Best Bookstore: Dreamers Books + Culture
Readers are dreamers. They’re spirited to faraway places and empowering possibilities by the literary prowess of their favorite authors. Dreamers Books + Culture is keenly aware that some of those readers need a loving nudge towards the beauty and lasting impact a good book affords a life. The best way to do that, as the bookshop’s founder Elizabeth Farfán‑Santos sees it, is to offer books which genuinely reflect the reader’s experience.
At Dreamers, that experience is decidedly Latiné/Latin American. As an author and a former university professor with a PhD in anthropology specializing in Latiné and Latin American cultures, Farfán‑Santos has assembled an impressive collection of titles for kids and adults across the Latin American diaspora, books like Menudo Sunday (yum!) for the kids and Playing with Things: Engaging the Moche Sex Pots (yum!) for the adults and all sorts of stuff between a tale of a wholesome family meal and a study of sexually explicit ancient, indigenous works of art.
The store, currently located upstairs at Ironworks, hasn’t just gathered an impressive collection of titles, it’s also earned an impressive following. In just a year, it’s drawn such a crowd with poetry readings, bilingual story times, writing workshops and more, it has necessitated a move downstairs, where Dreamers will be more accommodating to visitors and a bit more spacious for more books to send readers to dreamy destinations.