Words, an airy, bright space in a small retail development just off the Budaiya Highway, is that rare thing: a coffee (and tea) shop where you’re never short of something to read. Downstairs is a café with book-lined walls and crafts, while upstairs is a well-stocked book shop catering to many an eclectic taste.
But, what makes this place so special is not just the variety and quality of the books on offer but also the ever-growing range of activities and special events that are staged here. Which came almost as a surprise to Eileen and co-founder Rana Aljalahma.Eileen explains: “The idea came about through a sofa chat over a cup of coffee. Rana wanted to open a bookstore and I said: ‘You should combine it with a café and I’ll be your partner.’ From there it started flowing. Within six months we had the concept and the place; it took on a life of its own!
“I wanted to do it because it’s not something that’s been seen here before. Coffee and books, they just go together.”
Eileen had a background in retail, having had her own fashion shop, and Rana took a course in bookselling and with an empty shell, they were ready to start looking for stock with Rana taking care of children’s books and Eileen the adult section, both fiction and non-fiction.
“We were ordering from the US and UK and it’s interesting to see where the books come from,” says Eileen. “Sometimes you’ll come across a book that’s not available through your distributor and you have to find it. When the boxes of stock arrive, it’s like Christmas, very exciting.”
The pair go on their own personal preferences – Eileen’s love of cookbooks is clear to see – and the idea was for Words to be a boutique offering. “You can’t please everybody,” she says. “We simply don’t have the space.”
From the beginning they had a monthly book club and, in 2012, Rana came up with the idea for a cookbook club – an idea she had seen in New York and which has recently become very popular in Europe. Each month they choose a cookbook, members then read it and come to the meeting with a recipe prepared for everyone to try. (This month’s is Plated Heirlooms by Dima Al Sharif.)
From this small community-based action, things snowballed.
Eileen explains: “All of a sudden we started getting approached by all sorts of interesting people. Chefs wanted to come and do book signings and cooking demonstrations, artists wanted to exhibit their work, people wanted to give talks and others wanted to hold pop-up shops. We also had moving screenings, including Wajda. [A Saudi Arabian film, written and directed by Haifaa al-Mansour. It was the first feature film shot entirely in Saudi Arabia and the first feature-length film made by a female Saudi director.] Again, it’s really interesting how things just fell into place.”
For youngsters there are also regular story times on Saturdays when teachers come and read to them, helping foster the next generation of book lovers.
And, recently, they’ve expanded to take over a vacant space opposite the café. Christening it More Words, it’s an open space which is used for all manner of things from pop-up shops to art exhibitions and workshops. There are also plans to invite chefs to do pop-up cafés there. “There is a lot of talent in Bahrain and it’s good to be able to showcase it, —entrepreneurs need support,” says Eileen.
