VI
EN
Bellprat, Catalonia, Spain
The small village of Bellprat is located in the beautiful countryside of Anoia, Catalonia, just 90 km from Barcelona. Bellprat is renowned as a small town that still retains its medieval architecture and culture. It's also known as the first book town in Catalonia. The locals are enthusiastic about running bookstores and always welcome tourists and book lovers.
The first week of June is when the villagers excitedly celebrate the region's traditional festival. During this time, temporary houses are transformed into secondhand bookstores, offering a wide variety of books to tourists. Books are displayed on small stalls outside the covered market. For outsiders, reading here isn't easy, as these books are written in Catalan, a language of Catalonia. Importantly, the proceeds from book sales during this event are donated to a food bank to support the homeless and low-income families in the area.
One of the must-see tourist attractions is the Cal Pinyota Hotel. It's one of the most famous hotels in Bellprat. The hotel boasts medieval European architecture combined with bookshelves organized by subject. Here, you can find books on detective novels, historical fiction, and travel.
Bellprat Book Town operates as a community-run, self-service book town with over 20,000 titles – an impressive number for a town with a population of less than 100 people. Visitors can both explore the sights and find great books here.
Fontenoy-la-Joûte, France
The town of Fontenoy-la-Joûte is located 100 km west of the famous French port city of Strasbourg. Before becoming a book town, it had no connection to the literary world and no bookstores.
In 1994, to promote books and encourage more reading among the local population, the "Friends of Books" club was established. Thanks to the efforts of a group of enthusiastic individuals, including former French Minister of Agriculture François Guillaume and the town mayor Jean-Marie Vanot, the town of books was born two years later. Eighteen bookstores opened on weekends or holidays in April, and many more opened in the summer of 1996. In four years, 24 buildings were renovated for book-related purposes. At its peak, the town had 23 bookstores and organized its first book fair in 1994, attracting over 11,000 visitors as well as booksellers from France, Belgium, and Luxembourg.
To this day, the town still has 10 bookstores and a calligraphy shop called L'encre et l'Image on Rue Saint-Pierre, which attracts traveling art fairs such as Apprentiss'ART, showcasing origami creations made from old book pages, held in 2016. For the past two decades, the town has hosted annual writing competitions. The list of winners is published in a booklet.
Hay-on-Wye, Wales
Hay-on-Wye is known as a peaceful little town located on the border between England and Wales, famous for its beautiful scenery and green spaces. After World War II, Hay-on-Wye was gradually falling into disrepair as people moved to other cities, causing a significant decline in the town's economy. However, things changed thanks to the Book Town movement initiated by Richard Booth in 1960.
He planned to open secondhand bookstores stocked with a full range of famous works. These antique-style bookstores, featuring thousands of books across various fields, quickly attracted people from surrounding towns to visit and buy books.
From then on, people began to recognize the economic and tourism potential of a book town. They started returning and opening new bookstores there. Over time, Hay-on-Wye became a town famous for books, antiques, souvenirs, and especially valuable old books.
The town is also the birthplace of the Hay Festival of Literature & Arts, a literary and arts festival that attracts hundreds of thousands of authors, publishers, and book lovers to visit literary exhibitions and shop. First held in 1988, the Hay Festival of Literature & Arts was described by Bill Clinton in 2001 as "the intellectual Woodstock." Today, the festival has expanded and in recent years has also included musical performances and film screenings.
What makes this town special is that each bookstore is like a world of its own, decorated in different colors ranging from romantic and cozy to quirky. Sometimes, you might even feel like you've stepped into a surreal world within one of these bookstores. In addition, the town also has many craft shops selling unique traditional English and Welsh souvenirs for tourists.
The bookshelves set up outdoors in Hay-on-Wye are often unattended, making them a wonderfully interesting place known as "Honesty Bookshops." People simply choose books and drop the money into a small box.
While exploring the town, you can also discover art galleries and the Brecon Beacons National Park. You can also rent a bicycle to cycle around the town and enjoy the beautiful, peaceful scenery.
Gold Cities, California, USA
Inspired by the Hay-on-Wye book town, Gary Stollery and John Hardy of California founded Gold Cities Book Town in 1997. In fact, this book town stretches four miles north from Grass Valley to Nevada City, with satellite bookstores near Penn Valley, North San Juan, and Lake Pines, comprising over 30 bookstores of varying sizes.
Despite a promising start, and an annual book fair held in the town, the number of bookstores has declined over the years. In Nevada, Mr. Stollery runs a bookstore called Toad Hall Books. Mr. Hardy's bookstore, on the other hand, is only open by appointment and specializes in books about the American West and California, most of which are not available online.
Lilleputthammer, Norway
Lilleputthammer is a small town in the Storgata region of Lillehammer, Norway. The town is famous for its bookstores catering specifically to young people, especially children. Lilleputthammer was built as a miniature park, perfectly sized for children, starting in 1930. Each shop and street is decorated to resemble the city of Lillehammer, creating a unique and impressive atmosphere for tourists. Therefore, Lilleputthammer always attracts many families with young children who come to experience a miniature town designed for kids.
