For those in dismay at the prospect of wet, dark evenings and social isolation this fall, a luxury desert island resort in the Maldives is looking for a live-in bookseller to start working next month.
The eco-resort of Soneva Fushi, on Kunfunadhoo Island in the Maldives, has played host to three “barefoot booksellers” since 2018: The most recent occupant, Chrissy Ryan, left in April as the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world.
TOURISM REOPENING
With the Maldives now reopening to international tourists, Soneva Fushi is in need of a bookseller to run a small shop on the private island, with the working contract set to run from the end of next month until April next year.
“The Maldives is pretty much COVID-free and the resort that we operate with has its own medical center, and strict and rigorous testing procedures, so it’s a very safe place to be,”said Philip Blackwell, the chief executive of Ultimate Library, which runs the bookshop and provides library collections for holiday destinations around the world.
“They’re expecting people to come, and we are minded to take the punt to reopen our bookshop and see what passing trade comes our way,” he added.
When the position of “barefoot bookseller” was previously advertised, Blackwell received thousands of applications from people desperate to escape the grind of daily life.
“Last time, we had everybody from the White House press corps to film directors, lawyers, IT managers, beach poets, retired librarians,” said Blackwell, who is a member of the British family of booksellers that sold their chain in 2006.
“What works best is somebody with bookselling experience. They’ve got to love people and selling books, and they’ve got to know about books,” Blackwell said.
ADVENTURER NEEDED
“They’ve also got to be adventurous because this is not for somebody to sit in a bookshop eight hours a day, this is for people to get out there, engage with the guests and help people on their reading journey, because reading for pleasure is a muscle that, like any other muscle in the body, is traditionally underused until people go on holiday,” Blackwell added.
The job application calls for “excellent written and verbal English skills; a lively tone of voice to write entertaining blogs and newsletters that capture the exhilarating life of a desert island bookseller; and the skills to host workshops and events.”
Job applicants would also need “a can-do attitude with a strong understanding of working independently,” the job description says.
TRAINING FIRST
Whoever is selected is to undergo job training remotely before flying to the Maldives.
“They’ll have sand between their toes rather than slush between their feet, and the chance to really test themselves,” Blackwell said.
Writing on the Barefoot Bookseller blog, Ryan said that her time in the Maldives had been “a whirlwind of adventure where I have developed new passions, discovered new skills and built new friendships.”
“I’ve moved 6,000 miles [9,656km] across the planet, left my friends and family behind me and found a whole new community on a small island in the middle of the Indian Ocean. I’ve tested my boundaries and rediscovered my sense of self,” Ryan wrote.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number