​Independent Bookstore Day (aka Indie Bookstore Day) in the US is a one day only event and it falls on the last Saturday of April (April 27 this year). In its fifth year now, this is a great opportunity for the community to show the love and offer support to their favourite local bookstores.

It started in California in 2014 before becoming the national party it is today. But in addition to authors, live music, cupcakes, scavenger hunts, kids events, art tables, readings, barbecues, contests, and other fun stuff, there are exclusive books and literary items that you can only get on that day. Not before. Not after. Not online. And this year, a 'Book Crawl' is on the agenda so you can book yourself silly!

Picture this: you wake up one morning and decide you're going to write a book. Something you've never done before but your mind's made up. You decide on a children's book maybe because your childhood best friend, who's an illustrator, can scribble out the pictures for you. You think you'll make it about a female Water Bear (although not really a bear, it's still a badass) on a journey to the Antarctic as part of a quest to find a super-hero because you figure everyone loves a superhero and why shouldn't the adventurer be a female? Just before it's published you reassure yourself that although you know your book is really good, that won't necessarily mean others will find it so. But 'it's ok' you repeat to yourself because it's the first time you've ever written a book. Like ever. Unknown to you at the time that not only would your book find success here among earthly mortals but that it would skyrocket all the way into space. Literally, SKYROCKET INTO OUTER SPACE.

​This month saw British Palestinian author Shereen Malherbe's much anticipated second novel published by Beacon Books hit the shelves. 'The Tower' is the story of two women who become friends after bonding over their altered circumstances. Neighbours in a communal building in London, Reem, a recently arrived refugee from Syria, and Leah, a British single mother from Kensington forge a friendship as they learn to navigate a life foreign from anything they knew before. Despite the tragedy at the core of this book, it is a novel about hope and resilience in which Malherbe explores life in a tower block and what it's like to share a public space in daily proximity with residents who come from different religious, socio-economic or ethnic backgrounds and how that affects the general well being and social structure of the tower dwellers not only when times are good but when they are far from good as well. You can read my full review HERE.