‘Often we just see the spine’: Hackney illustrator welcomes first customers to bookshop where the covers are turned up

Jam Bookshop on Hackney Road. Photograph: David Ziggy Greene

A Hackney illustrator has achieved his 13-year dream by opening a bookshop in the borough – following a crowdfunding effort that saw him raise £20,000.

David Ziggy Greene, who has worked for the BBC and Private Eye, opened the doors of his beloved Jam Bookshop last Saturday to his first customers.

Situated at 61A Hackney Road, the shop stocks carefully selected fiction and non-fiction in a variety of genres.

Visitors will find popular authors like Sally Rooney alongside debut novelists and hidden gems.

There is a also wide range of graphic novels and comics, expertly chosen by Greene, who says the stock will grow and change with demand.

Saturday’s customers loved the graphic novels, he said.

“The feedback was really great and the people could see what I am trying to do with the shop.

“It was amazing to get all that support on crowdfunder. The spirit to support a bookshop took me by surprise. They got really behind it.

“I think people are just so pleased to see a new bookshop nearby.”

Greene puts as many covers on display as possible. Photograph: David Ziggy Greene

Jam tries to highlight the aesthetics of books.

Greene told the Citizen: “I stock books that have the combination of a wonderful story and visuals that deserve to be shown off.

“I try to put the covers on display because I think the the art form of cover design is sometimes wasted.

“Often in shops we just see the spine but not the cover.”

There is also a gallery of prints for sale from new, local and well-known artists.

This is an extension of Greene’s desire to represent illustrators and artists in his yearly networking event called ‘Small Press Day’, which has been going since 2016.

The event gets artists together with retailers and encourages book signings and launches.

“After you have made a little book, you can feel very lost,” he said, explaining that small, self-published graphic stories or zines are usually a first career step for comic or graphic artists.

“It is hard to know how to get it out there into the world, so that’s why I set up ‘Small Press Day’.”

Greene’s own career has borne some graphic books. One, sold at the shop, is a collection of his illustrated journalism in Private Eye. The works featured inside see him capture society’s news and views through drawings and quotes.

Greene said: “My art journalism gave me the great privilege of travelling and drawing. Illustration can be a bit of a solitary existence.”

He is ecstatic about this new step in his artistic and literary journey.

“I’d always wanted this but it never happened because of my opportunities in illustration. But when a lot of my big projects wrapped up, I decided I needed to stop sitting at a desk and get out and see the world again.”

Greene’s personal shop favourites include The Sellout by Paul Beatty, the six volumes of manga series Akira, and Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood.