Chapters Bookstore Dublin isn’t just a shop. It’s a vibrant literary community with book launches, events, and second-hand treasures for every reader.

 

We love books and reading. That’s obvious. But what we really love - what gets us up and throwing open those Parnell Street doors every morning - is that our shop is constantly full of people who love books and reading too.

And not in a precious, whispery “literary salon” way. More in a Northside-Dublin, fiercely independent, wildly eclectic kind of way.

Because here’s the truth: a bookshop can be many things. It can be a venue for a launch where the same people orbit each other like moons in an exclusive literary solar system. Or it can be something messier, louder, warmer. It can be a space where readers who’ve never met swap recommendations over a second-hand copy of The Wren The Wren. Where tourists wander in off the street and end up sitting on the stairs with a woman who was just browsing late - all leaving together to carry on the adventure. Where someone who only came in for the Manga section gets swept into a conversation about The Master and Margarita and whether cats are the real heroes of literature (spoiler: they are).

That’s the kind of inclusive, independent bookstore space we try to build every day at Chapters.

Not Just Ulysses. Not Just Us. Both.
We host all kinds of bookshop events in Dublin because all kinds of people come to our store. Whether you’re here for Joyce’s Ulysses or Us, you’re welcome. You don’t need a secret handshake or an impressive address or accent to belong.

Sure, Sally Rooney’s Conversations with Friends is a wonderful world, but let’s be brutal - it’s also an absurdly privileged world. Literary Dublin can sometimes feel like that: a world of private gardens, specific universities and inherited confidence, where everyone already knows each other. But our Chapters readers? They’re every bit as eccentric, just as passionate, and really very eclectic in their tastes.

At Chapters, we want to reflect that - a bookshop culture where curiosity matters more than credentials.

From Booker Winners to Blood-Curdling Horror: What We’ve Hosted
In the past three years, Chapters Bookstore Dublin has hosted a staggering range of events. Here are just a few highlights:

International pull: People have flown in from across Europe to attend book signings with Paul Lynch (Booker Prize winner), Darren Shan (the master of YA horror), and John Romero (yes, the gaming legend—because literature and games have more in common than you think) – who would put the three of them in the same group?!

Launches turned parties: Killian Sunderman had the room laughing until the lights came on. The Lamplighters of Phoenix Park was a multigenerational celebration and So Once Was I was a book about a graveyard that had everyone smiling.

Intense conversations: Catastrophe and After The Train sparked discussions that carried on long after the chairs were stacked.

Stunning, personal exchanges: Caroline O’Donoghue & Sarah Maria Griffin opened up about creativity and connection. Sophie White & Emer McLysaght were candid, hilarious, and deeply insightful.

Brilliant history book launches: Dr Leeann Lane & Dr Caroline West brought nuance and passion to forgotten women of Irish history that kept the audience buzzing.

Workshops & tutorials: Adiba Jaigirdar delivered a writing session that left people inspired and scribbling for weeks.

Special events: The CAP Awards for self-published, independent authors celebrated under-the-radar brilliance. The Queens events brought absolute superstars of commercial fiction - generous, funny, and endlessly fascinating.

Spoken word magic: The Write Stuff, our monthly spoken word night, with poetry, conversation and music was born from an electric first event with Jan Brierton & Steve O’Toole.

Chess, Friendship Bracelets, and Unexpected Joy
But it’s not just author events and book launches.

On Friday nights, you might walk into Dublin’s largest independent bookshop and find people playing chess - some learning, some masters in disguise - creating little pockets of connection between generations. There was the woman who’d come in to browse and stayed when the pieces came out, learning from a stranger.

There’s the night a group of Finnish tourists wandered in by chance and left hours later, laughing and sharing drinks with Dubliners they’d never met before.

Or the anniversary of the A Court of Roses and Thorns series, where women played bingo and made friendship bracelets - not just with friends they brought along but with strangers too.

These moments might not make the social pages of glossy magazines, but they’re the heartbeat of Chapters Bookstore Dublin.

Joyous, Buzzing, Heartbreaking, Captivating
Some nights the shop is buzzing like Courtney Smyth’s Halloween event, where laughter echoed through the aisles. Other times are quieter but no less powerful - like Hazel Larkin’s launch, where the topic was deeply sensitive, yet the atmosphere was joyous and supportive.

The launch of Villagers was an immense privilege. And when Dermot Bolger and Donal Fallon sat down to talk? Everyone in the room would have happily stayed all night, just listening.

There are the days when Chapters feels like a living organism, humming with conversations, creativity, and the occasional bark. We’ve hosted launches and readings for journals and anthologies like Sonder, Paper Lanterns, and Sans Press. We’ve held Easter egg hunts in the aisles, been graced by visits from authors’ dogs (truly the best-behaved guests), and put on what we call “casual” signings - though there’s nothing casual about how hard we all work to stay composed when literary heroes walk through the door. We’ve celebrated with the ‘graduates’ and mentors of Trinity’s access programme for schools, whilst our neighbours upstairs, Arboretum, have hosted book clubs, discussions, and lunches for illustrators and authors.

It’s a living, breathing place where something is always unfolding, where we don’t judge, and we don’t have to agree. What matters is seeing people engage, interact, and figure things out together - exactly the kind of openness books encourage.

A bookshop like Chapters matters - not just commercially, but because it’s a vital cultural and social space. It’s where community, identity, and curiosity come together in the most unexpected ways. Sociologist Ray Oldenburg called places like this “third places” - neutral spaces outside home and work where people gather, connect, and feel they belong. Independent bookshops do this better than most. We’re not a library. We’re not your living room. But we are a place where strangers strike up conversations over second-hand Murakami, where someone wandering in for coffee ends up staying for a book launch, and where people keep coming back - not because they have to, but because it feels like home.

At Chapters, like scholar Evan Friss puts it: “Being surrounded by books matters.” It’s true. The smell of paper, the weight of stories on the shelves, the murmur of readers browsing - this sensory richness invites serendipity, discovery, and connection in a way no algorithm ever could. Indie bookshops also preserve diversity and champion new voices, helping us all see the world differently. As Margaret Atwood says, “A word after a word after a word is power.” That’s what makes a place like Chapters more than just a bookshop. It’s a community. It’s a conversation. It’s a little slice of Dublin where people can come together, agree, disagree, and leave feeling a little more human.


Keep an Eye on Our Bookshop Events in Dublin
We’ve had extraordinary moments, but we’re not done. So many more great things are happening at Chapters - check our events page and follow us on social media to see what’s next.

Because we promise, whether it’s Booker winners or bingo, chess nights or conversations that change how you see the world, there’s a place for you here.

Chapters isn’t just a bookshop. It’s a community.