The last few years have seen a heartening number of success for fiction published by small independent press and this is now being matched by the renewed interest in literary magazines. Gary Perry, Assistant Head of Fiction at our Charing Cross Road branch, picks out some of his essential reads and introduces his favourite new journal, Gorse.

Few things make me happier than a restful morning spent in the company of a selection of literary journals. A good spot in a local coffee shop, a table covered with copies of the London Review of Books, the New York Review of Books and the Paris Review – a sight to make this bookseller swoon. And, just as we have witnessed a boom in indie presses, a mutual growth has been detectable in the world of literary and arts magazines. Those long mornings, dedicated to perusing the books press, have been enriched by the White Review and Belleville Pages, publications that have brought to my attention some incredible writers. The White Review provided my first encounter with Ivan Vladislavić, a South African writer who I now evangelise about with an inexhaustible passion. This is what these periodicals do best: confrontations with the new, or the newly unearthed or, to go further, the old interpreted in a novel way. It is why they are so essential.

The Dublin based journal, Gorse, is a welcome addition to these instigators of bookish discussion. Edited by Susan Tomaselli and David Gavan, the first issue was launched in January 2014 and is only just arriving on UK shores. As soon as I read it, I knew it was something that we needed to stock at Foyles. Our customers are a marvellous bunch – inquisitive, eager to talk about books and hungry for new writing. The popularity of our events with the the White Review are testament to this. Gorse looks set to become just as essential a read. The editorial alone is enough to excite the most sedate of bibliophiles – this is a journal dedicated to ‘the potential in literature today’, to championing ‘the unconventional and the under-recognised, writers exiled in their own Countries’. Amen to that.

With such a strong editorial, I wondered if the contents would live up to the high expectations aroused. I was not disappointed. The editorial team have assembled a fine group of writers, all of whom deserve to be more widely know and, I have no doubt, will be. Darran Anderson, Joanna Walsh, Rob Doyle – all writers to keep a keen eye on. Matthew Jakubowski’s short story ‘Killing Off Ray Apada’ is a highlight from an American writer whose stuff I admire greatly (Tip :check out his ‘Sharpening the Sickle to Shame the Knife’, published in Fiddleblack). I can say, without reservation, that David Winters’ interview with Evan Lavender-Smith is the most wonderful interview I have read in a long time – so much so, a photocopy now adorns the wall above my writing desk.

As you can tell, I am enamoured. This is a journal that not only brings our attention to the under-read and the new but inspires us to take up the pen or to continue the conversations that it has started. All great periodicals are launchpads – for their writers and their readers. They encourage a collaborative approach to the world of books – an approach present in indie publishing, from And Other Stories’ book groups to Peirene’s Literary Salons. Being a reader or a writer is not as solitary a pursuit as some people think.

The editors also offer extra content on their website, including a remarkable piece by Walsh on London’s Heygate. The importance of the online magazine can’t be overstated. Alongside those copies of the LRB and the Paris Review, I set my laptop, ready to peruse 3:AM Magazine and Review 31, two of my favourite online journals. Print and the web overlap. I could not do my job without them both. They put me onto new writers and fuel my desire to provide our customers with the most exciting range of books possible. I always emerge from those long mornings in my local coffee shop reinvigorated and exhilarated. So this is a thank you – to the editors of all the magazines listed in this article – for making a bookseller very happy.

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