Anna Thorby and Marcus Graf, owners of Book Haven

12:19 AM, 8 November 2023

We took over Book Haven from Don Hollander on April Fool’s Day 2022. Don had been running the shop for 17 years, so Book Haven was already a well established name in Te-Whanganui-A-Tara.

It has been an exciting journey – a second-hand bookshop is a magical place, another world. Books can

harbour so many memories and emotions for people, and it is an absolute joy to match a reader with a book they have been looking for. We won’t forget one of our first customers who asked for “the book with the blue cover I read fifty years ago”. After a few questions we established that it was Snow Goose by Paul Gallico – we made someone’s day.

There is something about a physical book that no amount of online reading can replace, and fortunately most people still treasure holding a tangible object. Each book looks, feels and smells different and can take a reader on a journey. One book I just finished that did that for me was Octavia Butler’s Kindred. Her books never stay long on the shelf.

Being in the middle of Newtown makes us feel part of a great community – both of people and other small independent shops. As well as the locals, there are always people stopping on the way to the airport or visiting the hospital. Every day and every customer is different. In the evenings we have held poetry readings, book launches and chats with authors – even craft evenings. This is something we want to continue and grow.

We have almost 30,000 books, all catalogued and while we also sell books through or web site, we

prefer the face-to-face interactions in the shop. If you’re ever in Newtown, pop in – we’re between the Halal butcher and the animal op-shop, across the road from the Moon.

—Anna and Marcus, owners of Book Haven