A Guide to Literary Brighton

Brighton, Brighton, Brighton. A cosmopolitan place. A city of culture, for sure, and a thriving bookish community.

So hey, if you’re ever in the area and you need a great literary guide to the place, then your ol’ pal Maximum Pop! can sort you out. Here: There are so many authors who have been inspired by Brighton, or have used it as a base to call home, and to work from. We picked out just a few:

Juno Dawson, Holly Smale and the late great Louise Rennison. Plus the lovely Sara Barnard, whose book ‘Beautiful Broken Things’ we recently featured on MP! She spoke to us about how Brighton features in her debut in this Q&A.

Also, Julie Burchill’s ‘Sugar Rush’ is not only a YA classic, and fabulous TV series, it’s also set in the city. It’s true to place, and never loses the strong, Brighton vibe.

Zoella’s ‘Girl Online’ also has a Brighton setting, and it is an important place for the plot of Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’.

What about the book shops?

Naturally there’s a Waterstones. And they are so great for events and author signings. The easy go-to for all book lovers.

But there’s also ‘The Book Nook’:

It has previously won the Children’s Independent Bookseller of teh Year. Neat!

And then ‘Books for Amnesty’ is always worth a visit. You can never go wrong with some second-hand book hunting and this is THE place to be doing it.

Where are the best place to read?

The beach. Duh. And of course, the pier. British Airways are launching something pretty spectacular this summer. It looks bonkers…

…but what a sight! And the view from right at the top of this thing must be awesome. Not sure you’d be doing much reading on it, though.

If the weather is a bit iffy (and this is England, after all), take your paperback into one of these quirky little coffee shops:

The Marwood

Presuming Ed

And if the sun comes out again? Well, there’s always the Pavillion Gardens to settle in, to just one more chapter…

Have you been to Brighton? Do you have a favourite bookish place or fun fact? Tweet us @maximumpopbooks

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