For Kenny Leck, nothing beats the sight of one of his books in the hands of another, sometimes as far away as Iceland. The owner of independent bookshop BooksActually recalled how one of the chapbooks he had published, a collection of plays by Verena Tay titled Victimology, had found its way to a backpacker hostel in the Nordic country.

How it got there is anybody’s guess, though it is not surprising when one considers the bespectacled, spiky-haired bookworm’s dogged determination to promote books and the culture of reading the past 10 years; whether it is by publishing local literature, sneaking titles into barbershops and beauty salons, organising pop-ups and book fairs, or holding all-night literary events at his bookstore.

It has been an eventful decade for BooksActually, which is marking its anniversary with next week’s exhibition at The Substation. Simply titled 10 Years Of BooksActually, the show’s archival photos and artefacts aim to recreate the various locations the bookstore he co-founded with Karen Wai back in 2005 called home, from its early years in a shophouse on Telok Ayer Street, to its digs at Ann Siang Hill and Club Street (which briefly housed BooksActually’s non-fiction sister bookstore Polymath & Crust), as well as its current home of five years on Yong Siak Street in Tiong Bahru.

The exhibition will also include a few of Leck’s box art assemblages, which he has been making and exhibiting when time permits. And, yes, since this is a show by a bookstore, books and other stuff (including the artefacts on display) will be on sale to raise funds for the store.

Through the years, the bookstore has become a popular haunt for writers, book-lovers and all sorts of creative types (not to mention cat lovers, thanks to its popular resident felines Cake, Pico and Lemon, which also have their own Facebook page).

But the physical bookstore is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to BooksActually’s support for the local scene. Its publishing imprint, Math Paper Press, has released at least 140 titles to date. (Incidentally, a special edition of the very first book published under the imprint, author Cyril Wong’s The Boy With The Flower That Grew Out Of His Ass, will also be launched at the exhibition.)

As inspiring as all this sounds, BooksActually has had its fair share of ups and downs, and much of it has had to do with the rising cost of rent, which Leck describes as “a monster lurking behind our heads”.

While there has been a semblance of comparative stability in Tiong Bahru, where they have been based since 2011, Leck’s ultimate aim is to purchase a commercial property to call their own after the lease runs out in 2017.

“We’ve never had this much retail success but it has also taught us a lot, that there’s still more to be done,” he said.

Running an independent bookstore can be tough: Leck said he has not taken a salary for the past 10 years and, instead, relies on meal and transport allowance. Ditto his partner and bookstore manager Renee Ting for the past three years. The idea of off days, too, is alien to the couple and the store’s hardworking staff; the bookstore closes only once a year, during Christmas. (Although this year, Leck and Ting were able to go on a staycation, a gift from friends and loyal supporters who took over the shop so they could have a breather.)

It can be mentally and physically tiring, admitted Leck, “but we do get a lot of joy — it feels like Christmas whenever the books come in. And it’s not work, it’s a part of our lives”.

The exhibition 10 Years Of BooksActually runs from Nov 18 to Nov 22, 10am to 8pm, at The Substation Gallery, 45 Armenian Street.

BooksActually is located at 9 Yong Siak Street, Tiong Bahru. For more info, visit http://booksactually.com.