Photo via portkeybooks/Facebook
Portkey Books in Safety Harbor, Florida.
This weekend, shops across the Bay area celebrate Indie Bookstore Day on Saturday, April 27. To help you get your read on and find a new favorite bookstore, we’ve complied some of the best Indie Bookstore Day events happening in Tampa Bay.
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Oxford Exchange South Tampa’s most beautiful bookstore stays open late ahead of Indie Bookstore day for a celebration of local authors. A full author list for the 10th annual book fair is still pending, but Oxford Exchange promises more than 40 of them across all genres and will keep the champagne and coffee bar open, too. Thursday, April 25. 6 p.m.- 9 p.m. No cover, but RSVP required. 420 W Kennedy Blvd., Tampa. oxfordexchange.com
Black English For its first Indie Bookstore Day as a shop owner of a shop that celebrates Black authors (with half of the stock dedicated to children), Tampa City Councilwoman Gwen Henderson is giving away Columbia sangria to anyone of age (she carries the famed restaurant’s sangria mix in store). There’ll be a raffle for gift cards (at least $50 worth), a sale on cookbooks, and maybe a photobooth. Saturday, April 27. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. No cover. 401 E Oak Ave., Tampa. @blackenglishbookstore on Instagram
Book + Bottle Wine and books are fantastic bedfellows, and this weekend the shop promises to party hard with live music from 1 p.m.-3 p.m. and then literary aura readings from 5 p.m.-7 p.m., and bookish activities all day (scavenger hunts, bookmark making, etc.). Saturday, April 27. 10 a.m.- 9 p.m. 17 6th St. N, St. Petersburg. bookandbottlestpete.com
Bookstore 1 Sixteen local authors including Alice Abyss, Tampa’s Evan P. Bennett, and St. Petersburg’s Kerry Kriseman are part of the book fair at this shop which offers the latest and greatest in new books as well as community events, book clubs. Saturday, April 27. 10 a.m.-1 p.m. No cover, RSVP requested. 117 S Pineapple Ave., Sarasota. sarasotabooks.com
Crash Books The pop-up bookstore at Lakeland’s Somos Church isn’t usually open on Saturdays, but give sit a whirl for a few hours this weekend. Saturday, April 27. 9 a.m.-1 p.m. 3125 Bartow Rd., Lakeland. @crash_bookshop on Instagram
Mojo Books & Records Record Store Day (RSD) was last weekend, and the party keeps going at Mojo, which is home to the largest indie new and used bookstore in Tampa. Staff promises it’ll be way calmer than RSD. Saturday, April 27. 11 a.m.- 8 p.m. 2554 E Fowler Ave., Tampa. mojotampa.com
The Paperback Exchange Pasco County’s favorite bookstore celebrates 45 years in the business this year with BOGO deals and used and rare titles, two-for-a-dollar tent deals, discounts, and more all to raise money to send books to service people overseas via Operation Paperback. Thursday-Saturday, noon- 8 p.m. No cover. 6412 Ridge Rd., Port Richey. paperbackexchangebookstore.com
Portkey Books What is perhaps Tampa Bay’s smallest local bookshop will have dragons and donuts for a 10 a.m. meeting of the “Iron Flame” book club, then croissants for an 11:15 a.m. meeting of the “House of Flame and Shadow” book club. Iced coffee and iced tea are included in your ticket. Saturday, April 27. $7 each. 404 Main St., Safety Harbor. portkeybooks.com
Tombolo Books Tampa Bay’s gem of an indie bookstore goes all out and gets started just in time for parents (10:30 a.m.) thanks to a special reading from Peru-born young adult author Natalia Sylvester who’ll have her new picture book, “A Maleta Full of Treasures,” in tow. Cast from Sheila Cowley’s Sparks Collaborative Ensemble will perform the playwright’s “When the Tuba Shows Up, It's a Party" in the courtyard during the afternoon, while the rest of the shop slings limited-edition merch, stages a kids’ book sale and serves Mammamia gelato, too. Saturday, April 27. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tombolo Books, 2153 1st Ave. S, St. Petersburg. No cover. tombolobooks.com
The Unbound Bookery Lakeland spent the week doing a big citywide indie bookstore book crawl, and if there are any books left, Unbound owner Sandi Silverman says the shop will offer a 20% discount on books featured in the crawl. Saturday, April 27. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. No cover. theunboundbookery.com
Wilson’s Book World The oldest bookstore still open in St. Petersburg offers buy-one-get-one-free on cookbooks all day. Saturday, April 27. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. No cover. 535 16th St. N, St. Petersburg. wilsonsbookworld.com
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