Bookshop Santa Cruz

Bookshop Santa Cruz Your Independent Bookseller Since 1966! Bookshop Santa Cruz is located only 90 minutes from San Francisco, and 30 minutes from both San Jose and Monterey.
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To be the first to know about sales, programs, and events, sign up for Bookshop Santa Cruz's e-mail lists: http://www.bookshopsantacruz.com/email Bookshop Santa Cruz is a large, general independent bookstore located in the heart of downtown Santa Cruz, California since 1966. Owned by the Coonerty family since 1973, Bookshop Santa Cruz is a multi-generational family business currently under the car

e of Casey Coonerty Protti who grew up in her parent’s business. We take immense pride in being an independent bookstore, with the ability and desire to reflect the interests of local readers. Bookshop Santa Cruz fills over 20,000 square feet with a wide selection of new, used and sale books along with extensive magazine, card and gift sections. Bookshop is known for its comprehensive children’s and new release sections as well as strong sections in travel, politics, cooking, science, science fiction and fantasy, and fiction. Home to the University of California, Santa Cruz and Cabrillo College, Santa Cruz boasts a strong intellectual community dedicated to the written word. Bookshop Santa Cruz nurtures this environment with a comprehensive author event series featuring appearances by both national and local authors in our beautiful event space, the skylight room, or at partnered off-site locations for larger, ticketed events. We hope you have a chance to share our love of reading by visiting us soon!

📚 Swipe through for a peek at some of the most anticipated AMPLIFY fall titles, now available for preorder!Preorders pla...
08/19/2026

📚 Swipe through for a peek at some of the most anticipated AMPLIFY fall titles, now available for preorder!

Preorders play a crucial role in an author's success—Publishers prioritize first-week sales, so when preorder numbers go up, publishers are incentivized to publish more work by those authors and pay them accordingly.

Your early support also boosts visibility for underrepresented voices and helps sustain local bookstores like Bookshop Santa Cruz. Check out these upcoming titles we're thrilled about and preorder today! 📖✨

View our full list of AMPLIFY fall preorder titles: bookshopsantacruz.com/list/amplify-preorders-2026

The big fall season of kids books is right around the corner! 📚🍂📚✨ With big names like Grace Lin, Dav Pilkey, Kelly Yang...
08/17/2026

The big fall season of kids books is right around the corner! 📚🍂

📚✨ With big names like Grace Lin, Dav Pilkey, Kelly Yang, Marie Lu, and Neal Shusterman, there's something for every young reader.

Don't wait—head to our preorder page and get ready for an unforgettable reading adventure! 🚀 (Link in bio!)

Kids Preorder: bookshopsantacruz.com/fall-preorder-2026

RACE YOU TO THE KITCHEN! A delicious season of new cookbooks awaits—including highly-anticipated titles by faves Ina Gar...
08/16/2026

RACE YOU TO THE KITCHEN! A delicious season of new cookbooks awaits—including highly-anticipated titles by faves Ina Garten, Marcus Samuelsson, Pim Techamuanvivit & Andrea Nguyen, Yotam Ottolenghi, Pati Jinich, Nik Sharma, Alexis Nikole Nelson (Black Forager), Melissa Clark, and more! Be among the first to cook from them when you preorder your copies from Bookshop Santa Cruz.

View our preorder page to see the books that are whetting our appetite:
https://bookshopsantacruz.com/fall-cookbook-2026

TOMORROW IS BOOKSTORE ROMANCE DAY 💘📚⛺Join us for a day of camp-inspired activities including: book bedazzling, romance t...
08/14/2026

TOMORROW IS BOOKSTORE ROMANCE DAY 💘📚⛺

Join us for a day of camp-inspired activities including: book bedazzling, romance trope bingo, merit badge collecting, prize wheel, and so much more! Head to the link in our bio for more details or visit: bookshopsantacruz.com/bookstore-romance-day-2026

In the meantime enjoy some of our staff's favorite romance books to recommend!

TALYA: A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid; Star Shipped by Cat Sebastian; Strange Familiars by Keshe Chow; The Girl from the Sea by Lee Know Ostertag; Weavingshaw by Heba Al-Wasity

NOREEN: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe and Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

SAYA: Phoebe Berman's Gonna Lose It by Brooke Averick and Bad Words by Ríoghnach Robinson (out on 10/6!)

