Here’s a fact that even a lot of locals don’t know: when it comes to Adelaide bookshops and the wider reading culture they sit inside, this city is officially world-class. In 2015 Adelaide became Australia’s first UNESCO City of Literature, joining a small global club that includes Edinburgh and Dublin. I’ve spent most of my life browsing the shelves here, and I can tell you the designation isn’t a fluke. We’ve got independent bookshops that have been trading since the 1950s, one of the most beautiful library reading rooms on the planet, and a free, open-air writers’ festival that draws some of the biggest names in world literature every single autumn. For the bigger picture of the city’s creative life, start with our guide to Adelaide culture and the arts, then come back here for the book-lover’s deep dive.
This is a guide to where I actually browse, read and catch literary events around town, written for people who plan their holidays around finding a good bookshop and a quiet corner to sit in. I’ll take you through the shops by area, the libraries worth a special trip, the festivals and reading nights, and the City of Literature story that ties it all together. If you only do one thing, make it the State Library, but stay for the rest.
Adelaide, a UNESCO City of Literature
The City of Literature title sits under UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network, and Adelaide earned it in 2015 on the strength of a few things: a long history of literary festivals, a healthy independent publishing scene, strong public libraries, and a reading public that genuinely turns out for this stuff. We were the first Australian city to get the nod, which is the sort of quiet win Adelaide does well, the kind of thing the eastern states don’t see coming.
What does it mean for a visitor? Practically, it means the literary infrastructure here is deeper than the city’s size suggests. There’s a year-round program of readings, launches, workshops and festivals, much of it free, and a network of bookshops and libraries that actually function as community hubs rather than just retail. It also slots neatly into Adelaide’s broader cultural story, the same one you can trace through our guide to Adelaide’s museums and galleries and the layered history of Adelaide itself. A city planned around reason and order in 1837, it turns out, grew up to be a city of readers.
The best bookshops in Adelaide, by area
If you ask me what makes the scene here special, it’s the independents. Adelaide never lost its good bookshops the way some cities did, and a few of them have been going for decades. Here’s how I’d map a browsing day, area by area.
The West End: Imprints Booksellers
I always start in the West End, on Hindley Street, at Imprints Booksellers. It’s been trading since 1984 and it’s the cultural cornerstone of the city’s bookselling, the shop where serious readers go and where a lot of local book launches and author readings happen. The fiction and poetry sections are deep, the staff actually read the stock, and the whole place has that creak-and-hush feeling a great bookshop should. If you want to understand the literary West End, this is the room to stand in. It’s a short walk from the North Terrace cultural strip, so it folds easily into a culture day along North Terrace. Hours shift, especially around festival season, so check before you make a special trip.
The Arcades: O’Connell’s and Orchard Bookshop
The old shopping arcades in the CBD hide two of my favourites. O’Connell’s Bookshop in Station Arcade has been run by the same family since 1957, now into a third generation, and it’s the place for new, used and rare titles all jumbled together in the best way. You go in for one thing and leave an hour later with three. Over in the gorgeous Adelaide Arcade itself, a Victorian beauty from 1885, the Orchard Bookshop is a small, beautifully curated spot heavy on vintage and collectible books. The setting alone, all wrought iron and tiled floors, makes browsing feel like a treat. The arcades are some of the city’s loveliest interiors, and I’ve banged on about them in our roundup of Adelaide’s hidden gems.
Rundle Mall and the chains
If you just want a wide, reliable selection or you’re after a specific new release, the Rundle Mall chains do the job. Dymocks and the bigger stores carry the bestsellers, the kids’ picture books and the travel section, and they’re handy if you’re already shopping the mall. I won’t pretend they have the soul of the independents, but they’re useful, and Rundle Mall is the natural hub for a day spent ticking off things to do in Adelaide on foot.
The suburbs: Mostly Books at Mitcham
Worth the short trip south, Mostly Books at Mitcham is the kind of neighbourhood independent every suburb wishes it had. Strong on children’s and young-adult titles, generous with local authors, and exactly the sort of shop that hosts a steady stream of author events and book club nights. If you’re staying in the southern suburbs or passing through on your way to the Hills, it’s an easy detour.
