Books@Cafe

About this place Books@Cafe

Books@Cafe is one of the oldest and most culturally significant establishments on Jabal Amman's cultural strip ? a bookshop, cafe, bar and occasional event space that has operated since the 1990s and earned a reputation as one of the most open-minded social spaces in Amman. The venue draws artists, academics, journalists, NGO workers and international visitors; it has long been known within Amman's small LGBTQ+ community as a relatively comfortable space. Its reputation rests not on any explicit LGBTQ+ identification ? there is none, and there could not be in the Jordanian context ? but on a consistent culture of tolerance and intellectual openness that its regular crowd maintains. The bookshelves, the art on the walls, the wifi, and the mixed drinks make it a comfortable place to spend time. Like all LGBTQ+-tolerant spaces in Amman, it is a space for discretion rather than visibility.