BOOKSTORES WE LOVE
(& THE ONES YOU DO TOO)
We love books, and therefore, we love people that sell books - local booksellers, it's where its at. Here are some of our favourite ones, let us know yours, and help spread the word - literally.
The Word
... because owners Lucille Friesen and Adrian King-Edwards first started selling books out of the back of a VW bus. These former McGill students, opened their book store in Montreal on Milton Street in 1975, selling books from the living room of their apartment. In 2009, the Quebec Writers’ Federation presented Friesen and King-Edwards with the QWF community award in honour of the couple’s contribution to local literary culture. Step back in time, lounge around, and pick up some books at The Word.
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Drawn & Quarterly
In 2008, renovating a former dress shop on Bernard Street in the Mile End, the publisher, Drawn & Quarterly, opened its first store Librairie D+Q, revitalizing the independent book retail landscape in Montreal. In 2017, La Petite Librairie D+Q opened its doors, a standalone kids store that at night hosts a range of literary launches and book clubs. Librairie D+Q is proud to be known not just as the flagship shop for the publisher, but as the city’s literary hub for all genres and ages–cartoonists, writers, essayists, poets, illustrators, and the readers who love them.
A Different Drummer Books, Burlington, ON Canada, was founded in 1970 by Al Cummings and John Richardson. The name was inspired by the Henry David Thoreau quote, “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.” Independent thinking became a guiding principle of the store, which stocks small press and university press titles alongside bestsellers. “We hear from customers that they are finding books here that they are not finding elsewhere,” say the owners. For their recent 50th Anniversary, they received a letter of congratulations from the Prime Minister of Canada. Here's to another fifty years, and keep marching.
Send us your favourite Independent local bookstore and we'll list it here.
Use the form below, or email us at: info@montrealpublishing.com