that she setaom gets a cnance anymure
to read books herself. Here she looks over one of the books from her book rack that asks readers to "Stamp
lout mental malnutrition".
6, VILLAGE SQUIRE/JUNE 1974