When visiting UKREiiF earlier this month, it would have been easy to miss Holdfast Books.
Surrounded by marquees promoting property investment and with over 16,000 people attending, Holdfast continued to bob serenely in Leeds Dock. Most of the delegates will not have even noticed the former coal barge but anyone who stepped onboard was in for a treat.
The Marjorie R, originally built in 1946, has been lovingly restored by owners Victoria and Chris Bonner. Panelled and lined with wooden bookcases the welcoming interior hosts an interesting selection of volumes. For UKREiiF the front table was decked with various books related to building. Architectural guides alongside books on brutalism and the housing crisis.
Holdfast held an unofficial fringe event, Leeds and the Housing Crisis, on the Wednesday evening of UKREiiF at Wharf Chambers. The well attended event welcomed authors Jessica Field, Paul Chatterton and Stuart Hodkinson to the stage. The panel discussion, led by housing history researcher Pratichi Chatterjee, highlighted challenges but also ways forward. The subject matter went way beyond Leeds, drawing upon the experience of Grenfell and the Manchester Social Housing Commission amongst others.
Stuart Hodkinson provided shocking statistics about just how long a housing crisis in Leeds has existed. Today the council waiting list is about 27,000 but as long ago as 1987 it was 22,000. What has changed is attitudes; he highlighted a current belief that ‘social housing is a sign of failure.’ Paul Chatterton held up the Lilac Grove development in Leeds, built through a Mutual Home Ownership scheme, as an example of how homes can be built in response to human need rather than investment. The evening provided lots of food for thought and highlighted the need for social housing that is liveable, affordable and sustainable.
Holdfast sells children’s and adult books. At Christmas, they organised a gifting scheme where customers could ensure that vulnerable children received a book. Off the back of this they have been successful in securing a £5000 Penguin grant to enable them to provide more books to vulnerable Leeds children as part of the Year of Reading.
They will be working in collaboration with Leeds Social Services to provide books to children in care and other vulnerable young people. Victoria is adopted and Chris spent time in foster care when his mother died. Both know the pleasure and refuge that books can bring and want to share them with children. But they also want to collaborate with the public. Pop into the shop or visit the Holdfast Leeds Facebook page to suggest children’s books for them to buy.
This week, Holdfast has been an integral part of Leeds Lit Fest with the launch of Da by Arathi Menon on Monday, a sold-out Beginners Guide to Folk Horror on Tuesday and John Ironmonger talking about Climate Fiction on Wednesday. Arathi Menon gave a moving introduction to Da, a book about a boy’s relationship with his gay father in an India where homosexuality is a crime and violence a real threat. The folk horror session was so popular that the bookshop is considering a follow up. While John Ironmonger showed how fiction, including his book The Wager and the Bear, can help shape attitudes to climate action.
The next event at Holdfast Books will be on July 8th when Rachel Grosvenor and Andrew Bergen will be talking about Witches in Fiction.
Holdfast Books’ opening hours are: 9-5 Thursday to Saturday and 9-4 on Sundays.
