Visit our bookshop in Hay-on-Wye
Selling shiny new books plus beautiful cards, ceramics, candles, tote bags and more, North Books opened in the autumn of 2022.
We offer cosy spaces to browse and comfortable nooks to nurture your love of reading.
We host regular author events, book signings and two book groups and operate a pop-up cafe. For all our up to the minute news, please follow us on Instagram and Facebook. We send quarterly newsletters - please do sign up - simply scroll down and add your name and address.
Explore our eclectic selection
Find inspiring new fiction including contemporary women's voices, fantasy, young adult and children’s. Browse our range of non-fiction titles focusing on the environment, nature, sustainability and politics, plus our selection of Welsh literature and books by local authors.
If you can’t visit in person you can buy from us online via bookshop.org.
Search on bookshop.org
We host regular book launches in the shop
Two 2024 events in the bookshop…
That I was particularly proud to host was the launch by Hay Writers of four new pamphlets that members had committed to press. I’ve rarely seen the bookshop so full of joy and laughter.
In November, on a more serious note, a fundraiser was held for The Prison Phoenix Trust and £559 was raised on the night. In support of the four activists who had been sentenced to long sentences for their campaigning with Just Stop Oil and specifically the youngest member of the group, Cressida Gethin, who had been a volunteer in the bookshop in 2024.
Discover our new gift idea
Are you looking for a special gift for that bookish friend or relative? In which case, we are delighted to present The Bookshop Breakfast voucher which entitles you and your guest to spend time together in the bookshop ahead of opening hours. Read more…
North Books recommends…
Hay Reads suggested April author -
Local author Jasper Fforde
Stitches & Stories April choice -
This Golden Fleece
Pre-order this year’s hot releases, like Frank Cottrell-Boyce’s The Blockbusters
email jules@northbooks.co.uk
One thing you will experience in person in the bookshop are some beautiful indie special sprayed edge editions of new titles. You can also purchase from North Books through @bookshop_org_uk now! https://uk.bookshop.org/a/10764/9780241624814
Pre-order this stunning edition of Adam Nicolson’s Bird School out 10th April £22
email jules@northbooks.co.uk
The hotest fantasy titles available instore and at @bookshop_org_uk link: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/10764/9780008597016
Committed to sustainable business
It's really important to us that all of our suppliers and the goods that we sell are as sustainably sourced as possible.
This includes things like packaging and display materials as well as the miles that an item has travelled to reach us.
When we can, we buy locally and would encourage you to as well. Where we spend our money matters. An example of this policy is with our in-house tote bag which was designed by Hay-based print designer Prints of Hay and printed by a Cardiff-based community-based screenprinting workshop Printhaus. The bags themselves are made from ethically sourced organic cotton which is lighter on the planet.
