Our Spring 2014 call for new reviewers has now closed, but you can still contribute to LSE Review of Books in other ways.

Do you have a favourite bookshop? If there’s a bookshop that you think other students and academics should visit when they’re undertaking research or visiting a city for a conference, then now’s your chance to tell us all about it.

As part of a new weekly feature on LSE Review of Books, we’re asking academics and students to recommend their favourite two or three bookshops in a particular city, with the aim of building an exciting online series for our book-loving community of readers the world over.

Bookshops could be academic, alternative, foreign language, hobby-based, secret or underground institutions, second hand outlets, or connected to a university. We’d like to cover all world regions too.

If something comes to mind, we’re looking for around 100 words per bookshop, detailing why this place is a must-see. Our editorial team can then find suitable photos and links to accompany the piece, though you’re welcome to supply these too. We only ask that you focus on just one city or region, and two or three bookshops within it.

Email us now if you’d like to contribute: lsereviewofbooks@lse.ac.uk

Which books inspired your academic career? 

Aiming to showcase the more personal side of academia not often shared, our Academic Inspiration pieces are a revealing look at the books which first inspired some of today’s most prominent academics.

Some of the most-read pieces have been from Conor Gearty, on how Plato’s Republic had such a dramatic impact on him that he tried to dump law and read politics; from Imani Perry, on how Shakespeare drove her interest in inequality; and from the late Elinor Ostrom, on some of the most important books from her early career.

LSE Review of Books are now looking for a fresh selection of contributions for this feature. If you have a story to tell about a biography you found in the corner of an old bookshop that went on to shape your research, then we want to publish it. If you have a tale of a two hundred year old pamphlet that your Professor recommended to you, then we want to publish it. And if you have a declaration of love for the book that you come to year after year and continues to shape the way you write, then we want to publish it.

Email us now if you’d like to contribute: lsereviewofbooks@lse.ac.uk