New Orleans

Four independent bookstores worth finding in person.

PLACES TO WANDER · ISSUE 001

If you're looking for the best independent bookstores in New Orleans, Places to Wander's edited guide includes Octavia Books in Uptown, Baldwin & Co. in Marigny and Faulkner House Books in French Quarter. Explore the selected shops below, with neighborhood context, drawings and links to each shop's own website. The guide is edited, not numerically ranked.

New Orleans · The bookshop mapChoose a number

Open drawing & shop details

Map: Esri, TomTom, Garmin, FAO, NOAA, USGS, © OpenStreetMap contributors and GIS User Community. Selected streets and water; numbered points use the existing address matches. Use directions for your visit.

The illustrated issue

Browse the drawings. Open a shop for visiting details.

01 · Uptown

Octavia Books

Local authors · Fiction · New Orleans

An Uptown bookshop that produces The Reading Life, a podcast of conversations with writers.

Take the corner entrance. Octavia’s shelves and events give New Orleans writers room alongside the wider reading world. Start with the local selection, then ask a bookseller what belongs beside it. A city makes more sense when someone who reads it helps you in.

Start local, then ask what belongs beside it. A city makes more sense when someone who reads it helps you in.

513 Octavia Street, New Orleans, LA 70115

02 · Marigny

Baldwin & Co.

Literature · Essays · Coffee

Named for James Baldwin, with the Nola Art Bar inside and a foundation of its own for the city’s young readers.

Baldwin gets the name on the building—and plenty of space on the reading list This coffee shop and bookstore puts books and conversation under one roof Pick an essay

Pick an essay. Stay with the argument longer than a feed would allow.

1030 Elysian Fields Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70117

03 · Oak Street

Blue Cypress Books

New books · Secondhand · Rare finds

New and secondhand share the bill on Oak Street. That is the pleasure of Blue Cypress: the next book needn’t be the newest one. Follow a familiar author into unfamiliar company; leave a little room in the bag.

The next book needn't be the newest one. Follow a familiar author into unfamiliar company.

Worth a special trip forNew and secondhand books share the bill on Oak Street. The next book needn't be the newest one.

8123 Oak Street, New Orleans, LA 70118

Follow a different
train of thought.

Choose a book outside your work. Notice how it makes its case. Bring one useful question back with you.

04 · French Quarter · THE DETOUR

Faulkner House Books

Literature · Rare editions

Opened in 1988 by Joe DeSalvo and Rosemary James in Pirate’s Alley, in the house where William Faulkner lived while writing his first novel.

Look up for the hanging sign, then turn into Pirate’s Alley. Faulkner House concentrates on fine literature and rare editions, including its namesake. A small stop with a useful reminder: a selection gets interesting when someone leaves things out.

624 Pirates Alley, New Orleans, LA 70116

Questions about New Orleans’s bookstores

What are some of the best independent bookstores in New Orleans?

Places to Wander's edited selection includes Octavia Books, Baldwin & Co., Blue Cypress Books and Faulkner House Books. The guide is not numerically ranked. Each entry explains why the shop is included and links to the shop's own website.

What is The Detour in the New Orleans issue?

Faulkner House Books in French Quarter. Opened in 1988 by Joe DeSalvo and Rosemary James in Pirate’s Alley, in the house where William Faulkner lived while writing his first novel. The Detour is an editorial designation, not a ranking.

Does the guide include used or rare bookstores?

Yes. Blue Cypress Books (new, used and rare) and Faulkner House Books (rare and out-of-print). Used, antiquarian and rare books are not interchangeable labels; this guide uses each description only where the shop's entry supports it.

Which featured bookstores have a café?

Baldwin & Co.. Check current opening times with the shop before you travel.

Is there a map of the featured bookstores?

Yes. The New Orleans issue includes a map and shop index. Select a shop to open its entry, then use the shop's official link for visiting details. The illustrated map is an orientation aid, not a turn-by-turn route.

The Corporate Artist: The Art of Working Beautifully by Morgan Sage Norman

Bring your creative self
back to work.

The Corporate Artist: The Art of Working Beautifully is Morgan Sage Norman’s book about bringing your creative self to everyday work. It explores how the roles we play, the conversations we have and the decisions we make can become creative practice.

Find your copy ↗

The book on Bookshop.org ↗

Have the book with you?

Try Every Role Has a Medium (Your Craft) for a different way to look at what you do.

Or turn to Nothing Is Wasted and Rightsizing Importance. Begin with the title that catches you.

Looking for books about creativity at work? Visit the Reading Room.

Keep wandering.

Another city. Another way to look.