Heya I’m Jay
My life has revolved around books, I’ve been a bookseller for 18 years and helped to create and establish The Folkestone Bookshop. Life happens in and around books, I love reading them as much as understanding why people choose the stories they do, what brought them to that shelf.
Oakleaf is my next experiment and a homage to the original Oakleaf Books from my home town, a radical community bookshop from the 70s. For the first year, I want to see what a mostly offline indie bookshop can be. I’m tired of social media and feeding big data. Oakleaf will have one website. A paper newsletter (posted to you) and an email newsletter for accessibility. There will be lots of time spent getting to know people who use the shop and I’m hoping to offer book drop offs by bike for local customers who can’t make it over.
I also make papercuts, and run workshops teaching others. It’s an endangered craft here in the UK and I’m working hard to share it with others. Alongside all that, I work in linguistic research and for a charity where I help children feel inspired about reading.
I’m bringing these parts of my life together at Oakleaf, with room for other people to bring something of themselves as well.