In Conversation With John Mitchell, The Book Room Collective
In the lead-up to Byron Writers Festival, we sat down with John Mitchell. John is the owner of The Book Room Collective — Byron Bay’s beloved independent bookstore. For more than a decade, he has shaped The Book Room Collective into a true community hub, and one of the Festival’s longest-standing supporters. We had the pleasure of chatting with John, hearing his commentary on books, connection and the journey to The Book Room Collective’s beginnings. As the town prepares for the Festival’s buzz, we hope you enjoy this chat with John Mitchell.
Before owning The Book Room Collective, John had been living in Canberra with his wife Karen and children, working as a psychoanalyst. As retirement loomed closer, the five-year plan was to move to Byron Bay — a place where the kids “would be more willing to visit us”. Opening up a chocolate shop was part of that plan, but as fate would have it, in that same year of 2011, a local bookshop in Byron Bay came up for sale.
“I felt much more comfortable in that arena than starting something new. And so it just seemed like the right thing to start at the time.”
And so their journey began, as the new owners of Byron Bay’s bookstore. Since then, the pair have remained unwavering in their values and devotion to being the community’s bookshop — not ‘John and Karen’s bookshop’. And in return, The Book Room Collective has been a treasured icon to those living in and travelling to Byron Bay.
We asked John what it means in practice to be “the community’s bookstore”, when deciding which books deserve a place on the shelves. His response aptly drew an analogy to the author-reader relationship.
“The implication of a community bookshop is that when I’m purchasing, it’s a bit like reading. There’s an interaction between the author and the reader… The book that everyone reads is always read differently by every individual because an individual projects themselves onto the book. But it’s not total projection because clearly someone’s written something down, which is the base upon which the projection is made. And I think the same is true in a bookshop.”
With every purchase John makes, he firstly considers the books which he feels will fit the community in which he lives. He also uses it as an opportunity to reflect a bit of his own history.
“So it becomes like a joint action, as if like every member of the community, you both bring something and you join in something”.
“And so with every purchase, that’s what goes through my head. A reflection of myself, a reflection of what I understand the community to be, and a reflection of what people seem to be interested in, in terms of their buying”.
Deciding your next read can be both exciting and overwhelming. And while recommendations are often very welcomed by readers, there is an art to finding the right book for a person. It’s a skill that John and the team at The Book Room Collective seem to have honed.
“Finding the right book is about listening carefully to a person. What I’ve found when I go to other bookshops is that they’re so busy trying to sell me something that they’re not actually listening to me.”
“And so I spend time with each person and I ask our staff to do the same. To listen to their story, including what they’ve been enjoying or what they haven’t, with the idea that somehow I can introduce them to something that might be interesting and new and yet not too far departed from where they’ve been.”
“And of course, that’s part of the joy of the bookshop experience is that you get to know people. They get to know you. You tell them a little bit about what you felt and that might spark them. It’s a genuine conversation between humans.”
And so if we were to have a peek at John Mitchell’s personal bookshelf at home, what might we discover? His answer so perfectly reflects his passion for what he does.
“I have thousands and thousands of books. It would take a long time to have a peek.”
Among them, history, philosophy, psychology, and anthropology stand out. Art, architecture and design are more notable inclusions. There’s also an enormous number of fiction classics. A never-ending collection of children’s books, for the grandchildren. We think John’s right… a peek doesn’t seem to suffice.
Turning our attention to the 2026 Byron Writers Festival, of which The Book Room Collective has long been a proud supporter. The theme for this year’s festival is Sanctuary, paying homage to the doing of writing, reading and thinking in today’s world.
The Festival is a bit like Christmas in the bookstore world. John is busily getting all the books in order and preparing the store for three-day program. But if we could whisk him away for just one event?
“Of this year, I think that Richard Flanagan is an extraordinary thinker and I’m always excited by hearing him speak. In fact, I think in a way I prefer his non-fiction, his essays. And so this will be an interesting part of the festival and I will make every effort to either meet up with Richard or get along to the session.”
For someone attending the Byron Writers Festival for the first time, John shares his advice for how to approach the program.
“To me it’s like the old days of the blues. Go to something new and try and experience a new artist, something that’s a little outside your genre.”
“Of course you should go along and see the things you want to see in the same way I’m going to see Richard. But the fun thing of the festival is the finding of new things that are different and surprising.”
“It’s one of the things we say to the staff all the time. Whatever you do, make sure you read a book this month outside your normal genre.”
The Book Room Collective will be a hive of activity throughout the Byron Writers Festival, including plenty of book signings. So whether you’re in Byron for the festival, or travelling in the future, we absolutely recommend spending time within the wonderful space that John has created.
The Book Room Collective
27 Fletcher St, Byron Bay NSW 2481
Byron Writers Festival, 2026
Friday 14 – Sunday 16 August
To go deeper into John’s story, we highly recommend listening to his interview on Chris Hanley’s podcast, Our Byron Community.