Stars and Stripes, the newspaper of the US Army, highlights a plethora of small towns around Europe and Asia who, by dint of operating many bookstores and selling many, many thousands of books per square miles, are known as “booktowns.” There’s Hay-on-Wye, the oldest and most famous, but booktowns can be found in Redu, Belgium;
Bredevoort, Netherlands; and Kampung Buku Langkawi, Malaysia. A booktown is customarily a small town with a disproportionate number of shops selling secondhand or antiquarian books. Often there are retail activities that complement the core industry. Some are related, such as printing or book binding, while others, like restaurants and hotels, are not. And typically, the town regularly hosts book fairs for novices and collectors alike.
“For a booktown to be successful, you have to offer something else on the side,” said Miep van Duin, board secretary of the International Organization of Booktowns, referring to complementary businesses. “In Redu, we have found a good compromise.” They also know how to have some fun: Held in early August, Redu’s “Night of the Book” festival is a time when shops stay open late, streets are packed and fireworks fill the midnight sky. “It’s very pleasant and fun,” Philippe Evrard, a bookshop owner in Redu, said in his best English. “There is music in the streets. Books are not only serious.”