Jun 28, 2026 · 12 min · 10 segments
Creating platforms where independent writers' works can be amplified and shared, is what drives spaces like Spoor and Nowhere, some of Auckland's up and coming bookstores featuring writers from across…
Crystal FungGuest
Blessen Tom
Balamohan ShingadeGuest
Crystal says the rise of independent Chinese bookstores around the world is closely tied to the years following the COVID-19 pandemic.
She says many people found themselves caught between growing anti-Asian sentiment in Western countries and increasing political restrictions in China.
Bookstores like Nowhere emerge as places where those experiences could be shared and understood.
Also, we face the censorship, the tightening political environment back home that we are kind of like stuck in and like in between position that we are kind of.
So we kind of need this space to have our voices heard and our experience validated in some way.
Alongside selling books, Nowhere also works with independent booksellers and publishers across Aotearoa.
Crystal says the rise of independent Chinese bookstores around the world is closely tied to the years following the COVID-19 pandemic.
She says many people found themselves caught between growing anti-Asian sentiment in Western countries and increasing political restrictions in China.
Bookstores like Nowhere emerge as places where those experiences could be shared and understood.
Also, we face the censorship, the tightening political environment back home that we are kind of like stuck in and like in between position that we are kind of.
So we kind of need this space to have our voices heard and our experience validated in some way.
Alongside selling books, Nowhere also works with independent booksellers and publishers across Aotearoa.
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