“I wish I had a bookstore like this growing up—a place to find queer stories and discover books that seem like they were written just for me. It feels like a little literary utopia.” —Genevieve Hudson, author of Boys of Alabama

Good for: Running into Tin House authors (the publisher is next door), LGBTQ+ reads, books about social change, book launches, local titles.

“Books are much more than commodities here—they’re honored as reasons to think and wonder, and to assemble with others in solidarity, resistance, and delight. I always leave feeling a little less despairing about the world.” —Leni Zumas, author of Red Clocks

Good for: Brilliantly curated fiction and poetry, a friendly space. 

“I walk past its windows daily, and in them are often books I’ve forgotten about or haven’t seen in a while, and it makes me smile.” —Anis Mojgani, Oregon poet laureate and author of The Tigers, They Let Me

Good for: New and used craft- and textile-focused books, African American literature, trading yarn for books, or vice versa.

“A sidewalk cart of used books beckons toward a winding garden pathway littered with more carts of books. Inside, a mix of used and new that feels like wandering the shelves of a favorite professor’s house.” —Erica Berry, author of Wolfish

Good for: The sun-dappled courtyard, a tasteful mountain of prose and poetry.

“In a city that I love, and a very white city, it is empowering, encouraging, healing, to walk into a space that was made with you in mind. We’re not just a shelf, a section, or a Black History Month display; the whole store is our stories.” —Renée Watson, author of skin & bones and Piecing Me Together

Good for: Titles across the Black diaspora for all ages, on- and off-site author events.

“Portland needed a shop like this for quite a long time, one that specializes just in cookbooks and places them in the bigger context of cooking.” —Jonathan Kauffman, author of Hippie Food and the newsletter “A Place Is a Gift”

Good for: A glass of wine, cooking classes, new and used food books and housewares, readings from local and national cookbook authors, the secret garden.

“This woman-owned shop fostering a true community of book lovers of all ages. They’re always dreaming up new and inventive ways to support local artists and writers.” —Chelsea Bieker, author of Godshot and Madwoman (out September 3)

Good for: Small-scale events and classes, a cultivated selection of recent titles (for kids, too!).

“It’s a warren of time-softened books and beat-up Persian carpets modeled loosely after Paris’s Shakespeare and Company—it’s great. You’ll find stuff in the piles that you never knew existed, which is what a bookstore is for. It’s like the opposite of an algorithm.” —Jon Raymond, author of Denial, co-screenwriter of Showing Up and the miniseries Mildred Pierce

Good for: The occasional backroom art gallery, Grapefruits; daydreaming in a romantic shambles; twentieth-century literature, philosophy, and criticism.

“Books and an art gallery under one roof? I guess it’s not a new idea, but no one else stocks so much of the kind of work I love: literature about art and being an artist, Rachel Cusk to Alexander Chee to Miranda July.” —Leah Dieterich, author of Vanishing Twins and thxthxthx

Good for: Artist monographs, ceramic trinkets, top-notch gallery programming, its lustrous space-blanket curtains.

“I have to set a time limit on my visits because I know I’ll end up chatting with whoever’s behind the register for an hour. That’s what I want from my bookstore: community. Writing is lonely work; places like Broadway offer an antidote.” —Omar El Akkad, author of American War and What Strange Paradise

Good for: Booksellers who love what they do, cozy readings, all genres of new and used books. 

"It’s the quintessential independent bookstore relationship: booksellers—many are writers for young readers—give the most zoomed-in recommendations based on age group and what the child you’re shopping for is already interested in.” —Dane Liu, author of LaoLao’s Dumplings

Good for: Coordinating author events for your kid’s school, local and national children’s author readings, getting the very book your young reader deserves and needs.