Houston has a new Latino bookstore, Dreamers Books and Culture
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Elizabeth Farfán-Santos at a Dreamers pop-up. Photo: Courtesy of Elizabeth Farfán-Santos
After a year of community pop-ups, Dreamers Books and Culture is opening a brick-and-mortar space to give readers year-round access to its curated collection of Latino literature.
Why it matters: Dreamers spotlights Latin American voices across fiction, nonfiction, poetry and children's books — filling what the shop owner calls a cultural and literary gap in the city's book scene.
Driving the news: Dreamers' grand opening is Saturday, coinciding with the first anniversary of founder Elizabeth Farfán-Santos' first pop-up. The bookstore will be in a converted shipping container in Ironworks, the mixed-use business hub in the East End.
- It will open with a small inventory as she continues to expand her catalog of Spanish, English and Portuguese books based on community demand.
What they're saying: "Our stories have been reduced to this objectified political object — migration and immigration … but I want the bookstore to be a place where people can find knowledge and information about all the different forms of experience that exist within Latine communities," Farfán-Santos tells Axios, adding she has books from social sciences to sci-fi.
- She says the shop will feature books that reflect the diversity of Latin America, including works on Indigenous peoples, Afro-Latinos and the Asian diaspora.
Between the lines: The shop name comes from a children's book by Mexican author Yuyi Morales in which an immigrant mother finds home in a library. Farfán-Santos, a former anthropology professor at the University of Houston, says she wants her bookstore to offer that same sense of belonging.
- "To be a migrant is to be a dreamer," she says. "I don't have a lot of independent wealth, and I'm working hard to make this sustainable. But I believe in this, and I believe these books will sell."
Flashback: Farfán-Santos' pop-ups were inspired by her childhood visits to Mexico, where book stalls alongside markets and cafés were part of daily life.
- She plans to continue those events to engage with the community and meet people where they are so "there's not a lot of labor involved in accessing the books."
The big picture: Houston's independent bookstore community has expanded in recent years, with Mossrose Bookshop, Lit Java Coffee & Books, Class Bookstore, LIT Bookbar, and pop-up Candescent Books.
If you go: Dreamers' current hours are Wednesdays and Thursdays, 10am–2pm; Fridays and Sundays 10am–6pm; and Saturdays 10am–7pm.
Top five books to get you started in Latino literature, recommended by Farfán-Santos:
- "This Mouth is Mine" by Yásnaya Elena A. Gil
- "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
- "Woman Without Shame" by Sandra Cisneros
- "Blood Red" by Gabriela Ponce
- "Reservoir Bitches" by Dahlia de la Cerda
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to show Dreamers is open on Wednesdays.