Everyone has an energy story – this is a 2021 Islington Faces project which will see locals asked what puzzles them about trying to change our carbon hungry habits & find and share solutions from people who live locally.
Everyone has an #energystory 3.
Q: How do I find out more about climate change? What books could I read?
Each Energy Story interview is inspired by the questions local people ask Islington Faces about cutting carbon/tackling climate change. For this interview our Q aims to find out which books to read if you are interested in learning more about climate change – with ideas and three brilliant lists supplied by local independent bookshop co-owner Tessa Shaw.
Everyone has an energy story. Here Tessa Shaw talks about starting Ink@84 bookshop on Highbury Park and the books everyone’s reading to find out more about climate change. Interview by Nicola Baird. Photos by Kimi Gill
Friends Tessa Shaw (above) and Betsy Tobin opened an independent bookshop, Ink@84 on Highbury Park in November 2015. Islington Faces is a big fan – popping in over the years for coffee, beer, book browsing, book purchases and even taking part in a fiendish quiz. (c) Photos by Kimi Gill for Islington Faces.
Book lovers Tessa Shaw and her business partner Betsy Tobin opened Highbury’s popular independent bookshop, café and bar, Ink@84 Highbury Park just before Christmas, 2015. Since then it’s become a destination for many people in Islington. Excitingly it reopens for browsing – something book lovers enjoy so much – on 12 April 2021 as the UK’s third lockdown ends.
“Betsy and I were neighbours when I first moved into Highbury, we could wave across the road. Our kids grew up at the same time, and as we have dogs, we were walking companions. The bookshop was conceived dog walking!” says Tessa who has lived in Highbury for nearly 27 years. “Betsy is an author and at the time I was a journalist and TV presenter of Home Front on BBC2. It was a brilliant homes show. It came to an end and by then I had three small children. I started a craft business selling woodware with a local Highbury friend from my street and we used to exhibit at the Business Design Centre and around the country. I also went back to college and studied photography, found a local gallery Tag Fine Arts and began selling my art, where I specialise in cyantypes, painting with light and chemicals without using any cameras. It is a solo profession and I missed the buzz of journalism and people. So when Betsy and I started talking about opening a bookshop it seemed like a good way to be back in the community. And for Betsy too. We knew lots of bookshops were shutting and people were reading on Kindle but we just thought there was no independent bookshop in Islington and it might just work.We’d never run a bookshop. We learnt from scratch. Day 1 was insane.”
Full Frontal by Tessa Shaw, 113 x 76 cm. Price: £1,500, email: info@tagfinearts.com
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Places Tessa Shaw loves in Islington
- Even when I used to live near Sadler’s Wells in the late ‘70s I’d always think that Blackstock Road was such an interesting street, and it’s still got that feel. I prefer what’s happening on Blackstock Road than what’s happening in Islington further south, which is so up market and posh.
- Next door to Ink@84 is Franks Canteen at 86 Highbury Park which is brilliant. I like his vegetarian soup and delicious dahl. We can order and he brings it around so we can carry on working. Another shop I really like is Baba Nan, 51a Blackstock Road (open Saturday-Thursday, 10am-8pm). I cycle down there for a naan or falafel wrap at lunchtime. They are so delicious and £2.50 for a wrap.
- I love Louis Farouk, 113 Highbury Park. I’ve known Carol for years, her shop is great. I think that a lot of people don’t know the joys of Highbury Park and Blackstock Road, especially if they live south of the borough and they should! Carol has such a brilliant shop. Last thing I bought there was a pink kimono made out of old saris. She’s so clever – she gets fabric from India and then gets it made up in Egypt.
- Marie Curie shop at Highbury Corner is fantastic. I’ve always been a picker-upper of odd and eclectic stuff. I love finding vintage clothes there. I found this amazing 3ft magnifying glass for £2. I don’t need it obviously! I like to go in every week and they let me go in with my dog.
- I really like the lunchtime meal at Zen Mondo on 326 Upper Street run by an unbelievably friendly family. I’m really interested in Japanese culture, less fuss and frill and more community things. Zen Mondo my state of mind. I like the miso soup they always have. I tend to be vegetarian there so often have tofu, salads with interesting dressings roasted rice tea.
