Shakespeare & Sons - Fine Bagels - Top 10 Reading Cafes and Literary Cafes

Shakespeare & Sons on Warschauer Straße in Friedrichshain is an English-language bookstore with its own bagel bakery: Fine Bagels hand-rolls and New York-boils its bagels. Tables are set between the shelves for browsing. In this reading café in Berlin, the next novel is usually already on the table before the bagel arrives.

Shakespeare & Sons – Fine Bagels: English Books and New York Bagels

Roman Kratochvila opened Shakespeare & Sons in Prague in 2002, with a branch in Prenzlauer Berg added in 2011. In 2014, the Berlin bookstore moved into the premises of a historic bookstore at Warschauer Straße 74 in Friedrichshain. In the same shop, Laurel Kratochvila runs Fine Bagels, a bagel bakery with a café. The bagels are hand-rolled, boiled New York style, and then baked, topped with lox, cream cheese, or pastrami; many vegan options are also available. Laurel Kratochvila has also published her own book about her baking artistry.

New Releases, Rarities, and Meet The Author

The assortment is almost entirely English-language: new releases, classics, used books and rarities, plus children’s and young adult books, a dedicated shelf with Berlin-themed books, and a small German selection. Tables are placed between the shelves where you can comfortably browse with a bagel and coffee. In the “Meet The Author” series, English-speaking authors present their new books, often in conversation with guests from the Berlin literary scene. Those who write themselves can work on their own texts in the six-week “Writing Berlin” course.