Essays, stories and poems on the interior lives of bookstores.

Nick Thran’s volume of essays, stories and poems is a quietly powerful meditation on a life of reading, writing and bookselling. Thran, who returned to bookselling when he moved with his family to Fredericton, NB, captures the rare magic of reading communities. Here, the bookstore itself sits in the middle of an expanding root system, connecting lives, nurturing interests and stoking passions. It is a place for both private daydreaming and the small talk that staves off loneliness. And it is the fertile ground on which so many authors—including Thran—find the courage to write.

Nick Thran is the author of one previous collection of poetry, Every Inadequate Name (Insomniac Press, 2006). His poems have appeared in numerous publications across Canada, including: Arc, The Best Canadian Poetry 2010, Geist, Maisonneuve, Matrix, The National Post and The Walrus. Since growing up in western Canada, southern Spain and southern California, Nick has spent the last few years living in Toronto, Ontario and Brooklyn, New York.

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“Every reader will find their own preferred corner, and sections that unexpectedly delight. Like the best of bookstores, If It Gets Quiet Later On, I Will Make a Display, creates its own world, a pocket universe, larger on the inside, and bursting with life.”

Robert J. Wiersema, <i>Quill and Quire</i>

“Thran slides between modes with a skilled, humble curiosity that whets and unfurls anything he turns his attention to. It’s a rare and lucky moment when poets like him give us prose like this.”

Paige Cooper, author of <i>Zolitude</i>