The first Singapore Indie Bookshop Day runs from Friday 2 to Sunday 4 October 2026, with the main celebration on Saturday 3 October. Twenty independent bookshops across the island are opening their doors for the same weekend of browsing, programmes and a passport stamp rally.
Passport, stamps and the lucky draw
The Bookshop Passport is free and available at participating bookshops. Visitors collect stamps at each shop and can take part in the festival lucky draw.
Twenty shops and three crawl routes
The line-up runs from Bras Basah and Kampong Gelam through Chinatown and Tanjong Pagar to Joo Chiat and the East Coast. Names include Basheer Graphic Books, Wardah Books, Book Bar, Littered with Books, Eliko Picture Books & things, City Book Room, Woods in the Books, Epigram Books, Closetful of Books, Dakota Dreams, Nurul Anwar Bookstore, Grassroots Book Room, Maha Yu Yi, Union Book Co, Sea Breeze Books, Hungry Traveller Bookstore, Books Ahoy!, bommoi, Natventure and Wormhole.
The festival maps bookshop crawls for three walkable precincts: Chinatown, Katong and Joo Chiat, and Bras Basah and Kampong Gelam.
Standout shop programmes
Most events are free with no registration, though some need a booking or a small fee.
- Basheer Graphic Books (3 Oct): Singapore illustrator David Tsnen does a live sketching session among the art and design shelves. Free entry.
- Wardah Books (3 and 4 Oct): Batik expert Hafiz Rashid runs the Batik Librarian counter on Saturday 3 October from 2pm to 8pm, reading the stories in a batik’s motifs or pairing a book with a batik. On Sunday 4 October, poet Madi offers 30-minute typewritten poetry consultations from 1pm to 6pm at S$15 a poem.
- Book Bar (3 Oct): A display of President Tharman Shanmugaratnam’s personal book recommendations runs from 3 October to 3 November, with the owners in shop from 10am to 5pm that Saturday. The same day hosts Stranger Than Fiction, a creative nonfiction reading.
- Nurul Anwar Bookstore (3 Oct): Madi, founder of the poetry community S.U.R., types personalised Malay poems in “poetry clinic” sessions from 1pm to 6pm, S$15 for 30 minutes and a hand-typed poem.
- Eliko Picture Books & things (3 Oct): Fairy-tale puppet improvisation with Singapore illustrators, projected onto a Chinatown Complex shutter. Free with registration.
- Woods in the Books / Easties Book & Craft Market (2 to 3 Oct): Homegrown books and crafts beside Chin Mee Chin, with Alfian Sa’at’s The Invisible Manuscript relaunch at 5pm on 3 October.
- Dakota Dreams (3 to 4 Oct): Wormhole pop-up, comics and queer-family discussion sessions, plus PowerPoint parties that need tickets.
- City Book Room (3 Oct): Her Zine: The Story Behind the Scene, a self-publishing talk with Beyond The Hijab and Shuxia, runs from 2pm to 3pm. At 7pm, Impasse: An exile in words brings together Lin Yijun and Phoon Jing Ying, moderated by Wong Koi Tet. Both talks are free with registration.