In Lilleputthammer, there are over 15,000 books covering a wide range of subjects for children. Even more impressive, these books are categorized and divided into different sections corresponding to age groups. Within each section, the books are further divided into categories such as fairy tales, animal world, nature, life, environmental protection, etc. Children can freely read books in each section or even on the town's streets.
Lilleputthammer offers a full range of services for tourists, including 40 bookstores and souvenir shops. The town also has two hotels, a café and pastry shop, a police station, and a cinema. Therefore, families traveling here can easily find playgrounds for children, and tourist attractions and relaxation areas for parents.
St. Pierre de Clages, Switzerland
The town of St. Pierre de Clages, located on the outskirts of Chamoson in southern Switzerland, is known as the only book town in Switzerland built during the Middle Ages. The town is famous for its bookstores and libraries containing valuable antique books. When visiting St. Pierre de Clages, you'll easily spot books displayed everywhere as you stroll through the town. The bookstores are always open, welcoming tourists and book lovers alike.
Visitors to St. Pierre de Clages shouldn't miss the annual August Book Festival organized by the "Fête du Livre" association, which aims to gather input for the town's overall development. The festival attracts over 100 publishers and authors, along with more than 20,000 attendees. The festival offers a diverse range of books, from literature, history, and science to captivating comic books.
Besides its impressive bookstores, the town of Saint-Pierre-de-Clages also attracts tourists with its beautiful scenery and distinctive medieval architecture. You can stroll around the village to admire the buildings and castles constructed in the 1700s and 1800s. Don't miss the Romanesque church built in the 11th century and the wine cellars to learn more about medieval European culture.
Montereggio, Italy
The tradition of selling books on the hilltops of Montereggio in Tuscany has been maintained for centuries. In 1471, the town's first printing press was established. In the late 1490s, the first bookstore opened. One hundred years later, the villagers earned their living selling books from a mobile cart. They carried woven baskets full of books to markets and fairs in central and northern Italy.
But as the number and weight of the books increased, the sellers turned to using handcarts or horses. Around the time of Italian reunification, intellectuals and wealthy members of society became frequent customers of Montereggio. They sought out banned books brought back from abroad by itinerant booksellers. According to one village bookseller, the most sought-after books were those by authors such as Mazzini, D'Azzeglio, Cattaneo, Rossetti, Pellico, and Balbo, as well as works by Macchiavelli and Voltaire.
Although the village now has only 50 residents, the August book fair and the prestigious Silent Book Contest are still held regularly every year. In 1952, Montereggio had the honor of hosting Italy's leading literary award, the Premio Bancarella.
Óbidos, Portugal
Óbidos is a historic town nestled on a beautiful hilltop. In the heart of the town is a small, walled medieval quarter. This quaint town is filled with cobblestone streets and traditional houses. It was once famous for its annual chocolate festival and as the birthplace of ginjinha cherry wine. Later, José Pinho, owner of the bookstore Lisboa Ler Devagar (Slow Reading), conceived the idea of transforming Óbidos into a book town.
Óbidos stands out from most other book towns in that there are no additional bookstores within the town itself. The existing shops in the town add bookshelves to their merchandise displays. So, you'll find art books for sale at local art galleries, cookbooks behind the fresh fruit and vegetable counters at grocery stores, and similarly, books in history museums, interior design firms, and other similar establishments.
A grocery store has a shelf of cookbooks behind the fresh fruit and vegetable counter.
The Literary Man hotel on Rua Dom João de Ornelas, run by former mayor Telmo Faria, is extremely popular with tourists. He has brilliantly combined the hotel business with selling literary books: He sells approximately 50,000 books in just 30 hotel rooms.
The Literary Man hotel has 30 rooms and 50,000 books.
One of the finest bookstores is the Grande Livraria de Santiago, located inside the town's 13th-century church, next to Óbidos Castle. Books in various languages are stacked on the old altar, with bookshelves replacing the ceremonial platform. Estrada dos Casais Brancos, formerly a primary school, was Portugal's first bookstore selling only children's books.
Óbidos is also home to the Folio International Literary Festival, attracting renowned authors such as Salman Rushdie and VS Naipaul, and hosting reading competitions, concerts, and film screenings. In the near future, the town plans to transform abandoned houses into workspaces for writers, artists, and other creatives.
Paju, South Korea
Paju Book Town is nothing but bookstores, printing houses, and book cafes. Every building, every resident in this city is dedicated to writing, publishing, selling, and promoting Korean books.
This is also the book town with the harshest natural environment. Originally, it was a flood-prone, marshy plain reclaimed near the demilitarized zone and just miles from the North Korean border. The town's founders always emphasized the importance of putting the common good above personal gain. The city's core mission is printing. They wanted to build the city to alleviate the burden on the overgrowing city of Seoul.
Mimesis Art Museum in Paju
Since 1989, leading international architects and designers have transformed Paju into a unique destination. A traditional Korean hanok house was built in the heart of the city, ensuring that Paju harmonizes with its surroundings. Quiet streets, greenery, a peaceful, car-free atmosphere with wooden benches, and other interesting features like a miniature railway running around the children's bookstore Alice's House have made the town an unusually tranquil place.
