Episode 36: Hannah Emery was a bookstore manager

When I spoke to her, Hannah was a manager at The Dusty Bookshelf in Manhattan, Kan., home of Kansas State University. Her location—there’s another in Lawrence, home to University of Kansas—sells new books, used books, gifts and other sundries and, yes, coffee. Hannah liked the coffee side of things so much, the hustle and bustle, helping folks fast and efficiently, that she was about to run off on a new adventure to manage a coffee shop in downtown Chicago. That’s a big leap for a young lady who grew up a “townie” in the college town, loves the small town, but, yeah, wanted to try something different. 

So, the best part for me is, I also got to ask Hannah all about how she was planning to make the big move into a new apartment, a new city, a new-ish life of more opportunities to do more cool cultural stuff. 

This podcast, then, is a two-fer: Bookstore managing! Making the big jump! 

Big thanks to Hannah, to, who was the only manager, worker or owner at used bookstores nationwide who responded to my weird, cold-calling email request to answer my questions about life in bookstores. So, either I’m bad at asking folks for interviews, or bookstore owners, by nature, don’t want to be interviewed for stories, preferring the life behind the counter and between the pages to being a voice on the internet. 

This was going to be part of a series, but, hey, until I grab half-a-dozen interviewees, let’s just say Hannah Emery is the best, most bad-ass bookstore manager I’ve ever interviewed … they broke the mold when they made her … and she’ll get to stand, at the end of this phase of her book-selling career, as a solitary statue of wisdom for us to enjoy ...