University Bookshop

There is a certain kind of feeling you get when you enter a good bookshop, it’s warm and inviting, and a sense of cosiness and calm takes over. The scent of hundreds and thousands of pages waiting to be discovered and devoured is nostalgic, and it is easy to lose an hour or two browsing the aisles deliberating over your next read. In Ōtautahi Christchurch, we are blessed with a stellar number of bookstores, from a specialist children’s shop, booksellers that have been in the city for generations and second-hand shops that ensure literary gems reach the hands of new readers. So whether you are on the hunt for the latest bestseller, looking to build up your child’s library collection or happiest when spending an afternoon amongst stacks and rows of books, here’s your guide (in no particular order) to enjoying the best bookshops around the city.

Meet Reuben Woods, an arts writer, curator and the creative director of 'Watch This Space', an urban arts trust dedicated to exploring, documenting and celebrating graffiti and street art in Ōtautahi and wider Aotearoa.

He wrote his PhD thesis on the performances of graffiti, street art and independent public art at the University of Canterbury, a challenge that strengthened his bonds with the city and, in some ways, with New Brighton, a village that has embraced colour and creativity.