Martin Latham

Martin Latham is Waterstones’ longest-serving manager. Appointed by Tim Waterstone, Martin has run the legendary Canterbury branch since it opened in 1990. He is proud to have commissioned the excavation of the floor of a Roman bath in his bookshop, paying for it with the largest amount of small change ever spent at Waterstones. Martin is a regular columnist for The Bookseller magazine, and is the author of The Strangest Tales of Kent and the Oxford Guide to 20th-Century Literature. His second book, Londonopolis, was published in 2014. His ode to books, The Bookseller’s Tale, was published in 2020 and named Book of the Year by The Spectator and the Evening Standard. Martin holds a PhD in Indian history from King’s College London, is married, and has five children and three adopted children.