Foresta Bookstore
Book cafes are everywhere, including the famous Hesse Cafe on the third floor of the Pinocchio Museum. The expansive Foresta Bookstore is a cultural arts complex occupying three floors of the museum. The space is overflowing with books, allowing visitors to sip coffee while admiring the towering bookshelves that reach from floor to ceiling.
Currently, there are approximately 250 publishing houses based in Paju, employing 10,000 people. These employees often live in other cities and commute to Paju by bus. The city is divided into three districts: a publishing district, a printing district, and a support district. Books are sold on the ground floor of publishing companies and in bookstores. Along with the annual Booksori Book Festival, which attracts up to half a million visitors with a week-and-a-half-long series of events, there are also the Paju Book Awards for Asian writers, editors, and designers to promote the region's culture.
Forest of Wisdom Library
The Forest of Wisdom complex boasts 8-meter-high shelving and a collection of 50,000 books, many of which are contributed by scholars and experts. It also includes a hotel, allowing visitors to read 24 hours a day. Presentations and book clubs are held throughout the year. In May, Paju hosts a children's book festival.
Torup, Denmark
Like many other ancient book towns in Europe, Torup also features buildings in the style of the Middle Ages. On the other hand, a part of the town has been newly built according to an eco-friendly model to serve the purpose of tourism development.
Sustainable eco-houses in Torup eco-village
In 2006, Peter Plant, who became the town's chairman, decided to develop Torup into a book town combined with tourism to attract visitors. Every summer, the town holds a book festival with the participation of thousands of writers and publishers, showcasing a large number of books across a wide range of genres. Each year, the town welcomes hundreds of thousands of tourists for sightseeing and relaxation.
A cart carrying books in the town of Torup.
The highlight of Torup Book Town is the book wagons placed right along the roadside, catering to all readers. Books are arranged by genre on these covered wagons. You can stop by the roadside to read any book you like.
An old warehouse was renovated into a bookstore.
In addition, the town has also begun building small, uniquely designed bookstores repurposed from abandoned houses, shacks, and even in front of churches. Every year, the town also holds seminars to facilitate interaction and sharing between writers and readers.
Bredevoort, Netherlands
Bredevoort is located in the Aalten region of the Netherlands, near the border with Germany. In 2003, Bredevoort became a book town, boasting around 30 bookstores and book-related businesses at its peak. It was a founding member of the International Book Organization. Today, the number of bookstores and businesses has been halved.
Henk Ruessink, a local teacher and historian, is the man behind transforming Bredevoort into a book town after the town's medieval center underwent a significant restoration. Inspired by a trip to Hay-on-Wye, and with the support of the local authorities, he contacted hundreds of booksellers in Germany and the Netherlands to organize a special day to promote the book town concept.
In this town, most bookstores specialize in a particular subject. The English Bookshop sells history, English literature, and illustrated books. The Scrinium Bookstore sells books in Greek and Latin. The Old Motor Bookshop displays its books in cars and tractors. The Boek en Zo Bookstore sells books on mathematics, physics, chemistry, astronomy, medicine, and biology.
The town also boasts many honest bookstores. For example, the open-air bookstore Horus Huiskamertheatertje, on Hozenstraat. Inside the bookstore is a theater, considered the smallest in the Netherlands, with only 14 seats. Storytellers, poets, and musicians often perform there. The Chartae Laudes bookstore, on Koppelstraat, specializes in restoring, binding, and selling handcrafted decorative paper, and is particularly unique because it only opens on the third Saturday afternoon of the month and by appointment.
The third Saturday of each month is a special day for the town, as there is a book market in the square, featuring artistic performances of stacking books. The May and August book fairs have become a town tradition, attracting booksellers from Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands, and another fair at Easter offers discounted books. Bredevoort is also home to a thriving network of book cafes, starting from the town's old Koppelkerk church and spreading throughout the city.
Kolkata, India
In the late 18th century, thanks to the East India Company's development of local industry and trade, Kolkata became a major printing center. The city has preserved that tradition to this day. The Kolkata International Book Fair, established in 1976, is now the world's largest book fair.
College Street is a corner in the north of Kolkata. It has transformed itself into a book-buying haven, known locally as Boi Para (Colon of Books). It's the world's largest used book market, stretching approximately 1.5 km from Mahatma Gandhi Road to Ganesh Chandra Avenue, featuring a series of street stalls, traditional bookstores, publishers, and educational institutions.
You'll find many bookstores that have been around for over 100 years. The books are mostly popular, especially textbooks, but there are also novels and science books, leaflets and other publications, written primarily in Hindi and English. The streets are crowded, chaotic, and bustling, creating a vibrant and colorful place.
This neighborhood is notable for the National Bookstore, Dasgupta & Co (the first bookstore on College Street, established in 1886), and the Bani Library (a family-run business for five generations). One of the most famous landmarks along College Street is the Indian Cafe, across from Presidential University. It's one shop in a chain of shops. It has a long history and is a meeting place for intellectuals, artists, and politicians, as well as local students.