The Adelaide Hills: Matilda Bookshop, Stirling
My single favourite bookshop outing isn’t in the city at all. It’s up in the leafy Hills town of Stirling, where Matilda Bookshop has been a fixture since 1982. It’s the platonic ideal of a country-town independent, a beautifully run shop with a sharp literary eye, a brilliant events program and a cafe culture right outside the door. I’d build a whole day around it, browse Matilda, grab lunch in Stirling, and loop through the autumn-gold streets. It pairs perfectly with our Adelaide Hills day trip, and honestly the bookshop is reason enough to make the drive.
Second-hand and rare
For the treasure-hunters, Adelaide rewards a patient browse. Beyond O’Connell’s, the city and inner suburbs have a scattering of second-hand and antiquarian dealers, shops like Adelaide Booksellers, Title and Europa among the names that come and go, where you can lose an afternoon among out-of-print fiction, old maps and the occasional genuinely rare find. Stock and addresses change in this corner of the trade more than any other, so treat these as a starting point and ask a local or check online before you set out.
Adelaide’s libraries: where to read for free
This is where the City of Literature really shows itself, because some of the best reading in Adelaide costs nothing at all.
The State Library of South Australia and the Mortlock Wing
If you do one literary thing in Adelaide, walk into the Mortlock Wing of the State Library of South Australia on North Terrace. I’ve taken every visiting friend there and watched the same thing happen every time: they stop dead in the doorway. Opened in 1884 and designed in a French Renaissance style, it’s a soaring two-storey reading room ringed with timber galleries, glass-domed ceiling overhead, spiral staircases in the corners, the lot. It regularly turns up on lists of the world’s most beautiful libraries, and it’s free to walk in and sit down. You don’t need a card to admire it, and you can pull up a chair and read for as long as you like.
The State Library is more than the showpiece room, though. The modern wings hold the working collections, free wifi, exhibition spaces and the Bradman Collection, a treasure trove for cricket tragics dedicated to Sir Donald Bradman. The whole campus sits right on the cultural boulevard, so it slots straight into a North Terrace day alongside the art gallery and the museum. It’s also one of the best free things going in town, and it features in our guide to the city’s quieter gems. Opening hours vary by day and the reading rooms keep their own schedule, so check the current times, especially on weekends.
City and suburban libraries
Adelaide’s public library network is genuinely good and very welcoming to visitors. The City Library in the CBD is a bright, modern space where you can read the papers, borrow if you’re staying a while, or just sit out a hot afternoon in air-conditioned comfort. The suburban branches, from the inner-city councils out to the Hills and the bay, run a constant program of author talks, kids’ story times and book clubs. Most events are free and many welcome drop-ins. If you’re travelling with children, a library story time is a lovely, free way to fill a morning, and it sits naturally alongside the rest of the city’s free things to do.
Literary events: festivals, readings and book clubs
The events calendar is where Adelaide’s reputation gets earned. There’s something on most weeks, but a few things stand out.
Adelaide Writers’ Week
Adelaide Writers’ Week is the jewel of the literary calendar, and the thing I’d plan a trip around. Held every March as part of the Adelaide Festival, it runs over several days in the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden, a shady patch of lawn just off the cultural strip, and here’s the part that still amazes visitors: it’s free and open-air. You bring a hat and a picnic, find a deck chair under the trees, and listen to some of the best writers in the world, novelists, poets, historians, journalists, talk about their work. No ticket, no velvet rope. It’s one of the longest-running events of its kind in the country and a genuine highlight of the festival season. It runs as part of the wider program covered in our Adelaide Festival arts guide, and it overlaps with the glorious chaos of the Adelaide Fringe, so March is the time to come if books are your thing. Dates and the program change each year, so check the festival listings closer to the time.
Writers SA and year-round programs
Outside the festival rush, Writers SA is the organisation that keeps the literary engine ticking over the rest of the year. They run workshops, masterclasses, mentorships and a regular calendar of events for both writers and readers, and they’re a good first stop if you want to see what’s on while you’re in town. Their programming is part of why the City of Literature title is more than a plaque on a wall.
Poetry, spoken word and book clubs
The grassroots scene is alive and well. Adelaide has a long-standing spoken-word and poetry-slam culture, with regular open-mic nights in pubs and small venues around the city and inner suburbs. Bookshops and libraries host book clubs that often welcome visitors, and during festival season the readings and launches come thick and fast. Keep an eye on the noticeboards at Imprints and Matilda in particular; the best literary nights in this town are often the ones that aren’t heavily advertised.
