Read Spotted Newt

Read Spotted Newt was founded in 2020. The idea was born out of a love for books and the community a bookstore provides. Bookstores stimulate all the senses, the smell of new books, the anticipation of scanning the shelves, and the conversation that happens when book lovers unite. Owner Mandi Fugate Sheffel spent a week at the Appalachian Writers Workshop in the Summer of 2019. This experience left her with a desire to replicate that writing community in Hazard, Ky. Providing a place where readers and writers could come together and share the magic that happens when you truly love a book. Introducing young readers to the wonder and amazement a bookstore can provide, leaving them with a relationship they can foster throughout their lives. Independent bookstores give book buying a personal touch that buying online can’t match. Appalachia is a region rich in storytelling. Readers and writers alike now have a place to call home.