The Austin Texas Book Trail is Back and Better Than Ever

Growing up, Jackie Rangel would head to her local bookstore every Sunday, where her mother would let her roam the aisles for hours. Those weekly visits left a lasting impression on Rangel. Now she scouts out small, local bookstores wherever she goes. She lives in Austin, however, so when she’s home, it doesn’t prove difficult to slip into the warm, inviting air of one of the many independent bookstores housed in our lovely, weird city.  

Michelle Zhang, BA, BBA ’18, holds a similar familiarity with Austin’s local bookstore scene. A bookworm since she could remember—and an Austinite since middle school—these beacons of literature, thought, and community have captivated her for years. Last year, Rangel and Zhang connected over their infatuation with books and the local spots that sell them to create the Austin Texas Book Trail.  

“[I thought,] Wow, we have so many bookstores. How do we activate around that, and what can we do to shine a light on what they’re already doing?” Rangel says. “A city with this many bookstores is a city that we want to live in, and we want to make sure that [we] support the things [we] want to see.”  

The 2025 Austin Texas Book Trail, organized by Zhang and Rangel, is a bookstore crawl which highlights stores in Austin and its surrounding areas for one weekend. The trail begins on Saturday, April 12, 2025, at 9 a.m. with a coffee and breakfast meetup at Mañana Dos. From there, literary-hikers utilize the handy trail map—which pinpoints the locations of each of the participating bookstores—and visit their beloved brick-and-mortar literary guideposts. This year, Zhang and Rangel expanded the trail from one day to two, a shift largely based on feedback from the bookish community in 2024.  

“Whole book clubs were coming from places like the Austin suburbs, and it was so energizing to see how excited people were to do it all,” Rangel says. “But there was this little hum of, ‘Oh my gosh, I don’t know how to do it all in one day,’ so that sparked the light bulb … and then we did get more formalized feedback after the trail that people wanted to spend a little bit more time exploring.”  

Along with providing special discounts and perks, each bookstore visit allows folks to enter a raffle for prize bundles of gift cards, books, and knick-knacks from each store. On Sunday, April 13, 2025, from 7 to 9 p.m., the organizers will host an afterparty at Community Garden in East Austin for people to regroup and wind down. The organizers made sure to set the wind down after many of the bookstores closed. Rangel says, “One of the things that we hope is booksellers will show up because they’re the ones who are working, interacting, and engaging all weekend.” 

There is a whopping total of 29 bookstores participating in this year’s trail. The number may seem daunting, but the trail’s blog provides personalized routes, called “My Book Trail,” from local writers and readers to help the hikers get ideas for their paths. The breadth and variety of stores speaks to the mission of the trail. 

“So much of what I love about bookstores is the indie, the DIY, and the weird—especially the weird,” Zhang says. “It’s not always polished. It’s not always perfect … All of the people that make up this scene are just so unique, and it’s part of what keeps Austin weird. It’s part of why we love Austin.”  

Zhang and the trail’s poster artist, Eva Frederick (who creates under the name Strawberry Milkweed), BJ, BSA ’17, are former Longhorns. In the spirit of their tie to the University, the Alcalde compiled a list of participating bookstores with Longhorn connections to include in your personalized trail.  

Alienated Majesty Books on West 29th Street  

This store owner, Melynda Nuss, MA ’96, PhD ’03, is a two-time Longhorn, studying English Language and Literature.  

BookPeople on North Lamar Boulevard 

Read our story about the store’s founder Michael Nill, PhD ’81, and BookPeople here.  

BookWoman on Guadalupe Street 

One of the 13 women founders, Susan Post found her way to BookWoman through her job in the UT Austin Library System.  

First Light Books on Speedway  

Alcalde managing editor Eliza Pillsbury, BA, BJ ’23, Life Member, as well as several Longhorn booksellers and current English PhD students can be found within the warm walls of this bookstore. 

Idle Hands Books 

Popping up with the Austin (Used) Book Collective on April 12, Idle Hands co-founder Zack Schlosberg, MFA ’22, is a fiction graduate from the Michener Center for Writers and the senior program coordinator at UT’s Joynes Reading Room. 

Lark and Owl Booksellers in Georgetown  

Misty Adair, BFA ’97, is one of the co-founders of this bookstore and bistro in downtown Georgetown. 

The Little Gay Shop on East 12th Street  

Co-owner and founder Justin Galicz also works as the senior graphic designer for the department of Recreational Sports at UT.  

Livra Books on Guadalupe Street 

Moctezuma Seth Gonzalez, ’19, opened a used and rare bookstore after selling secondhand books online and at pop-ups around Austin for years. 

Resistencia Books on Thrasher Lane 

The founder of Red Salmon Arts and Casa de Resistencia Books, Raúl R. Salinas, better known by his pen name raúlrsalinas, was a professor in the Mexican American Studies program at UT.  

CREDITS: Photos courtesy of Austin Texas Book Trail (10)