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Reading for the planet
Tessa Shaw from Ink@84 bookshop: “Our Highbury Park location is perfect. We spent a year looking for sites. It’s a brilliant area, right between five schools so our children’s section is big, and there are a lot of freelance creatives working nearby: screenwriters, poets, authors. We’re very lucky to have such a supportive community. (c) Photo by Kimi Gill for Islington Faces.
Opening the bookshop might have been their first challenge, but the next has been coping with the move to online sales caused by lockdown. “We furloughed everyone for a while and Betsy took over the running of the online sales, getting on her bike for local deliveries when the N4 postal service broke down,” says Betsy who is currently reading Lost Property by Helen Paris. “Since November, Bookshop.org has set up in the UK. The idea is that if you have to buy a book online, you buy it through their online service rather than Amazon, and dedicate the sale to a local independent in your area. We get 30 per cent of the sale. We prefer people to come into our shop as we want to see our customers and the profit margin is better, but the platform has been great during the last year. We had never done online before, so we have learned so much and we plan to stay online for the future,” says Tessa.
Tessa Shaw from Ink@84 bookshop: “It’s nice doing lists but moving the whole business online over the past year has been a challenge. We have beautiful cards, but I never thought someone would put in an online order for a birthday card, but people don’t want to come near the shops, so they are busy buying cards online!” (c) Photo by Kimi Gill for Islington Faces
Choose your climate read
“We do sell a lot of climate books,” continues Tessa over Zoom explaining that even though the range of books about the planet at Ink@84 covers everything from fiction to picture books Greta Thunberg’s No One Is Too Small to Make A Difference (2019) has been a best seller. “Greta covers all bases. Everyone buys her book because she’s such an icon. It’s fantastic we’ve got her. She’s an amazing advocate – you need climate change champions.”
For anyone interested in learning more about climate change, or finding ways to change behaviour to less damaging, Tessa has just released three new lists on sustainability, food choices and kids’ books. Here they are: Ink@84’s recommended climate change reads:
Have a look and let us know how many you’ve read, or which ones you’ve enjoyed, or what’s missing from the list…
Tessa Shaw from Ink@84 bookshop: “Betsy and I had a vision for the shop. We wanted a warm and welcoming space where people can browse the latest adult and children’s books, both fiction and non fiction, maybe with a coffee or a beer to hand. (c) Photo by Kimi Gill for Islington Faces
Climate tables
Before Covid-19 Ink@84 wasn’t shy to promote books about sustainability and often set up climate tables in the shop. But Tessa says: “Because of Covid-19 we’ve stopped doing all events in the shop and I’m really not sure when it’s all coming back – I’d be a soothsayer if I knew. We’ve started doing workshops on Zoom – starting your novel is really popular and there’s an online book club (Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom is being discussed on 21 April)”.
It’s clear Tessa isn’t afraid of change from a career or personal perspective. She says: “I support the Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) that the council is initiating. I know they are hugely controversial, and I know loads of people that hate them. They discourage me driving and they are forcing me to think about being more local. What I don’t like is the viciousness that they have brought out in people. Would all this be happening in such a public way without Greta Thunberg and XR (Extinction Rebellion)? We need something to push us into action. I do worry that Covid-19 has taken over the debate on climate change,” says Tessa. “Locally we’ve got Lindy Sharpe and Caroline Russell driving stuff which is great. I went to a meeting about LTNs before Covid, about changing the way we use roads and it was really interesting seeing campaign research from Chris Kelly. He explained how the changes in Waltham Forest caused huge controversy at first and then he showed photos of before and after with so many people walking and cycling,”
For all items including climate change books you can browse at Ink@84, independent bookshop café and bar from 12 April 2021.
- Ink@84 is 84 Highbury Park, N5 2XE. Or order online ink84bookshop.co.uk
- Twitter @ink84books
- Facebook ink84bookshop
- Insta @ink84books
- Enjoy Tessa Shaw’s art at https://www.tagfinearts.com/ or contact via info@tagfinearts.com
Join the #energystory interviews
Do you have any questions about how to decarbonise your life or tackle climate change, eg, about travel, food, energy use? If so, please send us a message on email to: islingtonfaces@gmail.com
Over to you
Also if you’d like to nominate someone to be interviewed who grew up, lives or works in Islington, or suggest yourself, please let me know, via islingtonfaces@gmail.com If you enjoyed this post you might like to look at the A-Z index, or search by interviewee’s roles or Meet Islingtonians to find friends, neighbours and inspiration. Thanks for stopping by. Nicola
