Symposium Books

Symposium Books Independent bookstore in the heart of Providence, RI, est. 2004. New•Used•Bargain Books + More

An independent bookstore in the heart of downtown Providence, Rhode Island. Serving the community since 2004, Symposium has built a strong reputation for quality books at excellent prices, in-store and online.

Author Event! Suzannah Weiss’s “Eve’s Blessing”Thursday, September 24th @ 6pmJoin us on Thursday, September 24th at 6pm ...
09/09/2026

Author Event! Suzannah Weiss’s “Eve’s Blessing”
Thursday, September 24th @ 6pm

Join us on Thursday, September 24th at 6pm as we host Suzannah Weiss Suzannah Weiss (Mary) who will be discussing her latest book, Eve’s Blessing w/ Connie Collins Connie Collins

“In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children.” With these words, women fell into a world that saw them as cursed. They are still falling. Today, we define women by suffering: menstrual cramps, mood swings, excruciating childbirth, painful first-time s*x. Femaleness itself has come to look like an illness, so now, women seeking solutions for their ailments are dismissed. And as our pain is sanctioned, our pleasure is deemed tricky, complicated, burdensome, elusive.
This reality is not our destiny. These myths are misreadings not just of ancient texts but of women’s bodies. Our pain is the product of oppression imposed for centuries. That’s the real curse. Yet amid this oppression, our pleasure has survived. Once we recover who we were before the fall, we can revel in the blessings of our bodies. Ecstatic births, positive periods, sublime s*x, or****ic lives ― this is who we are behind the cultural curse we’ve been under.
Through inspiring stories from the author and a diverse group of blessed people, Eve’s Blessing charts many paths from pain to pleasure so that you can walk your own. If you’ve drifted away from paradise, this book will guide you back.

More info in comments + on Symposium Books eventbrite & website. Reserve a copy before the event. Meet and greet plus book signing to follow discussion.

Poetry Event! Dani Janae’s “Hound Triptych”Friday, September 18th @ 6pmJoin us on Friday, September 18th as we host Dani...
09/08/2026

Poetry Event! Dani Janae’s “Hound Triptych”
Friday, September 18th @ 6pm

Join us on Friday, September 18th as we host Dani Janae Dani Janae in conversation with Kou T. Nyan Kou TN to discuss her new poetry collection, Hound Triptych!

Hound Triptych, Dani Janae’s debut collection of poetry, is a raw exploration of the intricacies of being an adoptee, the accompanying grief, and the destruction and rebuilding of the self through girlhood and into womanhood. The collection is a candid journey through the emotional landscape of abandonment and the human need for belonging; this is poetry that reaches into your chest and tells your heart, Listen. Feel. The poems mix gritty darkness with captivating imagery-the continuity of the ouroboros, cyclical and ruinous, the mouth devouring its own body; hair as a living entity, its knots growing into mammals that speak; a daughter’s quiet, intrinsic love for her mother, “prized in the marrow, rich and pearlescent.” Coupled with a wider scrutiny of the capitalization of adoption, Janae provides a perspective both personal and wide. Hound Triptych is an experience in the richness of the lyrical and an invitation to gaze into the unfettered chaos of the psyche and the heart and sit with them, unflinching.

About the author:
Dani Janae is the author of Hound Triptych (Sundress Publications, 2026). A poet and journalist from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, her work has been published by Longleaf Review, SWWIM, Palette Poetry, South Florida Poetry Journal, and others. She lives in South Carolina.
When she is not writing she enjoys having intimate conversations with the things that puzzle and delight her, admiring spiders, watching horror movies, and hunting for figs.

More in comments + on Symposium Books, Providence events and to reserve a copy ✨

How is everyone’s Saturday morning going so far? Lovely collection of new arrivals (part 2) available at the store (and...
09/05/2026

How is everyone’s Saturday morning going so far?

