Houston is a book-lover’s paradise. The city hosts festivals, author readings, book clubs, and poetry slams year-round; houses first-rate libraries and bookstores; and offers a myriad of community reading and writing programs. Neighborhood standouts include the River Oaks Bookstore and the Blue Willow Bookshop in Memorial as well as Nuestra Palabra Arts & Books, a bookstore promoting Latino literature located in the Talento Bilingüe de Houston community center in the Second Ward cultural district.

While every Houston neighborhood has something to offer, bibliophiles are guaranteed to find their niche in these four literary neighborhoods.

University Place

Rice University's Fondren Library photo courtesy of Leonard Lane 

University Place is home to three essential Houston bookerys. First, there’s Brazos Bookstore, an indie bookstore locally owned by 27 Houstonians who banded together to save the beloved store in 2006. Brazos partners with Inprint Houston, the University of Houston Creative Writing Program, the Academy of American Poets, and other organizations to hold author readings and book signings. Stop by for an individualized book recommendation or join the Brazos Book Club. Located across from Brazos, Murder by the Book caters to the the city’s mystery-minded contingent. The bookstore specializes in mystery and crime writing, and it has hosted the genre’s most prolific authors. Lastly, Rice University’s Fondren Library, which is publicly accessible, has an in-house collection of over 14,000 journals and 2 million volumes.

Montrose

Mandell Park in Montrose

Montrose has a flourishing literary scene. Rudyard's Pub is a frequent venue for the Gulf Coast Reading Series, and Poison Girl’s enclosed patio is the site of the Poison Pen Reading Series which spotlights work by local poets, fiction writers, non-fiction writers, and dramatists.

The Inprint Book Club meets the second Saturday of each month to read and discuss books by authors from The Margarett Root Brown Reading Series. For poetry-lovers, the First Friday Reading Series is the oldest poetry series in Houston. After a featured poet reads, a community open mic follows. Both the book club and poetry reading take place at Inprint House on West Main in Montrose.

An homage to Montrose’s LGBTQ residents past and present, the Freed Montrose Library organizes Drag Queen storytime, a jovial event celebrating dress-up, acceptance, and love. The African American Library at Gregory School is a special collection branch of the Houston Public Library that houses rare books, archives, and artifacts relating to the history and culture of African Americans in and around Houston. The Menil Bookstore, which operates in connection with The Menil Collection Museum, includes books dedicated to art, architecture, and design. Also on the Menil grounds, MenilFest is an annual arts and literature festival that features performances, readings, poetry buskers who type poems on the spot for passersby, and The Gulf Coast Indie Book Fair presenting independent authors, literary journals, and publishers.

Downtown

Downtown's Discovery Green

On Saturdays, Downtown’s Discovery Green has young writers workshops provided by WITS Houston, an organization dedicated to introducing children to the art of reading and writing. Discovery Green also hosts youth poetry performances and readings. The central branch and flagship facility of the Houston Public Library is located downtown. HPL offers a variety of programming including storytimes and book clubs for all ages and interests.

The annual Houston Poetry Festival is held each fall at UH Downtown. Currently in its 33rd year, the Houston Poetry Festival is the oldest continually running poetry fest in the city. Comicpalooza, another annual festival held Downtown, is an event showcasing comics and graphic novels as well as YA, fantasy, horror, and sci-fi literature. Previous guests of the festival have included John Cusack, Krysten Ritter, and Levar Burton.

Third Ward

MD Anderson Library at University of Houston photo courtesy of Fisher uhoustonlib

The University of Houston’s literature and creative writing program is very active in the community. Located in the Third Ward, UH organizes on-campus Poetry & Prose readings by faculty, students, alumni, and local writers. Inprint's renowned Brown Reading Series takes place at UH in the fall and at Rice University in the spring. Juggernauts of the literary world conduct readings and participate in on-stage interviews and book signings. The University of Houston is also the site of the International Literature Festival, a free two-day event presented by Casa Cultural de las Americas. The International Literature Festival exhibits diverse works from U.S. and Latin American authors.