Max Moorhouse - Alumni Interview
This month, we spoke with alumnus Max Moorhouse, a 2020 graduate who recently started his own bespoke library building consultancy along with a podcast that explores the intersection of place, memory and reading. Max opened up about his experience founding an independent creative project during university, how it led him to helping people discover themselves through books, and all he has learned about himself, and about people, in the process.
Graduating into the midst of the COVID pandemic with limited options, Max found himself a job in library bookselling in his hometown of London. Although excited to have found employment in a career that he loved (he has worked in bookshops on and off since the beginning of university), after nearly four years of working at one of the very few companies that offered this niche service of curating libraries for clients, he decided he needed a change.
After taking the leap and quitting his job at Heywood Hill, in March 2024, Max published the first episode of A Room Of Your Own (AROYO), a podcast dedicated to investigating books and how they function in one’s life, as both objects and memories of place. With a title that aptly evokes the familiar stream of consciousness novel by Virginia Woolf, AROYO is a conceptual experiment that delves into the intricacies of the mind through the lens of reading.
Max guides each guest through the construction of an imaginary library, excavating the architecture of their memories to create a fantastic new world that is entirely their own—and now, too, whoever listens. At some intervals the podcast sounds almost like a visualisation meditation audiobook, both in the subject matter and due to the soothing timbre of Max’s narrations.
At certain points during his studies, he considered pursuing a career in journalism, social work, or diplomacy, but ultimately it was his love for books that claimed the winning bid.
While his degree (International Relations) didn’t necessarily lead him to his current career, Max feels that the friendships he cultivated while at St Andrews, along with the work ethic he developed, helped bring him to this stage in his life.
Max also cites Wax Collective, an electronic music project and events series he co-founded with fellow St Andrews grad Oli McKenzie, as a major influence on the development of his current life path. He believes that the lessons learned from trying to keep a student-run project on an even trajectory—building something from the ground up, and collaborating with people to create an independent, thriving organism that will evolve once you let go of it—has instilled in him a sense of dedication and drive that he wouldn’t have gotten from academia alone.
Describing the ethos behind the podcast, Max explains, “The podcast in general is taken from my experience as a library bookseller, consulting with clients who you develop a relationship with and come to understand what they enjoy. Understanding the intricacies of their life story and what they are interested in and building something in their home that feels like they can engage with it, that is inspiring but also reflects them, is a very revealing and rewarding process.”
Another major motivation behind the decision to embark on this independent career journey comes from Max’s own personal journey with mental health and experiencing different modes of therapy in his teen years. The practice of creating a mental safe space became a method that greatly informed how he approaches conflict in his life, and in turn is the foundation of the mental exercises that take place in each episode of AROYO.
“One process I learned in counseling that really worked for me was the creation of a safe space in your head, which you build from the ground up, is very vivid and imaginative, and you can go there when you want to escape from something.
“In a similar way, books represent that escape. Books represent time to yourself, they represent you giving yourself the opportunity to explore what is important to you. I wanted to join these two things and broaden them, because the world of libraries is quite often seen as inaccessible, and tied to wealth. It occurred to me that there was something similar in both [creating libraries and creating mental safe spaces], where you are trying to build something, creating space for yourself that feels completely yours, and where you feel understood but also inspired.”
When asked which three books he wished he could read again for the first time, he lists any of the Patrick Melrose novels by Edward St Aubyn, The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson, and A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean.
On the subject of goals for the future, Max is quick to mention his desire to move to New York - in addition to getting his library building business off the ground. Lastly, In terms of career advice for new and recent graduates, Max says that embracing the scariness of doing something new and moving past the mental block of uncertainty goes a long way in getting you where you want to be in life.
“For the last four or five years, I could count on one hand the number of times I felt like I was doing something new and self-backed and exciting. Chasing that feeling of ‘fear,’ as long as it’s still fun, will benefit you.”
Need a bespoke library curated for your home or place of work? Connect with Max to build your dream library at the links below - and don’t miss A Room Of Your Own, which releases new episodes weekly.
https://www.instagram.com/aroyo.pod/
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a-room-of-your-own/id1738694031