Lovely collection of new arrivals (part 2) available at the store (and online) to browse, read and relax. Seating inside and out along gorgeous Westminster St. Also, besides the outdoor seating at the cafes around us, there is seating on the corner in Grants Block.

This week’s excellent selection really added to my tbr pile. Exciting new fiction, important nonfiction, new cookbooks and art books.

See you all soon 💙



In general, do you prefer to read Fiction or Nonfiction? Or bit of both? Or love art and photography books?

Terrific selection of new releases for the first week of September - Part 1 📚📚Absolutely huge collection of fiction, poe...
09/03/2026

Terrific selection of new releases for the first week of September - Part 1 📚📚Absolutely huge collection of fiction, poetry, important nonfiction, art books, and more!!
Over 200 new arrivals this week. You can check them out in store and online!
Get a macha or espresso from our neighbors - Ellie’s to the left and Small Point to the right - and read them at the store or around gorgeous Providence. As always, we have cold drinks available

Sneak peak at R.F. Kuang’s Taipei Story (releasing next week) Deluxe Limited Edition

We already sold out of The Disappearers by Marlon James already. We have 30 more copies arriving on Friday or Monday🤗 If you wanted, you can reserve a copy on the website.

Author Event! Ken Liu’s “The Passing of the Dragon”Saturday, September 19th @ 4pmJoin us on Saturday, September 19th as ...
09/01/2026

Author Event! Ken Liu’s “The Passing of the Dragon”
Saturday, September 19th @ 4pm

Join us on Saturday, September 19th as we host Ken Liu, Ken Liu who will be discussing his latest story collection, The Passing of the Dragon.

Ken Liu, author of the Nebula and Hugo Award–winning The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories and The Hidden Girl and Other Stories—his second short story collection and the basis of the groundbreaking anime Pantheon—returns with a bold new anthology.

Thought-provoking, heartbreaking, and wonderous are some of the many ways the tales in this collection will engage readers, from the titular story about a painter who fears she’s failing as an artist to the twelve other examples of captivating science fiction. Ken Liu continues to delight and challenge your perceptions as one of the most accomplished and lauded American short.

Ken Liu is an award-winning American author of speculative fiction. His collection, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, has been published in more than a dozen languages. Liu’s other works include The Grace of Kings, The Wall of Storms, The Veiled Throne, a second collection The Hidden Girl and Other Stories, and the forthcoming Julia Z series. He has been involved in multiple media adaptations of his work, including the short story “Good Hunting,” adapted as an episode in Netflix’s animated series Love, Death + Robots; and AMC’s Pantheon, adapted from an interconnected series of short stories. “The Hidden Girl,” “The Message,” and “The Oracle” have also been optioned for development. Liu previously worked as a software engineer, corporate lawyer, and litigation consultant. He frequently speaks at conferences and universities on topics including futurism, machine-augmented creativity, the history of technology, and the value of storytelling. Liu lives with his family near Boston, Massachusetts

Check Symposium Books Events for more info and to reserve a copy.

We get in hundreds of used books every day from our lovely community 💙 Once entered, several go out on the used/bargain ...
08/31/2026

We get in hundreds of used books every day from our lovely community 💙
Once entered, several go out on the used/bargain book new arrivals tables and the rest get shelved in the sections.

In a lot of ways, the bookstore reflects what the community is currently reading.

Philosophy, Literary Fiction, Fiction, Mystery, SciFi, Horror, Short Stories, Essays, Poetry, Memoirs, Romance, Young Adult, Graphic Novels, Art, Photography, Sociology, Critical Race Theory, Politics, Feminism & Gender Studies, Nature & Environment, History, Music, New Age, Translated Works, and more! We also buy used vinyl records!

If needed, the loading zone across the street is often open for dropping off books.

Another category to look out for on a daily basis are the exciting selection of bargain books!! Each week, we get a large selection of well curated bargain books 📚

Author Event! Morgan Thomas’s “Mad Eden”Thursday, September 17th @ 6pmJoin us on Thursday, September 17th as we host Mor...
08/29/2026

Author Event! Morgan Thomas’s “Mad Eden”
Thursday, September 17th @ 6pm

Join us on Thursday, September 17th as we host Morgan Thomas in conversation with Riss Neilson Author Riss M. Neilson to discuss their latest book.

