Matt Haig is embarking on a new kind of literary adventure.
The bestselling novelist is opening a bookstore and coffee shop in Brighton, England, The Bookseller reports.
Haig made his literary debut in 2004 with The Last Family in England, published in the U.S. in 2008 under the title The Labrador Pact. His 2014 memoir Reasons To Stay Alive, about his struggle with mental illness, became a bestseller, as did his 2020 novel, The Midnight Library. His most recent book, The Midnight Train, was published in May; a critic for Kirkus wrote of the novel, “A shaky balance between saccharine and sage will nevertheless appeal to the author’s fans and readers seeking balm.”
Haig told The Bookseller that The Golden Bookshop will be “an inclusive and welcoming space. For all humans and dogs. A place where people can sit and have a coffee and where there is no pressure to buy anything.”
On Instagram, Haig wrote, “My belief, as someone who grew up in a town without a bookshop, is that all communities should have a bookshop because bookshops save civilisation and make life interesting. This bookshop will be about freedom. We won’t be pushing things we don’t want to push. Just good books. Curated by me and people I trust.”
The Golden Bookshop, Haig says, is scheduled to open its doors in December.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
