The radical bookstore: counterspace for social movements

"The radical bookstore: counterspace for social movements." Social & Cultural Geography, 23(8), pp. 1193–1194

Notes

1. I write this in London on the day that it has been announced that New Beacon Books is to close. Founded in 1966, it is the single remaining Black bookshop from the wave of radical specialist bookshops that appeared alongside grassroots movements in the UK throughout the 1960s. One might argue that New Beacon’s goal, of providing access to political and cultural works by Black authors exploring the Black experience has to an extent been achieved, with titles first stocked and published by New Beacon now being widely available in more mainstream shops. However, the public feeling of loss reveals the continuing need for counterspaces such as New Beacon, both as a space for community and as a living site of continuity between the struggles of the recent past and today.