Woodbine is part of a global book crawl initiative

A tourism initiative by independent bookshops to be launched next month will offer book lovers around the world a fun way of finding local bookshops while on their holidays, writes Brian Byrne. The Global Book Crawl will involve 'passports' provided free by indie outlets like our own Dawn Behan's Woodbine Books which can be stamped at similar shops while visiting them. The scheme also encourages passport holders to attend cultural events organised by the shops.

"It's almost like a 'camino' passport," Dawn told the Diary about the idea, to which bookshops in several European countries as well as north and south America, Africa, Asia and Australia have already signed up. "It's also similar to the Lego Passport. We already have 21 independent bookshops in Ireland in the scheme."

The programme launches during the week of 21-27 April and is being coordinated by booksellers Federico Lang in Málaga, Spain; Brid Conroy of Tertulia bookshop in Westport, Ireland; and Jessica Stockton-Bagnulo of Greenlight Books in Brooklyn, USA. There's a website, globalbookcrawl.org, and an Instagram account on which participating bookstores are being added to all the time. 

The theme is Let's Discover the World, one Bookshop at a Time. "Most people who like books visit bookshops when they're on holidays anyway," says Dawn Behan, "but this idea will help them find the stores and feel part of a global community."

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