Spaces & Places: Well Read, Lisbon
An independent bookstore in Lisbon by Kaitlyn Davies.
In our Spaces and Places section, we highlight special spots we love or have just discovered. In celebration of Independent Bookstore Day a few weeks ago, today we want to introduce you to a wonderful independent bookstore in Lisbon that we found through our community – and that’s now high on our to-visit list! Well Read is based in Lisbon and run by Kaitlyn Davies. Find out more about Kaitlyn and Well Read below!
Hi!
I’m Kaitlyn, a Canadian living in Lisbon via Berlin-NY-London-Toronto. I’m interested in technology, culture and humans. I think that art and communities make space for infinite possibility, which keeps me hopeful that things could be different. One day.
My day job(s) are in the music and technology industries, where I produce cultural and educational programmes and workshops.
Well Read is the art & design bookstore I run in Lisbon, alongside a small group of collaborators and contributors. Well Read is a container for things I’m thinking about, a platform to champion ideas, and a space to think critically about the world.
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the physical and digital design of the store, alongside our spatial designer Craig Barrow and graphic designer Layla Shioguchi. From adding context clues like serving coffee and wine (this is a place to hang out in!), to a lack of flat table tops (this is a place to talk and write and work on personal projects, but not a co-working space), to including our hands in digital photos and scans of our books (everyone likes a personal touch, the algorithms too :)) the shape of the store represents a desire to be and think with others.
Some of my current book highlights from Well Read are:
Happy by Celina Baljeet Basra
I’ve never read anything quite like this book – a migrants’ journey from India to Europe, documenting the perplexingly funny and tender protagonist Happy as he uncovers the dark underbelly of food production under capitalism.
Against Ageism by Simon(e) van Sarloos
Recently republished by MACK Books subsidiary SPBH Editions, this book questions our understanding of time, relationships, work and love.
On the Calculation of Volume, Book 1 by Solvej Balle
Like Groundhog Day for the existentialist girlies, this book blows up the length of one day by reliving it over and over again. The first in a 7 (!) part series.
