Authors Electric

'King of Hay' memorial Royalty is very much on my mind lately, with this post publishing just two days after the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. We now have a new monarch, King Charles III. But this post is not about him. I'd like to introduce you to a slightly lesser-known monarch... meet Richard Booth (1938-2019), bookseller extraordinaire and self-proclaimed King of Hay! If you've ever visited Hay-on-Wye on the border between England and Wales, you'll already know its fame as a "town of books". It seems every historic street contains a bookshop of some description, many of them selling second-hand volumes that will keep your average book lover (me!) happy for hours browsing the shelves for rare copies of magazines and bargain paperbacks of every conceivable genre. The Hay Literary Festival has become big business, celebrity authors rubbing shoulders with debut novelists as they give talks and interviews to packed marquees on the Festival site. I ca...