Recipient can find a book for everyone

Posted: Monday Jul 31, 2023

University Bookshop retail manager Anna Hoek-Sims named emerging bookseller of the year

Recipient can find a book for everyone | Otago Daily Times Online News (odt.co.nz)

Anna Hoek-Sims has not met a customer she has failed to find a book for.

The University Bookshop retail manager was named the emerging bookseller of the year at the Booksellers New Zealand national conference in Rotorua last weekend.

Apart from trying her best to not ruin the plot of a good book, Ms Hoek-Sims said the hardest part of her job was keeping her recommendations to a minimum.

"The challenge can be if someone asks you for a book recommendation, there’s just a whole pile that you would like to recommend.

"I have to be like a detective and hone in on what the person enjoys reading and then try to find something that then matches that."

She said she had to acknowledge there were "book addicts" out there and she had to be careful not to sell them the entire store.

"If somebody comes in and asks for a book recommendation, I always try to go for four books and typically for the ones that I have enjoyed and my colleagues have enjoyed.

"It’s the best addiction to have, I think.

"It’s good for the mind and the soul."

Ms Hoek-Sims said she grew up surrounded by books and her father and grandmother were both big readers.

She enjoyed becoming fully immersed in different worlds.

A side effect of working in a bookshop was that her house now looked like a bookshop.