Let’s sit down and get to know our fantastic bookshop Owner, Freya, as she talks us through her background, what made her want to start her own bookshop, and her plans for the future.
Hi Freya, what brought you to Aberystwyth with the dream of setting up your own bookshop?
Freya: I have been a librarian and bookseller for over 10 years now! Running children’s libraries in Jerusalem and working in bookshops around the world! I was running a library in Jerusalem at the start of the pandemic when all international visas were stopped and I had to return to the UK!
Why Aberystwyth?
Freya: I wanted to return to the amazing Welsh coast town of Aberystwyth by the sea, for the sense of community and incredible nature that is here.
What were your main goals of setting up The Bookshop By The Sea?
Freya: I found that the community over the pandemic suffered greatly and so I wanted to get back in the way that I know how – as a librarian! Libary’s were still shut so I started a pop-up bookshop, doing art workshops, live music and children’s story-times, focused on bringing people back together. I believe passionately in telling each other stories to connect to one another and the power and connection that that creates.
What is so important about storytelling?
Freya: Stories communicate to one another who we are and what we believe in, they can inspire us, challenge us, and they’ve taken me from the tiny town I grew up in in the north of England, around the world, and now back to Wales.
How surreal has this whole process been?
Freya: I feel like I’m living the dream most days living in a tiny town by the sea and running a bookshop – isn’t that everyone’s dream?! Oh, and we do chocolate brownies.”
