A Summer of Reading Unlike Any Other
Colby Global Fellow Ira Mukherjee ’25 will investigate book towns and their literary ecosystems
Summer reading season has arrived, and Ira Mukherjee ’25 has big plans. Passionate about books since childhood, this summer she will immerse herself in not just books or bookstores, but in entire book towns.
In mid-July, Mukherjee will embark on a three-month adventure to investigate Wigtown, Scotland, named that country’s national book town in 1997, and the Jimbocho district of Tokyo, one of the oldest and largest book districts in the world.
Earlier this spring, Mukherjee was named the 2025 Colby Global Fellow and awarded a $12,000 grant to spend six weeks in each location, where she hopes to become part of the local reading culture. Her interests are broad, extending beyond books to the interactions between people and places in these book towns.
“I’m seeking to understand the origins and future of book towns while investigating how the environment around us influences how we engage with the books we read,” said Mukherjee, who graduated with a degree in global studies and was one of Colby’s four finalists for a 2025 Watson Fellowship.
Book towns, which have an unusually high concentration of bookstores, have intrigued Mukherjee since reading Confessions of a Bookseller, set in Wigtown, and Days at the Morisaki Bookstore, set in Jimbocho. The books caused her to wonder about book towns, what it means to read books in them, and how that affects our interactions with books and each other. She designed her original Watson Fellowship project, Reading People & Places: Exploring Book Towns, to pursue her curiosities.
“Ira’s Global Fellowship topic is at once highly original and profoundly personal,” said Professor of Art Véronique Plesch, who chairs Colby’s Watson Selection Committee. “Since, as she notes, book towns are ‘surprisingly underexplored and documented,’ her project will contribute welcome information.”
A ‘mini-Watson’
Mukherjee is the fourth student selected as a Colby Global Fellow. Established in 2022 by former Watson Fellow Joe Meyer ’79, the Colby Global Fellowship is given to the highest-ranked Colby nominee for a Watson Fellowship who did not win a national award. Nicknamed the “mini-Watson,” it allows the winner to pursue a condensed version of their project after graduation.
Even though Mukherjee was disappointed not to have won a Watson Fellowship, winning the Colby Global Fellowship felt personal. She felt validated knowing the Colby Watson Selection Committee thought highly enough of her project to give her the chance to go through with it.
“It’s been really exciting to know that Colby trusts me enough—that the donor trusts me enough—to take advantage of this opportunity,” said Mukherjee, from Acton, Mass. “Colby is my community, so it feels almost like my community is supporting me that way.”
Local literary ecosystems
At the heart of Mukherjee’s project is her belief that while reading is a solitary activity, it also builds community. That’s why placing herself directly in each book town is crucial. Her plan is to volunteer at bookstores in order to interact with the people who come through and begin to understand the local literary ecosystem.
Her choice of bookstores to volunteer at will give her a broad view of each ecosystem. For example, in Wigtown, there is a dedicated science fiction and fantasy bookstore. Volunteering there, as opposed to a general secondhand bookstore, would influence what she thinks about and reads, she said.
Not only will Mukherjee share her passion for books with fellow bibliophiles, but she will also reflect on the economic realities of these book towns. How has Covid-19 changed the book business? What strategies are bookstores using to adapt to online retailers and changing reading habits? Asking these and other questions will allow her to critique the book towns’ resiliency in a shifting, globalized market.
‘It’s been really exciting to know that Colby trusts me enough—that the donor trusts me enough—to take advantage of this opportunity.’
Colby Global Fellow Ira Mukherjee ’25
The other critical piece of her project is looking at both urban and rural book towns and the differences between them. Rural sites became book towns primarily for revenue purposes, relying heavily on tourism, she said. In contrast, urban sites arose organically in response to the environment around them, such as Jimbocho, which is situated near several publishing houses.
In Wigtown and Jimbocho, Mukherjee will document her experiences by writing short biographies of people she meets. And, of course, she will read, primarily the recommendations of people she encounters. In doing so, she will develop her “thinking on the connections between the written word and the space in which we experience it.”
Traveling solo
Even though Mukherjee is somewhat nervous about three months of solo travel, her quick smile and genuine interest in people should put book town denizens at ease.
“Ira is graced with wonderful people skills,” said Plesch, “and I know that her travels will generate meaningful interactions and lasting connections.”
When Mukherjee talks about the Colby Global Fellowship, she said that people’s eyes light up.
“I think it’s just such a cool opportunity that Colby specifically offers,” she said, days before graduation. “I love that I get to tell people that I’m doing this.”
