Librería Barco de Papel opened on April 20, 2003 by co-owners Paula Ortiz and Ramón Caraballo. When it first opened, the bookstore was geared towards children. Ramón and Paula saw that parents liked to read books from their own childhood to their children but couldn’t find them. Over the years, the demand for adult Spanish books was increasing and Librería Barco de Papel transitioned to having a mix of both types of books.

They started a non-profit program, which promoted reading and the arts to the children of the community. The owners choose a different topic or theme every month and invite artists from various Latin American Countries to explain that theme or share their own story. They also have arts and crafts activities, all of which are free. Reaching out to schools in the neighborhood, they run the theater program and perform to the students. This is a way of giving back to a community that is so welcoming to them.

At this bookstore, you can find books on various topics including psychology, poetry, history, biography, and religion. They are organized by topic and alphabetically like in any other bookstore. They also have books that were originally written in other languages but then translated into Spanish. They have some trailers, movie dramas and love stories, which are separated in a little corner. The bookstore also carries poetry, history books, and biographies. In the L-shape corner, they have books on self-esteem and supernatural beings. The two shelves towards the front have English books on Astrology, Numerology, Self-Help, and Business.

The bookstore is currently working with the non-profit program, Centro Cultural Barco de Papel, which provides a safe space where artists, poets, and writers can meet and express themselves. This is a place where the community comes to enjoy the performances and have conversations with each other as well as the artists. This is explained more in depth in the Arts Section of our website.