The Philadelphia Bookstore Crawl is back for year four, and it’s bigger than ever. This annual summer event started in 2023, with a little over two dozen stores participating. In the crawl’s fourth year, nearly sixty bookstores are joining in on the fun. On Saturday, August 22nd, the region’s booklovers can spend a day meeting acclaimed, bestselling authors, snagging giveaways, and taking advantage of endless deals.
Created to feel like a massive First Friday event (but on a Saturday, and with books!), readers aren’t put on a single set path but are instead challenged to visit as many shops as they can, however they can.
Exciting highlights include:
- Annual afterparty celebration at Main Point Books in Wayne, where bestselling titan Jo Piazza will be participating in a book foiling workshop at a ticket event, while the free party goes on downstairs. Two ways to celebrate!
- Capricorn Books and Cupid’s Bookshop have moved into new, bigger spaces, showcasing the success of our indie bookstores.
- A poetry and small press fair right outside Molly’s Books and Records in the Italian Market, featuring a staggering amount of artists and indie presses all afternoon, including C.M. Crockford, Alina Pleskova Gina Myers at Cul de Sac of Blood, Nathan at Suds, Mike Bagwell, Mike Rees at The Elephants, Dan Shepelavy at Universal Exports of North America, Alison Lubar, Olga Mikolaivna, Matt Kosinski, Heather Bowlan, Warren Longmire, Justin Duerr, and Moonstone Arts Center Press.
- New bookstores in the mix include Fingerprint and Midsummer Books, two new shops recently opened in Fishtown inside of a gorgeous, shared retail space called Our Mutual Friend. More new stores include Little Yenta Books, which opened this year, a used bookshop on Passyunk, as well as Whales & Windmills, a new used shop in Rittenhouse at 12th and Pine. Thrillerdelphia opened back in November and joins the crawl for the first time. And Chapter Two opened up in Wynnewood just last year.
- Philadelphia Stories will be running a tour bus that will visit five shops participating in the bookstore crawl.
- A special Philadelphia Bookstore Crawl passport illustrated by acclaimed local illustrator Gus Andrews is available to pick up at participating bookstores.
- Special industry events will be hosted at American Grammar and Indy Hall, featuring literary agents, publishing house editors, and acclaimed authors, offering a free, accessible look into the world of publishing for aspiring authors.
- A Book A Day is hosting their big event at the Free Library of Philadelphia the same day as the crawl, and we encourage everyone to check them out.
- Doylestown Bookshop is hosting a three-day Dark Ink spectacular featuring genre-fiction authors, panels, and signings featuring Chuck Wendig, Clay McLeod Chapman, Dennis Mahoney, Todd Keisling, Christina Henry, A.C. Wise, Rae Wilde, Kailee Pedersen, Mary Berman, Sara van Os, Adam Cesare, C.S. Humble, Nat Cassidy, Sam Rebelein, Chris Panatier, Diana Rodriguez Wallach, Lauren A. Forry, Vincent Tirado, Erin E. Adams, Victor Manibo, Maria Tureaud, and more.
This year’s stores include:
- 50 Watts Books
- A Novel Idea
- American Grammar
- Another Corner
- Beaucoup Hoodoo
- Big Blue Marble
- Bindlestiff
- Binding Agents
- The Book Trader
- Booked
- Brave New Worlds
- The Broken Spine
- Bristol Books + Bindery
- Capricorn Books
- Celia Bookshop
- Chapter Two Books
- Children’s Book World
- Cupid’s Bookshop
- Doylestown Bookshop
- The DuBois Robeson People’s Center
- PAT @ Giovanni’s Room
- Fingerprint Bookshop
- Forage Books
- Harriett’s Bookshop
- Headhouse Books
- Healing While Black
- H&H Books
- Hilltop Books
- House of Our Own Books
- Huxley and Hiro
- Iffy Books
- The Last Word
- Julia de Burgos Bookshop
- Main Point Books
- Mavey Books
- Molly’s Books and Records
- Mostly Books
- Multiverse
- Narberth Bookstore
- Neighborhood Books
- The North Philly Book Tower
- Partners & Son
- Reads & Company
- Read Recycle Repeat
- Runehammer
- Thrillerdelphia
- Uncle Bobbie’s
- Wellington Square Books
- Whales and Windmills
- Wooden Shoe Books
Over thirty local authors are also participating, including: Brittney Morris (Slay), Jennifer Herrera (Siren Says), Thomas Elrod (The Franchise), Samantha Paige Rosen (Living, Together), Jo Piazza (Everyone is Lying to You), Farah Naz Rishi (I Hope You Get This Message), Quinn Jamison (The Art of Time), E.M. Eliot (Bonebag), Laura Genn (Between Sun and Shadow), Dr. Amalia Daché (Orisha Tales: Amor and the Magical River), Virginia Adams O’Connell (Remission Quest), Donna Jo Napoli (Treasury of Greek Mythology), Sam Sidiqi (My Daddy Is Climbing Denali), Linny Mack (Changing Tides), Christy Schillig (Wish You Weren’t Here), Timothy Janovsky (Never Been Kissed), Kathryn Coin (Coastal Rewind), Warren Basla (The Blade of Milan), CJ Spataro (More Strange Than True), Linda Romanowski (Final Touchstones), Kyle Michelle (Lost Fae Lineage), Betty Corrello (Summertime Punchline), Marc Avery (Discipline), Nick Gregorio (Jen & Gary’s Infinite (Quantum) Entanglement), Nicole Wolverton (A Misfortune of Lake Monsters), Janice Nissen (Little Lost Golf Ball), Jenni Walsh (Ace Marvel Spy), Victoria Schade (Fated Skates), Xio Axelrod (Girls with Stars in Her Eyes), Lee Kelly (The Midnight Show), cookbook author Peggy Casella (Pizza Rules!), acclaimed poets Jiordan Castle (Disappearing Act), Laynie Brown, and Holly Ian Winter, and artists Meghan Turbitt (creator of “Overheard” in The Inquirer) and Abe Lampbert (Nemesis Encounter).
For more information on the events, including an ongoing list of giveaways and signings, you can visit the official Philadelphia Bookstore Crawl website (www.phillybookstorecrawl.com) and follow the crawl on Instagram where they’re regularly posting new updates (https://www.instagram.com/phillybookcrawl/).
Micah Allen is a fourth-year student at Drexel currently pursuing a BA in Philosophy with a concentration in ethical theory and practice. In addition, she has minors in Sociology and Linguistics. Her favorite genres include science fiction, psychological horror, and historical nonfiction.