‘You are my hero’: Tom Hanks hails Edinburgh bookshop owner for keeping typewriters alive

Actor Tom Hanks has hailed an Edinburgh bookshop owner as his ‘hero’ for keeping the love of typewriters alive.

Left, Tom Hodges, who owns Typewronger Books, in Edinburgh (Picture: Instagram @typewronger), and right, Hollywood superstar Tom Hanks.

Tom Hodges, 35, owns Typewronger Books on Haddington Place, and repairs the machines as well as selling books.

The business started up in Paris while Tom stayed at a legendary bookstore in the French capital after graduating from university, before returning to Scotland.

Tom has had a lifelong fascination with mechanical typewriters that started in childhood, and took one to the University of St Andrews while studying for a Classics degree between 2004 and 2008.

But a trip to bohemian Paris where Tom slept at Shakespeare and Company – the iconic English-language bookseller on the Left Bank that has hosted readings by literary legends including Allen Ginsberg and James Joyce – prompted them to learn how to repair typewriters.

All the typewriters in the poky bookshop were broken in 2012 so Tom watched YouTube videos to learn how to repair them – before launching 'Typewronger, Paris'.

Tom, who returned to Scotland in 2017 and opened the business in Edinburgh, counts screwball comedy You've Got Mail, starring Hanks, as one of his all-time favourite flicks as it is about a bookseller.

In August, Tom penned a letter Hanks, who is also a well-known typewriter enthusiast.

Hanks replied to the letter saying Tom was “my hero”, and included various reasons for using typewriters.

The eclectic reasons included ‘The communists are back in power', 'You are just too thickheaded to figure out a computer' and 'Typewriter = Chick Magnet'.

Hanks wrote on letter paper from an upcoming Baz Lurhman biopic about Elvis Presley, in which he plays manager Tom Parker.

The two-time Oscar-winning actor, whose biggest film roles include Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan, Toy Story and Philadelphia, said Tom's life sounded like “something out of Hemingway”.

The letter said: “And now, you battle the giants to sell the best of books - and keep typewriters alive.

“Did I tell you that you are my hero?”

Tom said: “The letterhead comes from the Elvis biopic, so that was pretty cool.

“In typewriting circles, it's always good to have cool stationery.

“It was about a third of the way through the letter before I realised what it was.

“It was really good of him to write back and it was a lovely warm letter.

“All kinds of people write in and if they write in a real physical letter then they always get a real physical reply.

“I wrote a letter two months ago and told him about the shop, about my life, and about this exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland called the Typewriter Revolution.

“I thought he might be interested because I knew he is a typewriter fanatic.

“I always say to people 'you really should send letters to folk, a lot of people do write back'.

“People write to me from all over the world and I write back.

“But if it's something more urgent, then I also send an email."

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