Washington, DC

Read beyond the brief.

PLACES TO WANDER · CITY 13

Three independent bookstores worth finding in person. If you're looking for the best independent bookstores in Washington, DC, Places to Wander's edited guide includes Politics and Prose in Connecticut Avenue, Solid State Books in H Street NE and Capitol Hill Books in Eastern Market. Explore the selected shops below, with neighborhood context, drawings and links to each shop's own website. The guide is edited, not numerically ranked.

Washington, DC · The bookshop mapChoose a number

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 · Connecticut Avenue

Politics and Prose

Literature · Ideas · Author events

Opened in 1984 by Carla Cohen and Barbara Meade, now owned by two former Washington Post journalists, with thirteen thousand square feet on Connecticut Avenue, a downstairs café called The Den, and an author event most nights of the week.

The title of the shop leaves room for both the public argument and the sentence itself. Politics and Prose’s Connecticut Avenue flagship pairs a broad selection with author events. Pick a subject you care about. Then try a writer who approaches it differently.

A familiar subject can look different in another writer’s hands.

5015 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

02 · H Street NE

Solid State Books

Fiction · Nonfiction · Children’s books

A Black-owned bookshop opened on H Street in 2018, running a dozen free book clubs that anyone can join.

The big BOOKS in the window is a useful instruction. Solid State’s H Street shop brings general-interest reading, children’s books and author conversations to the neighborhood. Let a bookseller introduce you to a title your usual feed has missed.

The big BOOKS in the window is the instruction. Let a bookseller hand you a title your feed has missed.

600 H Street NE, Washington, DC 20002

03 · Eastern Market · THE DETOUR · THE DETOUR

Capitol Hill Books

Used books · First editions · Rare finds

Three floors of used books since 1991, shelved by a logic of their own: foreign-language titles in the bathroom, cookbooks on the kitchen sink, and a Weird Section for everything that resisted the rest. There is also a rare-book department of around six thousand items.

The awning makes the introduction; the window supplies the temptation. Capitol Hill Books offers used and rare books near Eastern Market. A fitting detour in a city full of current affairs: spend a little time with something that has lasted.

657 C Street SE, Washington, DC 20003

Questions about Washington, DC’s bookstores

What are some of the best independent bookstores in Washington, DC?

Places to Wander's edited selection includes Politics and Prose, Solid State Books and Capitol Hill 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 Washington, DC issue?

Capitol Hill Books in Eastern Market. Three floors of used books since 1991, shelved by a logic of their own: foreign-language titles in the bathroom, cookbooks on the kitchen sink, and a Weird Section for everything that resisted the rest. There is also a rare-book department of around six thousand items. The Detour is an editorial designation, not a ranking.

Does the guide include used or rare bookstores?

Yes. Capitol Hill Books (used and rare). 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 carry children's books?

Solid State Books.

Is there a map of the featured bookstores?

Yes. The Washington, DC 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.