Our fabulous Christmas Window
Thank you to everyone who supported Foggie Toddle Books this year, whether you are a regular customer, visited the shop while you were on holiday or bought our books in other places or online. It means a lot to us and in this challenging times it helps us to keep the door open and the lights on. Whilst trading conditions are very difficult we hope people will continue to support the small businesses in their local high street. Where else can you find distinctive locally created or curated products with the personal help and advice from an informed member of staff?
Festive opening hours
Three of Wigtown’s booksellers have recently joined forces to create a podcast called Booktown Blether (blether being a Scots word for chat). We have recently launched our third episode and it can be found on various podcast places primarily Podbean. We are a bunch of amateurs new to this sort of thing but we’re planning to share information about Scotland’s National Booktown along with book recommendations and our experiences as booksellers. We also have a facebook page where you can see some of the titles we discuss including those from our ‘Book from the Box’ feature where we share details of an unusual or quirky book we’ve found during our second hand book buys. The podcast features Ruth Anderson KC from Well-Read Books, Lou Martin from New Chapter Books, and Jayne Baldwin from Foggie Toddle Books. The techy stuff is brilliantly done by Gary Martin of New Chapter Books, which is where the podcast is recorded. We’ve just been finding our feet but in the new year we plan to invite other booksellers, shop owners and people of Wigtown to share their experience of living in the Machars. Please have a listen and subscribe.
Yum
On our publishing side we have LOTS of news to share but so much that we thought we’d wait until January so that we kick off 2024 with a real bang. But we have several books in the pipeline for the first half of the year so we’re going to be VERY busy. The first book you’ll see will be Yum which will be launched at the Big DoG festival in Dumfries in late March. This is a draft cover of the book which has been written by Susi Briggs who was recently appointed as the Scots Scriever for 2024. We are so proud of Susi and her role in promoting the Scots language. We received a Scots Language Grant from the Scottish Book Trust to support the publication of this book which features illustrations by debut children’s illustrator Charlotte Brayley.
Looking at the early sketches for Yum
So with all that and more waiting in the new year we’ll sign off for now by wishing you a very Happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year. Many thanks again for your support of our wee business and we hope to bring you lots of exciting new books and locally sourced arts and crafts in 2024.