Independent Bookstore Day 2018

Harvard Book Store joins bookstores across the country for Independent Bookstore Day, a day for celebrating what makes indie bookstores special!

We'll be selling exclusive merchandise, showcasing special displays of bookseller-recommended books, collecting your love notes to bookstores, and more.

Join us for...

Our booksellers' "Biographies in Books"
Come explore a heartfelt display of our bookselling staff's "Biographies in Books"—milestone books that have been important to our reading lives, showcased in the store with deeply personal recommendations.

A curated display by Celeste Ng, Indie Bookstore Day Ambassador
Celeste Ng, bestselling author of Everything I Never Told You and Little Fires Everywhere, recommends a selection of books by local authors, including:

• The Suicide Index by Joan Wickersham
• Beijing Bastard by Val Wang
• The World of Tomorrow by Brendan Mathews
• Kiss Me Someone by Karen Shepard

Our Bookstore Day typewriter
Write us a note, tell us about your favorite book, compose a sonnet, and enjoy the visceral tap tap tap of our Bookstore Day typewriter.

Advance copies of this year's most anticipated titles
Visit 8 or more bookstores in the metro Boston area on Bookstore Day for a chance to win a stash of Advance Readers' Copies—some of the most anticipated reads of 2018! Email a picture of your Metro Boston Bookstore bookmark with 8 or more stamps to metrobostonbookstores@gmail.com to be entered for a chance to win. Visit our store any time this week to pick up your bookmark!

Raffle prizes galore
We've compiled books from local publishers and merch from all 12 participating indie bookstores in the Boston area to bring you two literary raffle baskets. Visit our store on April 28th for a chance to enter. Winners will be notified on Monday, April 30th.

Share your #bookstoreday visit on Twitter (tag us @HarvardBooks) or Instagram (tag us @harvardbookstore and @metrobostonbookstores).

Exclusive Merchandise

The following merchandise will be available in-store, in-person only, beginning at 9am on April 28th. Quantities are limited.

Fight the Power Utility Pouch
Handy 100% cotton canvas zippered pouch featuring a quote from Colson Whitehead. $14.00 [image]

Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat Print
Gorgeous, frame-worthy print signed by the author and illustrator from the bestselling cookbook Salt, Fat, Acid Heat. $15.00 [image]

Redlands, Volume 1
Special edition of this acclaimed feminist comic with an exclusive cover and signed by BOTH creators! $9.99 [image]

Ungrateful Mammals Special Edition
Each special edition of Ungrateful Mammals has a surprise insert hand-drawn by Dave Eggers. $29.99 [image]

"Bad Citizen" Graffiti Stencil
This year's stencil features a quote from Margaret Atwood: DON'T LET THE BASTARDS GRIND YOU DOWN. $35.00 [image]

The Book Club Journal
Featuring 45 original, quirky, themed recommended reading lists from authors and booksellers around the country. $16.99 [image]

Literary Tea Towels
This year's flour sack tea towels feature two food-related literary quotes from Julia Child and Anthony Bourdain. $22.00 [image]

$6 Story: A Book on the Table
This year's $6 Story is a collection of flash fiction from great short story writers including A.M. Homes, Etgar Keret, and Amy Bloom. $6.00 [image]

A Literary Map of the Universe
The 25 titles featured on this beautiful literary map of the universe are a mix of modern classics and obscure science fiction titles. $42.00 [image]

Dragons Love Books! Onesie
A super-soft onesie for bookish babies based on Adam Rubin's Dragons Love Tacos books illustrated by Daniel Salmieri. $22.00 [image]

Be Prepared Signed Art Print
An exclusive, original print featuring art by Vera Brosgol and signed by the author. $10.00 [image]

"READ WITH ME" Maisy Plush
Plush featuring everybody's favorite preschool mouse Maisy wearing an exclusive READ WITH ME t-shirt with pride! $15.00 [image]

"READ WITH ME" Horton Plush
Plush featuring Dr. Seuss' Horton wearing a pro-reading, indie message on his t-shirt! $15.00 [image]

Golden Thread Signed Print
Exclusive print honoring Pete Seeger signed by author Colin Meloy and illustrator Mikki McClure. $35.00 [image]

Just what does Independent Bookstore Day celebrate?

Independent bookstores are not just stores, they’re community centers and local anchors run by passionate readers. They are entire universes of ideas that contain the possibility of real serendipity. They are lively performance spaces and quiet places where aimless perusal is a day well spent.

Indie bookstores, whether dusty and labyrinthine or clean and well-lighted, are not just stores, they are solutions. They hold the key to your love life, your career, and your passions. Walking the aisles of a good bookstore means stumbling upon a novel from India that expands your heart. It’s encountering an art book that changes the direction of your life. It’s the joy of having a perfect stranger steer you toward the perfect book.

In a world of tweets and algorithms and pageless digital downloads, bookstores are not a dying anachronism.  They are living, breathing organisms that continue to grow and expand. In fact, there are more of them this year than there were last year. And they are at your service.

“Consumers control the marketplace by deciding where to spend their money. If what a bookstore offers matters to you, then shop at a bookstore. If you feel that the experience of reading a book is valuable, then read the book. This is how we change the world: we grab hold of it. We change ourselves.” —Ann Patchett, bestselling author and co-owner of Parnassus Books