Best Bookstores in Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul has numerous good bookstores where you can buy English-language books.

Surprisingly, many English-language books are published in Turkey (in addition to lots of Turkish-language books, and translations into Turkish of popular English-language books).

My humorous travel memoir, Turkey: Bright Sun, Strong Tea, was published in Istanbul by Homer Books, and is available in all of the bookshops mentioned below for TL16million (TL16), or about US$11.

You’ll easily find dozens of books in English on any aspect of Turkish life and culture that may interest you: art, architecture, cuisine, customs, history, language, music, religion, theater and society.

Beyoğlu

Robinson Crusoe

On İstiklal Caddesi not far from Galatasaray Square, this is an old standard, with a fine selection and knowledgeable staff. More…

Homer Kitabevi

“Turkey’s largest publisher of English-language books,” near Galatasaray Square off İstiklal Caddesi, sells an extensive collection of its own English-language titles (original works such as Turkey: Bright Sun, Strong Tea, as well as those of other publishers both Turkish and foreign. More…

Zero Books & Ege Yayınları

(Aegean Publications)
If you really want to dive into the social, cultural, artistic and environmental setting of Anatolian cultures and their close neighbours, you want to look at Zero Books. My friend, the archeologist and writer Mr Ahmet Boratav, owns this scholarly bookshop and publisher specializing in Prehistory, Classical Archaeology, Byzantine and Ottoman Studies, and publishing books in English, French and German as well as in Turkish. The shop is at Katip Mustafa Çelebi Mahallesi, Abdullah Sokak No: 17, Taksim, Beyoğlu, Istanbul (Tel: +90 (212) 244 7521, Fax +90 (212) 244 3209, info@egeyayinlari.com. It’s on a back street between Taksim and Galatasaray squares, and a great place to visit for serious scholarly books, but you can also find all the books online. More…