How it works
Pick up a passport at any participating bookstore the weekend of Indie Bookstore Day. Visit as many indies as you can that weekend. For each indie bookstore you visit, you’ll get a chance to enter fun prizes, including merch, gift items, and a grand prize containing multiple gift cards.
More info coming soon for 2026!
How it started
The inaugural Edmonton Indie Bookstore Day Extravaganza was on April 27-28, 2024. In celebration of Independent Bookstore Day, which occurs annually on the last Saturday of April, Audreys Books and Paper Birch Books started scheming. We did everything DIY-style, working around our regular bookstore jobs, and manually folding, assembling, and stapling passports that we printed at Audreys office printers. Talk about a labour of love!
In the end, eleven independent bookstores got together to make one collective festive experience for book lovers all over the city and beyond. Hundreds of people showed up in enthusiastic support, and multiple indies recorded their best days ever in terms of sales. It was a wild and wondrous whirlwind.
In 2025, we pulled off Year Two of the Extravaganza, with sixteen participating indie bookstores. Thanks to Edmonton Transit Services (ETS), we had a free Bookstore Bus running on Saturday. Paths for People organised bike tours, and Edmonton Transit Riders created at map to help folks use public transport for the tour. We printed (many, many more) passports professionally, and even more bookstore lovers turned up to participate!
This year – 2026 – we’re excited to make the Extravaganza even better—stay tuned.
About Canadian Independent Bookstore Day
Canadian Independent Bookstore Day (CIBD) traditionally happens the last Saturday of April. Bookstores, readers, writers, publishers, and others involved in the industry come together to celebrate independent bookstores and all the ways they uplift literacy, support local economies, and foster community. Read more about CIBD on the Canadian Independent Booksellers Association website.
sponsors & partners
Coming soon!
we are grateful to be here.
Edmonton is known as amiskwacîwâskihikan in Cree (Beaver Hills House), and is located on Treaty 6 territory, the homeland of the Métis Nation. This is the traditional land and gathering place of many First Nations including the Néhiyaw (Cree), Niitsitapi (Blackfoot), Nakoda (Stoney), Dene, and Anishinaabe (Ojibway/Saulteaux), and home to of one of the largest communities of Inuit south of the 60th parallel.
Indigenous stories matter. We encourage readers to join with us in learning, decolonizing, and truth-telling in the best ways we know how, as we journey the road to reconciliation together.
Yeg Indie Bookstores - Indie Bookstore Extravaganza 