Book shopping in Africa
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Books First
Well-stocked bookshop outlet with separate café, in the Nakumatt supermarket.
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Librairie Dar El-Bacha
A fine selection of cookbooks, art books, and postcards, plus stamps to send them and some wonderful antique Moroccan stamps to take to all your philatelist friends back home. Bookshop owner Noureddine Tilsaghani is also a photographer, and you can pick up some of his atmospheric shots of Marrakesh here. There's a fantastic selection of Moroccan literature and poetry in (mostly French) translation.
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Book Lounge
Mervyn Sloman has been practically canonised by local booklovers for creating this heavenly bookshop that has become the hub of Cape Town’s literary scene, thanks to its great selection of titles, comfy chairs, simple café and program of events. There are up to three talks or book launches a week, generally with free drinks and nibbles, and readings for kids at the weekend.
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Aristoc
For English-language publications, this is the best place in Kampala. Its shelves are filled to capacity with books and maps on Uganda, East Africa and beyond, plus novels and educational texts. Prices are pretty reasonable for imported books, so stock up here for reading material before a long road trip. There is also a second branch in the Garden City Complex.
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Librairie Chatr
Where else can you learn about the medicinal plants of Morocco while waiting in line to buy postcards, office supplies and evocative little etchings of Medina doors? A reliable source for poolside paperbacks and Somerset Maugham classics in English, hiking maps, French and Berber language dictionaries, kids' picture books, and inexpensive cookery books.
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A is for Apple
Visit Cape Town’s best children’s bookshop to buy locally focused children’s literature such as When Hippo Was Hairy and Rudyard Kipling’s charming Just So stories. It also has a cute café with outdoor deck and a play area. You’ll also find a branch at the Old Biscuit Mill.
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Abd El Zaher
Cairo's last working bookbinder also makes beautiful leather- and oil-paper-bound blank books, photo albums and diaries. Free gold monogramming is included in the prices, which are heartbreakingly low, considering the work that goes into them. Getting your own book bound starts around £E15 and takes a few days.
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Boekehuis
A fantastic independent bookshop in an old house with polished wood floors, fireplaces, a garden coffee shop, oh, and a wide range of tomes on literature, politics, history and art including the largest selection of Afrikaans books in Jo’burg. It holds regular readings, book launches and discussions.
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Oum El Dounia
At a great central location, Oum El Dounia sells an attractive range of locally made glassware, Bedouin jewellery, cotton clothes, bags, embroidered shawls and light fittings. It also stocks a small range of maps, postcards and English- and French-language books about Cairo and Egypt, as well as CDs.
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Fergiani's Bookshop
This terrific bookshop has an excellent selection of Arabic- and English-language books, coffee-table books, fascinating travel literature, modern studies of Libya, a smaller number of books in French and Italian and excellent postcards. This is a good place to pick up your copy of The Green Book.
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Tripolitania Bookshop
The friendly Mukhtar runs this eclectic shop of bric-a-brac and second-hand books, but he juggles it with other projects and hence it can be a challenge to find the shop open. When you find him, Mukhtar has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the medina and is a loquacious host.
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Souq al-Fustat
A new market built for tourists, this is nonetheless a nice collection of shops, with vendors of antique carpets, modern ceramics, richly embroidered galabiyyas and wooden toys along with a branch of Sami Amin. Sales pressure is pleasantly low.
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Fergiani 2 Bookshop
Fergiani's is such an institution in Libya that it's opened a second branch with a similar selection to its sister shop around the corner and plenty of language-learning materials. The knowledgeable staff can point you in the right direction.
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Ganoub Traditional Handicrafts
A tasteful little shop with the best selection of crafts in Bawiti, brought from all over Egypt, including camel-wool blankets and traditional oasis robes. It also has a small selection of books on the desert as well as postcards.
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Exclusive Books
This chain bookshop has a great selection of titles and comfy surroundings in which to browse before you buy, plus a café. There are also branches at Cavendish Square and Lifestyles on Kloof.
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Librairie des Beaux-Arts
A small but excellent shop on one of the main shopping streets, with staff who know books and are happy to help. It has a good selection of books in French about Algeria, including guides, history, fiction and picture books.
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Lehnert & Landrock
A good place for maps, books about Cairo and Egypt (some secondhand), vintage postcards and reprints of old photographs. There are branches opposite the Egyptian Museum and outside the Sphinx-side entrance to the Pyramids.
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Central Bookshop
For a much wider selection than TBS, visit this bookshop. It stocks stationery, books and guides about Malawi, local-language dictionaries and a good range of novels by local writers. There's also a pleasant coffee shop.
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Travellers Bookshop
Cape Town's only dedicated travel bookshop stocks all the practical reading material you might need for your travels in Africa and further afield. It also has a good range of general books on Cape Town and South Africa.
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Bushman Craft Shop
Although it caters more to travellers who need a last-minute souvenir before catching a flight out of town, this small shop near the airport terminal has a decent range of books, videos and woodcarvings.
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Soguidip
Has books in French, including works by Guinean authors as well as many French magazines and some in English. Their newsstand by the Hyper-Bobo Supermarket carries the International Herald Tribune.
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African Arts & Images
Next to the Bushman Craft Shop on the road near the airport terminal, this upmarket shop has an impressive range of books about Botswana, photographic prints of the delta and locally made pottery.
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bookshop
Shopping The Best Bookshop In Town Is On The Northern End Of Rue Javelier, With A Good Selection Of Titles On Senegal And Casamance (Mostly In French), As Well As Some English-Language Magazines.
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