Photograph by Trent Burton
From Wigtown to Penzance, the comedian, author and broadcaster Robin Ince has been popping into bookshops across Britain and quite possibly having the time of his life. Yet while his Bibliomaniac bookshop tour has been one of the best things to happen to him, it developed entirely by chance.
Back in Autumn 2021, Robin was due to appear with Professor Brian Cox on the acclaimed Horizons stadium tour, but the multi-media ‘space odyssey’ had to be postponed due to COVID-19 restrictions. Finding himself at a loose end with a book to promote (The Importance of Being Interested) Robin decided to embark on a hastily-arranged tour of bookshops, and the experience saw him stumbling into his happy place – small audiences of people, who share his love of books.
“The people who are drawn to the shows cover all ages from teenagers to people in their 80s and 90s, but I can see this beautiful line of curiosity running through them all,” he says. “It’s a celebratory, optimistic environment where people feel free to express what’s on their mind.”
Robin enjoyed the tour so much that it inspired another book, Bibliomaniac (“the fastest book I’ve ever written”), and he almost immediately set off on the road again while planning the launch of an online Bibliomaniac book club and continuing his other ongoing project, BBC Radio Four’s The Infinite Monkey Cage, again with his good friend Brian Cox.
“Someone asked me the other day why I don’t have any hobbies,” says Robin. “I replied that hobbies are a requirement if the work you do isn’t something you truly love. I don’t need a hobby because I absolutely love hanging around with book people, hanging around with scientists, wandering around and creating silly ideas. That is my hobby and that is my life.”
So what is the bibliomaniac currently reading? “The first one is Invisible Painting,” says Robin. “It’s about the great British-Mexican surrealist painter and author Leonora Carrington, and was written by her son, Gabriel Weisz Carrington. I’m also reading Myths of Gender: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality by Anne Fausto Sterling, who’s a very interesting biologist and kind of activist. And I’ve just started re-reading Good Morning Midnight by Jean Rhys, because I think I might choose it for the book club. Plus, I’m reading Anna Minton’s Ground Control: Fear and Happiness in the 21st Century.”
A conversation with Robin Ince is a bit like weaving your way rapidly around the shelves of a second-hand book shop with a highly enthusiastic proprietor. Warm and gregarious, he hops from one subject to another with genuine delight and fascination.
“Something that we’re terrible at in Britain, and particularly in England, is excitement,” he says. “We have a fear of genuine delight. Everyone’s very good at laughing loudly in a scary way late at night drunk on a train, but that vulnerability of exposing yourself in the cold light of day by saying ‘I love this!’ is something we often fear. I love exploring ideas that stay with people and encourage us all to investigate the world more. I find that very exciting.”
See issue one of the new Mensa magazine in March for an extended interview with Robin in which he reveals the key components of his perfect bookshop.
Robin Ince’s current tour dates are here.
