Have you ever heard of the "Fictitious Bookstore," a book-related event that is highly recommended for book lovers? The event is an unusual one in which visitors exhibit fictional books with only the cover illustration and the synopsis on the back cover. This event, held in Sapporo, started in 2021 and is held every year in early October. What kind of event is it?

What kind of "fictitious books" are there?

The "fictional books" created and exhibited by exhibitors range from paperback size to picture book size. Book lovers will be thrilled to see bookshelves lined with fictional paperbacks. Incidentally, the contents of the books are pure white. The main event is for "fictional books" that let visitors imagine the contents of the book just from the cover illustration or the contents of the cover.

Fictitious books lined up on the bookshelves

A wide range of genres including science fiction, fantasy, essays, cookbooks, etc.

Visitors to the café can freely enjoy the books, picking up a book by its title or looking at its cover design from one end to the other. Visitors can also purchase the fictional books they like, so the number of books on the shelves will dwindle a bit in the latter half of the event period. We recommend that you visit the store early.

Sapporo Novel Circle writes the contents of the fictional books.

At the fictional bookstore in 2023, a novel club "Tsukiori Literature Club," which is active mainly in Sapporo, collaborated to write the contents of the fictional books. The novel was created in the opposite order of how novels are usually written, with the participants imagining the contents of the fictional book and then writing parts of the main story, which is a very interesting process.

Novel written based on a fictional book

Some of the books were not even one to four volumes, but only the fifth volume of a series of heavy science fiction novels, and they were excellent reads. It is easy to see how this event can stimulate the imagination about books.

The fictional bookstore gets more powerful every year.

The 2024 Fictitious Bookstore is scheduled to be held from October 5 to 15, 2024. The location is Ivy, a multi-purpose coffee shop near Nishi 18-chome subway station in Sapporo City.

In 2024, not only fictional novels, but also CDs, DVDs, posters, etc. will be exhibited.

Even if you are a writer who says, "I would like to write a novel but I am not confident that I can complete it," you can express your own worldview in a fictional book. Book lovers should check it out!

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