Scotland’s National Book Town wants you—to work in their bookstore. Billing itself as a “unique project that invites writers, artists and thinkers to Scotland’s book town to run a bookshop for a short period of time,” the Open Book Residency in Wigstock, Scotland is “designed to bring new creative talent to Wigtown and to raise awareness of issues facing booksellers everywhere.”

The Bookseller spoke with the program’s director:

The Open Book project will invite interested parties to apply to live in and run a local bookshop, renamed The Open Book, for a period of up to six weeks. Anyone is invited to apply, with preference given to artists, writers, thinkers, and “bibliophiles”. Participants will be given a crash course in bookselling and will be asked to contribute to a blog outlining their experiences, as well as keeping the shop open for a set number of hours a week.

Adrian Turpin, director of the Wigtown Festival Company, which is running the project, explained: “For many booklovers, the idea of running a bookshop is a dream. But it can be a tough lifestyle and one that demands dedication and inventiveness, as the many bookshops in Scotland’s Book Town show.”

Wigtown, officially designated Scotland’s National Book Town in 1998, boasts that it’s home to “over 20 book-related businesses,” including new and used bookshops that together offer over a quarter of a million books for sale, and at least one publisher. The countryside town’s inaugural Wigtown Book Festival was in 1999, and The Bookseller writes that it’s now one of the largest literature festivals in Scotland, second only to Edinburgh. The festival’s website has more:

Wigtown is a traditional market town, set in the beautiful countryside of Dumfries & Galloway, south-west Scotland. It is also Scotland’s National Book Town, a designation that reflects its dozen or so secondhand bookshops and annual literary festival.

Founded in 1999, the 10-day Wigtown Book Festival is now one of the UK’s best-loved literary events and this year has more than 175 events and activities for all ages, including music, theatre, food and visual arts. The Guardian has called it “the sort of festival people become possessive about”.

If you’re interested in applying to run the shop, you can email [email protected].