Sarah Patel

Book Operations Coordinator

What do you bring to the team?

Being a bookworm! My career background has always involved books and live events in one way or another. I started out as a publicist and worked at some of the largest UK publishing companies before making the switch to bookselling. That’s when it really hit home that sharing books and ideas is the best job ever. Now I get to bring these together via unique events that spotlight up-and-coming voices as well as global stars. Each with a story to share and inspire.

Your favourite book?

Fiction: Anything written by Toni Morrison, Angela Carter and Zadie Smith. Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson, 1984 by George Orwell, the Patrick Melrose novels by Edward St Aubyn.

Non Fiction: I’ve not stopped thinking about Strangers on a Pier by Tash Aw, Look What You Made Me Do by Helen Walmsley-Johnson and Good Talk by Mira Jacob.

Audio: Beyond delighted that With Nails, Richard E. Grant’s film diaries, is now an audiobook. Islands of Abandonment by Cal Flyn and I, Partridge by Alan Partridge are both perfect but for very different reasons.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Talking to friends, colleagues, customers, random strangers. I love collecting recommendations of all kinds, even if I know I will never get through them all.