CARLY: The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich by Deya Muniz; Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan; Bech Read by Emily Henry; The Island of the Missing Trees by Elif Shafak; Into the Blue by Emma Brodie

NINA: Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas; Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Fairies by Heather Fawcett; The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller; The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig; The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow; Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

LINDSAY: Devour Me by Emily Rath; Like in Love with You by Emma R. Alban; The Rule of Three by Sara Cate; Father Material by Alexis Hall; Lola and the Millionaires by Kathryn Moon; Bride by Ali Hazelwood

JULIE: Hunt the Villain by Rina Kent; Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah Adams; Unbound by Peyton Corinne; Silver Sweet by Krista & Becca Ritchie

Alana: Funny Story by Emily Henry

STEPHANY: Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone; First-Time Caller by B.K. Borison; Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

Magnolia: Daddy Issues by Kate Goldbeck

TICKETED EVENT AT THE RIO THEATRE: We are delighted to welcome Min Jin Lee, the National Book Award finalist and New Yor...
08/13/2026

TICKETED EVENT AT THE RIO THEATRE: We are delighted to welcome Min Jin Lee, the National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author of Pachinko, who returns with American Hagwon—a breathtaking contemporary epic, by turns sweeping and intimate, that reckons with ambition and moderation, lust and loyalty, personal dreams and familial duty.

📅: Sunday, October 11th
⏰: 2:00pm
📍: The Rio Theatre
Details & Tickets (link in bio!): https://bookshopsantacruz.com/min-jin-lee

This event is cosponsored by The Humanities Institute at UC Santa Cruz.

"With her gift for wonderfully empathetic storytelling, this is a profoundly generous and humane novel about duty, family, and the dream of a better life…. I was fully absorbed by the fates of the Koh family and, as the novel worked its cumulative magic, deeply moved by this masterful tale of sacrifice, familial devotion, and, ultimately, acceptance." —Douglas Stuart, author of John of John and Shuggie Bain, winner of the Booker Prize

🍁 Fall’s most anticipated books are just around the corner! 📚✨ Get ahead of the buzz in fiction, genre, and nonfiction b...
08/12/2026

🍁 Fall’s most anticipated books are just around the corner! 📚✨ Get ahead of the buzz in fiction, genre, and nonfiction by preordering your most anticipated picks now at Bookshop Santa Cruz! 📖

View our preorder page to see our full lists of upcoming titles (link in bio):
https://bookshopsantacruz.com/fall-preorder-2026

IN STORE EVENT NEXT WEEK 🏄📚Bookshop Santa Cruz welcomes Steve Hawk, former editor of Surfer, who will share his thrillin...
08/10/2026

IN STORE EVENT NEXT WEEK 🏄📚

Bookshop Santa Cruz welcomes Steve Hawk, former editor of Surfer, who will share his thrilling new novel Nearshore, a mix of literary suspense and coastal noir which follows an unlikely trio on the California coast who investigate a nuclear terrorist act.

📅: Wednesday, August 19th
⏰: 7:00pm
📍: Bookshop Santa Cruz
RSVP: bookshopsantacruz.com/steve-hawk (link in bio)

Hawk will be in conversation with writer Charles Duhigg. This event is cosponsored by Save the Waves Coalition.

"This is an exceptionally thoughtful literary thriller, beautifully rendered against the backdrop of a world its author very clearly knows and loves. In the depth and breadth of its story, in the lyricism of its prose, Nearshore will surely establish Steve Hawk as a writer to be reckoned with." —Kem Nunn, author of Tapping the Source, Dogs of Winter, and Tijuana Straits

Bookstore Romance Day is officially one week away! 📚⛺💘Join us at Camp Daydream for a day full of camp-inspired activitie...
08/08/2026

Bookstore Romance Day is officially one week away! 📚⛺💘

Join us at Camp Daydream for a day full of camp-inspired activities! Bunk-up with fellow romance readers for campfire chats, cabin crafts, and book recs from your favorite counselor.

WHAT TO EXPECT ON AUGUST 15TH:
💘 Prize wheel from 9:00am–5:00pm
💘 Book and Romance Day swag giveaways
💘 Custom merch
💘 Romance trope bingo, book boyfriend guess who, merit badge collecting, and more!
💘9:00am–11:00am: Ticketed book bedazzling project (while supplies last)! Ticket price includes a copy of Emily Henry's Happy Place

For more details visit the link in our bio or
bookshopsantacruz.com/bookstore-romance-day-2026

Address

1520 Pacific Avenue
Santa Cruz, CA
95060

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 8pm
Tuesday 9am - 8pm
Wednesday 9am - 8pm
Thursday 9am - 8pm
Friday 9am - 9pm
Saturday 9am - 9pm
Sunday 9am - 8pm

Telephone

+18314230900

Website

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