Our Story

The Brazos Bookstore opened in March 1974 with special focus on supporting and encouraging Houston’s literary culture through author events, readings, and exhibitions. Brazos’ author appearances remain the city’s oldest reading series. Hundreds of writers have visited Brazos over the years to read from and discuss their works, including:   

Edward Albee   Walter Cronkite   Spalding Gray   Susan Sontag

Isabel Allende   Sandra Cisneros Paul Krugman   Gloria Steinem

Pres. Jimmy Carter   Katharine Graham   Larry McMurtry   Amy Tan

Julia Child   Günter Grass   P. J. O’Rourke   Tom Wolfe 

In the first few months of 2007, author appearances included: 

Kofi Annan   Douglas Brinkley   Garrison Keillor   John Lithgow

Michael Beschloss   Walter Issacson    Senator John Kerry   Bob Woodruff 

Brazos partners with many of Houston’s finest community organizations to make books a part of the city’s cultural currency.  Community partners include the American Institute of Architects, Asia Society, Baker Institute, Brilliant Lecture Series, Chinquapin School, English Speaking Union, Fondren Library, Goethe Institute, Houston Ballet, Houston Chronicle, Houston Council on Foreign Relations, Houston Forum, Houston Grand Opera, Houston Public Library, Inprint, Intown Chamber of Commerce, Jung Center, Menil Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of Natural Science, Nature Conservancy, Nuestra Palabra, NPR-KUHF, PBS Ch. 8, Progressive Forum, Rice Design Alliance, Rice University, Rothko Chapel, SPCA, University of Houston, University of St. Thomas, and the World Affairs Council of Houston, among others.

Brazos helped found many of Houston’s premier literary organizations. In 1980, Brazos formed PEN Friends to support a Houston chapter of PEN, the international writers’ organization (founded by John Galsworthy in 1921). In 1984, the store helped create a non-profit foundation called Inprint to raise funds for the University of Houston’s then new Creative Writing Program.  To bring some dazzle (and to attract individual donors) to the Writing Program, Brazos co-founded the Poets and Writers Ball, an annual gala that has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years for student scholarships. Brazos underwrites two annual literary awards: The Academy of American Poets Prize and, for fifteen years, the Texas Institute of Letters Short Story Award.

Brazos Bookstore has been honored by the American Institute of Architects, Texas Monthly, The Houston Chronicle, The Houston Press, The National Poetry Society, and by joint resolutions of the Texas House and Senate for “Distinguished Contributions to the Arts.” In 2006, The New York Times called Brazos “Houston’s premier literary marketplace and a mecca for touring authors since 1974" in an article about the rescue of the store. "Brazos Bookstore...will keep its doors open after a threatened shutdown thanks to some unlikely saviors: a consortium of 14 loyal customers and private investors." (Read the article here.) Jane Moser, who owned the children's bookstore Stop, Look, and Learn in the Rice Village in the 80s, was hired as manager in 2006. The year 2009 marks Brazos Bookstore's 35th year of matching good books with readers in Houston and around the country.