“Do not live on this earth as a tenant or in nature as a vacationer.” || Nazim Hikmet

From the moment of its founding, the Terra Verde collective recognized the necessity of offering and recommending books. This belief stemmed both from our self-evident commitment to stand in solidarity with cooperative ventures active in the publishing sector, and from the need for knowledge, information, and the intellectual “fermentation” that a book provides. For this reason, since our very first days at the Daliani street location back in April 2009, the grocery store always featured a shelf of books and magazines tucked between Zapatista coffees and legumes from small-scale producers and cooperatives.

The first books on Terra Verde’s shelves came from “Ekdoseis ton Synadelfon” (Workers’ Cooperative Publications), pioneers in the field of cooperative publishing. Gradually, we expanded to include local publications by friends and fellow travelers. Throughout the years, book presentations have been a constant fixture within the grocery store.

While the love for books and the realization of their necessity were always there, Terra Verde’s expansion to Tsouderon Street provided the material conditions to give books a larger dedicated space. Now, we are even more equipped to recommend books, discuss them, and contribute our part to the dissemination and formation of ideas and perspectives—giving shape and form to our own needs and principles: those of solidarity, fellowship, and respect for humanity and nature.

In this context, we have launched collaborations with small, cooperative publishing houses and publishers that have emerged from and remain in dialogue with social movements. We hope to see these partnerships grow even further.