Rather than pursue the high powered and lucrative career that her undergraduate degree in Anthropology promised, Michelle Sproule instead chose a part-time gig in a second-hand bookstore in order to support her appetite for reading.

While flogging used books, Michelle became increasingly enamoured with the book as an ‘object of art’ and undertook an apprenticeship in the restoration of fine books and paper. After several years working in a Victoria book bindery, she moved east to bolster her practical experience with academic knowledge, entering grad school at the University of Toronto to study Rare Books and Manuscripts.

In order to pay for her studies (and a warm coat), she toiled for antiquarian book dealers and in the research department at The Globe & Mail. Moving to Vancouver six years later (2002), she took a position at a public library and resumed work with book restoration on the side.

So basically, she’s a girl who really likes books. She likes reading them and collecting them, making them and fixing them. She likes writing about them on occasion, too.

In her free time Michelle wanders aimlessly through the shops and streets of Vancouver with a camera. “I love floating around the city, just checking out what people are doing. Local, small scale, independent gigs run by people with passion truly inspire me”.