Wakefield Press and local publishing
You can’t talk about reading in Adelaide without mentioning Wakefield Press, the venerable independent publisher that has been putting out South Australian books, history, fiction, food writing, art, for decades. Picking up a Wakefield title is the best souvenir a book lover can take home from here: a local story, made locally. Their books turn up in all the good independents, and browsing a shelf of them is a quick education in what this place is about. South Australian writing has long punched above its weight, and the publishing scene is a big part of why we wear the City of Literature badge.
Planning a book-lover’s day in Adelaide
Here’s how I’d thread it all together. Start mid-morning on North Terrace with the Mortlock Wing, free, jaw-dropping, ten minutes or an hour, your call. Walk west into the city, browse the Orchard Bookshop in the Adelaide Arcade and O’Connell’s in Station Arcade, then carry on to the West End for Imprints on Hindley Street. Break for a long lunch at a Peel Street cafe (a flat white runs about $5.50 at the time of writing), then spend the afternoon back along the cultural boulevard or in the City Library if the weather’s turned. If you’ve got a second day and a car, drive up to Stirling for Matilda Bookshop and a Hills lunch. Time the whole trip for March if you possibly can, so you catch Writers’ Week.
A few practical notes. Most independents keep standard retail hours and some close early on Sundays, so don’t leave the West End shops for a late Sunday afternoon. The State Library and public libraries are free but keep their own opening times, lighter on weekends, so check the day before. And the City of Literature scene runs all year, but it peaks hard in autumn around the festivals, which also happens to be one of the loveliest times to be here, as our guide to the best time to visit Adelaide explains. It all knits into a broader cultural break you can plan with our wider Adelaide culture guide and the main Adelaide travel guide.
Why the literary scene is worth your time
I’ll be honest about what makes this special, because it’s easy to be cynical about a UNESCO title. What I love is that the reading culture here is unpretentious and accessible. The most beautiful library room in the country is free to sit in. The best literary festival in Australia doesn’t charge you to attend. The independent bookshops are run by people who’ll happily talk to you for twenty minutes about what to read next. For a book lover, that combination, world-class quality with the door wide open, is rare, and it’s very Adelaide. Come for the bookshops, stay for the City of Literature, and bring an empty bag, because you won’t be leaving with one.
Frequently asked questions
Is Adelaide a City of Literature?
Yes. Adelaide was named a UNESCO City of Literature in 2015, the first Australian city to receive the designation, under UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network. The title recognises the city’s strong independent bookshops, public libraries, local publishing scene and its long history of literary festivals, including the free, open-air Adelaide Writers’ Week held each March.
What are the best bookshops in Adelaide?
For independents, Imprints Booksellers on Hindley Street (trading since 1984) is the cultural cornerstone, while O’Connell’s in Station Arcade (since 1957) is the spot for new, used and rare titles. The Orchard Bookshop in the Adelaide Arcade is lovely for vintage and collectible books, Mostly Books at Mitcham is a great suburban independent, and Matilda Bookshop in Stirling is worth the drive into the Adelaide Hills. The Rundle Mall chains cover new releases and bestsellers.
When is Adelaide Writers’ Week?
Adelaide Writers’ Week is held every March as part of the Adelaide Festival. It runs over several days in the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden near North Terrace, it’s outdoors, and it’s free to attend. Exact dates and the program change each year, so check the festival listings closer to the time.
Is the State Library of South Australia free to visit?
Yes, the State Library of South Australia on North Terrace is free to enter. The historic Mortlock Wing, opened in 1884, is one of the most beautiful library reading rooms in the world and you can walk in and sit down without a card. The library also holds the Bradman Collection and changing exhibitions. Opening hours vary by day, especially on weekends, so check the current times before you go.
Where can I find second-hand and rare books in Adelaide?
O’Connell’s Bookshop in Station Arcade is the standout for new, used and rare titles together. Beyond that, the city and inner suburbs have a handful of second-hand and antiquarian dealers that come and go, so it’s worth checking online or asking a local for current addresses before you set out. The Orchard Bookshop in the Adelaide Arcade also specialises in vintage and collectible books.
What is there to do for book lovers in Adelaide?
Plenty. Browse the independent bookshops in the West End and the historic arcades, sit and read in the free Mortlock Wing at the State Library, catch author talks and book clubs at the city and suburban libraries, and time your visit for March to enjoy the free Adelaide Writers’ Week. Picking up a title from local publisher Wakefield Press makes a perfect literary souvenir.
