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Mark Rubbo, owner of Readings books. Photo: Eddie Jim
Forget your Foyles of London or that Barnes & Noble on New York's Union Square.
The best bookstore in the world sits on Lygon Street, Melbourne.
Go Set a Watchman took pride of place at Readings bookstore in St Kilda. Photo: Simon Schluter
On Tuesday night at the London Book Fair – the world's biggest publishing trade fair after the Frankfurt behemoth – Readings was crowned International Bookstore of the Year as part of the LBF International Excellence Awards.
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It's the third year of the awards, described by the LBF as the "UK's recognition of international publishing industry excellence".
The Bookstore award was "to highlight the absolutely vital role bookshops play worldwide in not only promoting new titles but also advising readers on the many excellent books already published but yet to be discovered".
The judges said Readings took the gong for "its community outreach, support of Australian authors and its help for non-profit organisations working on literacy initiatives".
Readings boss Mark Rubbo said in a statement: "We're delighted and extremely honoured to receive this award. It's a reflection of the quality of Australian independent bookshops.
Though Readings was the only Australian winner at the awards, it was not the only finalist.
Little Australian outfit Quirky Kid was among the top three in the Education Initiatives Award.
This little Wollongong-based child psychology clinic decided it wanted to put its knowledge into book form, so teachers and schoolkids would have a tool to help build social and communication skills.
In between counseling sessions they turned their clinical expertise into a series of books. It has become a quiet Australian success story, used by thousands of organisations around the world.
Quirky Kids principal child psychologist, Kimberley O'Brien, said she was at the fair looking for partners to take their project to a global audience – and through the London Book Fair they'd found new interest for a potential Chinese translation, and distributors in the Middle East.
"Instead of repeating myself in the clinic setting I wanted to have that out there for all kids so they can understand their emotions," Dr O'Brien said.
"Rather than feeling stuck or confused, they understand what's happening for themselves and they can express it and then they can resolve it - in families as well as in the playground."