Sunday, July 13th 2025, the weather fits the day just fine. Fortunately, a cool sea breeze blowing uphill made the weather bearable. Colabo Cafe at Jimbaran Hub was getting busier by the hour. “We need to remove the cloth first before we move this table,” Angga Jasintha, a friend of mine told me that particularly bright morning. I nodded, the sunlight came from an angle, it hit the back of the chair alongside the table. “Right, we don’t want them to get scorched in the noon,” I moved some of my displays and we both lifted a table each. Laksmi Mutiara, also a friend of mine—who is also a big bookstagrammer—was setting up their booth with Jasmine Kane, Shelf Therapy’s Project Manager, two tiles over.
On that particular Sunday morning to afternoon, Pasar Republik Buku: Volume 1 was commencing. Supported by Jimbaran Hub and The Bookit Book Club & Library, this event showcased bookstores and invited book communities across Bali. The book bazaar was packed with interesting tenants from various niche and scale: Periplus Bookshop, Books on The Hill, There But for The Books, and Shelf Therapy. Each brought their interesting collections, covering almost every demographic and interest.
A reading corner with bean bags was crowded, yet it fell silent. Bali Book Party brought their community over, setting off the silent reading session alongside the talk shows and bazaar. Small talks occurred here and there, turned into heated discussions by the hour. The forum was lively, with other guests crowding over tenants, enlivening the Colabo Cafe that afternoon.
Books were not a strong suit in the Southern Kuta cultural landscape. A lot of books and literary festivals in Bali are concentrated in the northern part of Bali: Denpasar, Ubud, and now Singaraja. This very observation then becomes the basis of the Pasar Republik Buku idea: to establish a community-centered literary scene in the southern part of Bali, starting from the modern village neighborhood in Jimbaran. Hence, the theme for the first volume of Pasar Republik Buku is Literary Movement from Southern Bali.
Aside from the book bazaar, Pasar Republik Buku was also organizing two talk shows. The first one is about the book club and community activities and movement from various parts of Bali. The talkshow presented Michellia from Bali Book Party, Jasmine from Shelf Therapy, and Ankita from The Bookit Book Club, moderated by Paloma from The Sketch Collective. This all-women panel discussion bore witness to stories of challenges and hopes around building a community of reader. Ideas are thrown around, warm exchanges, and they leave the panel with possible collaboration that is worth to wait.
The second talk show introduced bookstores with different scales of business and niches that are showcased in the bazaar. There was Ndari from There But for The Books, Alfian from Periplus Bookshop, and Vivi from Books on The Hill. They harbored hope for diverse readership and reflected on the passion and growth from dealing in the book business.
Sun was getting low at Jimbaran hill. A golden light falls just right on the glimmering faces of guests, excitedly holding a book in their hands. Conversations murmured as the day went by. Titles of books mentioned, appointments to visit physical bookstores made, and collaboration planned. A new community of readers is now rising in Jimbaran.