Ro and Liam live in a ramshackle cabin in a secluded stretch of Florida. Neither their home nor their sometimes-tumultuous relationship is what the world would call perfect, but to Ro―newly diagnosed with autism and working as a patient navigator for people seeking gender-affirming care―their life, despite the deeply inhospitable political climate, is a kind of paradise.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what shatters their peace. There’s Quentin, the unpredictable teenager for whom Liam and Ro are quasi-parents, who visits on his way to college, where he plans to finally start T. There’s the appearance of “Mad Eden,” an online fantasy serial about heroic dragon riders that increasingly becomes Ro’s obsession. And then there’s a seemingly innocuous patient video call that results in consequences both unexpected and grave. This triad of circumstances sends Liam’s and Ro’s world spinning toward disaster―unless Ro can become the real-life hero their situation demands without betraying who they are and who they love.

With colossal heart and preternatural skill, Morgan Thomas crafts a deliciously destabilizing debut novel that challenges us to confront and reinvent questions of language, s*x, prejudice, identity, and the shifting scales of morality. Playing with the possible relationship between autism and time to forge an ingenious new kind of storytelling, Mad Eden imagines, with exhilarating courage, how we might yet joyfully live in a precarious world.

More info in comments + on symposiumbooks.com Events. You can also preorder a copy ahead of the author event. Copies available in store as well.

Symposium Books Tote Bag 😍🤩
08/29/2026

Symposium Books Tote Bag 😍🤩

Terrific selection of new releases in this week! Latest fiction, literary fiction, works in translation, philosophy, ur...
08/27/2026

Terrific selection of new releases in this week! Latest fiction, literary fiction, works in translation, philosophy, urban studies, art, photography, cultural studies, politics, feminism, essays, poetry and more! Sever interesting books from smaller independent presses as well. All out now on the new arrivals tables for browsing.

As always, hundreds of new used/secondhand books in this week. Bring in your used books are a great way to keep your books alive in the community.

We got in a large delivery of journals. Going out tomorrow for the weekend.

September Book Club Announcement!This month, we will be reading “Pew”Meeting Thursday, September 10th @ 6pm Symposium B...
08/24/2026

September Book Club Announcement!
This month, we will be reading “Pew”
Meeting Thursday, September 10th @ 6pm Symposium Books, Providence

Join us in our group discussion of Catherine Lacey’s novel “Pew”! Open to all!
Books available at the store or on the website.

“The most impressive feat Lacey has accomplished in her newest novel is the ambitious construction of the narrator . . . a work that evokes the same presumptions and privileges in the reader as it does in its characters ― particularly those of the townsfolk . . . For anyone who values literature that tests commonly held standards regarding what a character should be and how they are developed, this is a book not to be missed. Its success at pushing beyond preconceived ideas about a character’s identity and narratorial credence will be discussed among writers for years to come.” —Ryan Smernoff, Los Angeles Review of Books

“Lacey works at the provocative end of contemporary American fiction, and Pew is her sharpest novel yet: a tale of the quiet savagery of “good” intentions, and the tyranny – and ecstasy – of belonging . . . . There is a fallen-to-Earth quality about Lacey’s amnesiac, androgynous confidante: part space alien, part unwitting, or unwilling, messiah; a kind of ethereal cultural anthropologist.” —Beejay Silcox, The Times Literary Supplement

Address

240 Westminster Street
Providence, RI
02903

Opening Hours

Monday 11am - 6pm
Tuesday 11am - 6pm
Wednesday 11am - 6pm
Thursday 10am - 8pm
Friday 10am - 8pm
Saturday 10am - 8pm
Sunday 10am - 6pm

Telephone

+14012737900

Website

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