Located in the heart of George Town’s world heritage site, Gerakbudaya Bookshop is an essential part of the city’s cultural life. The bookshop is a place for people who love books to meet, talk and, of course, browse – all in the name of the great conversation between authors and readers.
Opened in 2014, the first bookshop was located at 78 Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling. It closed for business in April 2022. Its in-depth selection of literary fiction, poetry and translations as well as hard-to-find titles from smaller, independent publishers was transferred to the larger bookshop, opened in 2018, located in the new Hikayat arts and letters space at 226 Lebuh Pantai. So now you have the convenience of all our titles being under the same roof.
We are passionate about the books that matter. In addition to fiction and poetry, our selection of over 6,000 titles in stock ranges from books about Penang to current affairs and politics, Southeast Asian studies, not forgetting a large display on the arts, culture, popular science, the environment, food and drink, lifestyle and travel. And if you can’t find what you’re looking for we can order it online from a choice of thousands of titles, with prompt delivery ensured.
Whether you are based locally, visiting the area on holiday or just passing through, there are lots of reasons to drop in. And if you aren’t able to visit us in person, we hope our website and online bookshop will give you a flavour of what makes Gerakbudaya Bookshop unique.
Around Gerakbudaya Bookshop
The newy expanded Gerakbudaya Bookshop is located on Lebuh Pantai (Beach Street) on the ground floor of the arts space Hikayat, near the junction with Lebuh Ah Quee, well known for its street art. The bookshop is along the street from both Cheah kongsi and Lim kongsi, two of Penang’s great clan houses. Nearby you’ll find ChinaHouse, with its galleries and live music venue, and Black Kettle. We are also a stone’s throw away from the bustling streets of Little India, the hawker stalls and cafes of Chulia Street, and the creative enclave of Armenian Street with its galleries and museums.
You can find the bookshop easily by bicycle, car or on foot. The major transport hubs of the Jetty and Komtar are also nearby.
Contact Details
Tel: +60 (0) 4 261 8001
Email: info@gerakbudayapenang.com
Opening Hours: Every day 11.00am—6.00pm (Late night shopping: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, till 8.00pm)
Our Team
A former academic, Gareth Richards is a researcher, writer, editor, bookseller and activist who has long been associated with the arts scene.
In 2008 Gareth established Impress Creative & Editorial, an agency providing a range of high-quality editorial services and creators’ representation. One of the founding team of Gerakbudaya Bookshop, Gareth believes that a good bookshop is both illuminating and distracting: a place to find the thing you were looking for as well as an unexpected world of surprises. He also believes strongly in taking books to the people, through pop-up bookstalls and special events. In 2018 he co-founded Hikayat with Bettina Chua Abdullah, an arts space for books, letters and beyond. He has a particular interest in critical social sciences, people’s history, literary fiction and the arts. His favourite writers are those who have engaged the world critically and with humanity – Pramoedya Ananta Toer, John Berger, Albert Camus, Toni Morrison and Eduardo Galeano.
Gareth is the co-author/editor of Asia–Europe Interregionalism: Critical Perspectives (1999) and Discourses, Agency and Identity in Malaysia (2022), and wrote the texts for two books of photography, Portraits of Penang: Little India (2011) and Panicrama (2016). He has been on the juries of the Penang Book Prize and the Epigram Books Fiction Prize.
Farny N. Kortornilo is a human rights and peace activist from Thailand’s Deep South. She graduated with a degree in English from Thaksin University, Songkhla, and is due to start an MA in gender, violence and conflict at Sussex University.
Farny is a part-time manager at Gerakbudaya Bookshop, with particular responsibility for fiction and poetry, and Southeast Asian studies. She reads widely, in both fiction and non-fiction. Her favourite authors include Eka Kurniawan, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Pramoedya Ananta Toer. In her journey from the Deep South to other conflict-affected areas, she’s been inspired by Souad Mekhennet’s memoir, I Was Told to Come Alone, to have the courage to follow her dreams in contributing her knowledge and skills to community development. Apart from books, Farny loves independent films, portrait photography and classical music.
Born in Paris, Olga Rostaqui is an ophthalmologist specialising in inflammation and rare eye diseases. She has lived in France, Morocco and Norway and has been in Penang for eight years.
Olga is a manager at Gerakbudaya Bookshop and focuses on fiction and poetry, arts and general science titles. She says that being part of the team is a committed and political act to continue the dissemination of knowledge to all – that books have an essential role in enhancing understanding of culture and science. Her favourite authors include Christian Bobin and Marie-France Hirigoyen, and she likes to relax with detective novels. Her interests include photography, nature, sports (especially football), dancing, singing, art and travel.
Originally from Kuala Lumpur, Chan Seau Huvi moved to Penang more than ten years ago. She trained as a visual artist in France for seven years, working across different media.
Huvi is a manager at Gerakbudaya Bookshop, with particular responsibility for the large section on the arts – painting, sculpture, photography, design – as well as Chinese-language titles. She reads extensively, in both fiction and non-fiction. She is a keen student of contemporary art, and interested in body art in performance and happening form. She loves poetic images and films. She thinks she has a sleeping Indian Tibetan soul.
Dhurey Santhanasamy was born and grew up in Penang. She graduated with a degree in business administration from Wawasan Open University.
Dhurey is a manager at Gerakbudaya Bookshop and is responsible for Penang titles and fiction and poetry, as well as the time-consuming task of collating orders. Her interest in books and reading has really blossomed since she began working in the bookshop in 2018, and she says that books have allowed her to travel without moving her feet. She has a strong interest in feminism and women role models, with Frida Kahlo’s life and work a particular inspiration. She is also interested in films, music and dance.