Book shops

Centre for the Book, photo courtesy Ian Wilson

What’s the good of a holiday without a good book? There’s no shortage of great book shops in Cape Town where bookworms can while away the hours and browse at their leisure.

A culture of reading
The mission of the Centre for the Book (www.nlsa.ac.za/center_for_the_book) is to promote a culture of reading, writing and publishing in all South Africa’s languages, and provide easy access to books for all South Africans. To this end, the centre focuses on book development, providing information and advice, and performing an advocacy role. The centre highlights the importance of reading for all South Africans by organising and promoting book-related activities.

Activities
Reading-related activities such as poetry readings, conferences, book launches, writing groups and writing workshops for teachers, youth and children also form part of this initiative.

Website
The centre’s website, Small Publisher’s Blog, Writer’s Network Blog, e-groups and newsgroups provide resources for gathering and disseminating information on books, reading, writing, publishing, libraries, book-selling and related issues.

With a heritage dating back to 1956, Clarke’s Bookshop (www.clarkesbooks.co.za) in the Cape Town city centre specialises in new, used and out-of-print books on Southern Africa, in addition to a wide range of second-hand books covering a variety of topics.

The staff at the Book Lounge (www.booklounge.co.za) pride themselves on their wide and unusual range of books at their Cape Town city centre store. Drop in for a mouth-watering coffee and chill in the lounge with your choice from the eclectic selection of books. If you’re looking for a book the Book Lounge doesn’t have in stock, the company will endeavour to get it for you.

Something for the kids
Children aged 3 to 8 gather on Saturday mornings at 11h00 for story time in the Book Lounge. This is a great way to instil a love of reading in your children.

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