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THE BIBLIO FILE is a podcast about "the book," and an inquiry into the wider world of book culture. Hosted by Nigel Beale it features wide ranging, long-form conversations with best practitioners inside the book trade and out - from writer to reader. Why listen? The hope is that it will help you to read, write, publish, edit, design, and collect better, and improve how you communicate serious, big, necessary, new, good ideas and stories...

Feedback or suggestions? Please email notabenebeale@gmail.com 

Jun 6, 2023

The Umberto and Elisabetta Mauri Booksellers School was founded in 1983 by Luciano Mauri in memory of his father and his daughter, who died prematurely.

"In the course of almost thirty years of teaching activity it has trained new generations of booksellers and has become a laboratory for experimentation and discussion on the possibilities of the book. The first example in Italy, second in Europe, after Frankfurt, the School promotes a discussion that does not remain limited to the organization and management of the point of sale, but which extends to all aspects involving the activity of the bookshop: distribution, marketing and promotion." 
 
I met with the head of the School, Nana Lohrengel, at her offices in Milan. We talk, among other things, about what's taught at the school, about Germany's bookseller apprentice program, and about the importance of curiosity in bookselling and keeping current; also, about exchanging knowledge with fellow booksellers, "handselling" books via Instagram and Facebook, about Libraccio's bookstores in Milan, and about bookstores and democracy.