Lori Wightman from River Bookshop is our latest interviewee for our 5 questions with blog series. Located in Amherstburg, Ontario, River Bookshop is an independent bookshop with deep roots in its community but open to the world.
1. Which author would you most like to have for an event in your store (living or dead)?
Oh, this is a hard one right off the hop but I think I'd have to go with Stephen King — a master storyteller, Twitter genius — and if we're lucky he'll bring family members!
Lori Wightman from River Bookshop
2. What attracted you to bookselling?
Books have been a huge part of my life since I was very little. I can remember interrupting my parent's dinner parties to show guests the library books I had borrowed that day. I can still hear my third grade teacher's voice as she read us Charlotte's Web one hot June. I worked in our local public library for 16 years before Richard and Colleen tapped me to run the River Bookshop. I just love books so bookselling is a natural progression.
3. What's your favourite bookselling war story?
Well, I don't know that we've been around long enough to have a true war story but I have had a couple of mini-nightmares — discovering that a request for a customer that needed to go out by a certain date was mistakenly never ordered — thank goodness for great sales reps from publishers who went above and beyond to help us fulfill the customer's wishes on time (and gift-wrapped)!
Photo by Michael van Leur
4. What is the most pressing issue facing bookselling today?
I think it's just getting those sales, getting creative in the way you can bring your product to people or people to your product. COVID has made us all pivot and adapt in ways we can't even see until we're doing it.
5. What forthcoming book are you most excited about?
For me, I think it's Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone by Diana Gabaldon. It's the latest instalment in her Outlander series and I'm dying to know what's been happening with Jamie and Claire.
BONUS: An aunt comes in looking for a gift for her niece, who likes embroidery and Proust, just got a new job on a cruise line, and whose beloved schnauzer just passed away. What do you recommend?
I've been on a kick recently of recommending Richard Wagamese's Indian Horse. This book was so heartbreaking, so infuriating and yet so full of hope. Saul Indian Horse has hit rock bottom and as part of his recovery, he revisits the story of his life — his time in a residential school, his love of hockey, his lost potential, the trials of being an Indian in a White world.
I really think this should be required reading for Canadians. The characters are so well written, the information on residential schools is eye-opening, the passages about the hockey games Saul plays are portrayed in a way that you can picture Saul's freedom when he takes to the ice. It's the perfect blend of tragedy and hope.
Thanks Lori for taking the time to answer all of our questions.
Are you a Canadian independent bookseller or small publisher interested in being featured in our 5 questions with blog series? Send us an email!
Highlights from The State of Publishing in Canada 2023.