Bel Monypenny from Christchurch institution Scorpio Books as they celebrat…

Audio, Radio New Zealand

Scorpio Books in Christchurch turns 50 this year. Founded by David Cameron, who started with a tiny specialist shop and built it into a store with more than 30 staff and over 26,000 titles, it has survived the internet, Amazon and the Canterbury earthquakes. Head buyer Bel Monypenny joins Culture 101 to talk about what keeps an independent bookshop alive, the authors who have walked through the doors unannounced, and the book she most recently pressed into customers' hands.