The Selection Box: Books Edition with Dawn Behan

An Irishman Abroad

Jarlath Regan

Society & Culture, News, Health & Fitness, Society & Culture:personal Journals, Personal Journals, Politics

4.8 • 834 Ratings

🗓️ 16 June 2021

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When Dawn Behan decided to set up her own bookstore in a small rural town in Ireland there were plenty of people eager to tell her it would not work. Five years on the shop has been named independent book shop of the year, hosted author events with the likes of Graham Norton and become an essential pillar of the community. Today in the fourth instalment of our mini-series focusing on independent book sellers Jarlath hears her story. Woodbine Books has fast become one of the most respected bookshops in the country. How did Dawn change the minds of those reluctant locals and forge a place for her shop in Kilcullen. Like all of these episodes, it’s a great story. Ireland’s independent bookstore week is coming soon. Why not check to see where your local bookstore is and give them some support this month. To hear every episode in full and to gain access to the entire back-catalogue of over 500 Irishman Abroad episodes that are not available on iTunes for just the price of a pint every month visit www.patreon.com/irishmanabroad Supplementary research provided by John Meagher. The Irishman Abroad Liveline is now open. You can now get in touch with us and feature on our shows by sending your WhatsApp voice note to 0044 7543 122 330. Why not pose a running question to Irish Olympic Legend Sonia O'Sullivan or ask our America Correspondent Marion McKeone her thoughts on a current talking point Stateside? Of course, if you have an issue with traffic or elephants on the loose in your area, Jarlath can do his best to sort that out too. Our charity partner is jigsawonline.ie. In these tricky times, Jigsaw provides a range of resources, advice and care for your people to help them strengthen their mental health and the skills needed to navigate life. Please visit their website and consider making a donation. For updates on future episodes and live shows follow @jarlath on Twitter, visit www.jigser.com or email the show directly on [email protected]. Disclaimer: All materials contained within this podcast are copyright protected. Third party reuse and/or quotation in whole or in part is prohibited unless direct credit and/or hyperlink to the Irishman Abroad podcast is clearly and accurately provided.

Transcript

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0:00.0	When Dawn Bean took voluntary redundancy from her well-paid and perfectly stable job in computing,
0:07.0	she did have a moment of, Oh Flip, what have I done?
0:10.0	She was taking a leap into the unknown, as she ventured down the path of creating the independent bookshop
0:16.0	she'd always dreamed of in her local town of Kilcullin County Kildare.
0:21.0	Today, on the Selection Box mini series on independent booksellers,
0:24.8	I get to meet Dawn and ask her how this roll of the dice would eventually result in Woodbine books
0:30.8	being named the Irish Independent Bookstore of the Year in 2018 and go from strength to strength in lockdown, even hosting online author events
0:40.0	with the likes of Graham Norton. This entire series is based on an idea brought to me by a friend
0:46.6	of the show, Deck Rine, and designed to shine a light on and encourage you to get out there
0:52.9	and support these great stores at the heart of our
0:56.3	communities back home to support our show here at Irishman abroad and to hear our vast
1:03.7	library of episodes with the greatest Irish people ever to have left our shores simply go to
1:09.3	patreon.com forward slash Irishman abroad.
1:12.9	Dawn Bean of Woodbine Books, it is great to have you on the show. How are you doing?
1:17.6	Angry. Great, thanks. And thank you for asking me to do it. It's brilliant.
1:21.1	I'm delighted. And it's been such fun to put this series together so far across the first three
1:26.3	episodes of the series. I'm coming to
1:29.7	understand that the draw of shops like Woodbine is as much the atmosphere and the personal care
1:36.8	and attention as anything else. You seemed to know this going in, but there had to be doubts,
1:43.9	even when taking the course in how to do it
1:47.1	and putting all your eggs in the basket. How real were those doubts and how much of them were attached
1:53.3	to people telling you, a shop like that will never work in this town? Yeah, people are so helpful,
	...

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