{Edinburgh} Lighthouse Radical Bookshop

Time to share another one of my favourite independent bookshops in Edinburgh with you. Much like Tills, the fabulous Lighthouse Radical Bookshop is another bookshop that I have been frequenting since my Edinburgh student days when it was known as the Word Power bookshop. Lighthouse is a queer-owned and woman led independent community bookshop, and describes itself as an “unapologetically activist, intersectional, feminist, antiracist, lgbtq+ community space”.

If you are looking to bring more diversity to your bookshelves, then Lighthouse is the place to go. While they are particularly passionate about “radical, left-wing and Scottish politics, intersectional feminism, revolutionary history, environmentalism, LGBT+ writing, poetry and translated fiction”, they carry books from across most genres, including a decently stocked children’s section with books sorted by themes such as inspiring people, family and community, being yourself, and more!

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One particularly nice feature, is their Pay it Forward scheme – basically, readers who can afford a little extra put money in a pot for those readers who might struggle to buy books. You can just give a general donation, or be more specific. If the giver leaves a note, it gets put on the PIF board in the shop as a token. When I last visited, the tokens on the board included specific things like “£5 for a children’s book” or “£4 for any book on Palestine”, as well as more general tokens such as “£5 towards any book that helps you realise your potential” or “£3 for someone who really needs a good read”. Such a beautiful idea! You can read more about it on the Lighthouse website.

How to get there

Lighthouse is located at 43- 45 West Nicolson Street. There are various Lothian buses that stop nearby, with the closest bust stop being in Chapel Street and Nicolson Street.