The Marylebone branch always feels different in December. The Christmas displays are obvious, but the light falls differently through those tall windows when London gets properly winter.
I wasn’t hunting for anything specific. Walking between shelves without agenda lets your brain process recent months without forcing conclusions. 2025 has been intense. ECG festivals, Literature Across Frontiers confirmations, constant back-and-forth between writing and organizing literary events.
Found myself gravitating toward the travel writing section. I’m curious how other writers handle cultural displacement after spending November in Kazakhstan, then returning straight to Marylebone. Contexts shift quickly. Hotel breakfast in Burabay one morning, flat white in central London the next.
Staff had arranged a small display called “Books for the New Year Ahead.” Pure marketing, but the phrase caught me. Time keeps moving and we can choose how to move with it.
2026 shapes up interesting. Cardiff workshops in June. Norwich teaching sessions. ECG festival week in Romford. Real infrastructure work with Literature Wales and National Centre for Writing. Sustained engagement rather than scattered appearances.
Picked up a collection by an unknown author. The best discoveries happen when you’re not looking.
Walking back through Marylebone, December light shifting again, thinking about how hope works differently when you’re not forcing it.
Posted from a corner table at Caffè Nero, watching December happen outside.
— Writer Julia Zolotova
