31 July,2026 01:24 PM IST | Mumbai | Junisha Dama
Anup Nair founder of Fictionary Bookstore in Bandra West. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi
When Anup Nair left his corporate job to open Fictionary in Bandra, the plan was far simpler: build a cosy bookstore-café dedicated entirely to fiction. Community events were always on the agenda, events designed for singles to meet and mingle, and WhatsApp groups filled with strangers-turned-friends weren't.
Today, however, Fictionary has become one of Mumbai's most talked-about third spaces. On weekdays, readers nurse coffees between towering bookshelves. Saturday mornings begin with two hours of silent reading. And every few weekends, the same shelves play host to singles looking for something dating apps have struggled to offer: genuine conversation.
"A bookstore lends itself to a very meet-cute, romance kind of an idea," says Nair, founder of Fictionary. "All of it played well together into doing it as an event."
The idea emerged organically from the people already walking through his doors.
"The community at Fictionary is all 20-somethings, which is rare for a bookstore," he says. "That became our community and my circle. And then that meant the stories are of single people and how dating is difficult today." What started as collaborations with other community organisers soon evolved into Fictionary's own singles events. The response caught even Nair off guard. "It sells out in two or three days. It's an instant hit. People really like it. We have a lot of people coming back."
Success, he insists, isn't measured only by romance. "For us, the success primarily is that people enjoyed a good event and had some connection, right? Or at least met some people in the same age range. That itself is considered a success. But when you see at least one couple is still dating, that makes you feel good about it."
The appeal perhaps says as much about Mumbai as it does about Fictionary. Unlike the endless swipe cycle of dating apps, the bookstore's mixers ask people to slow down. They are designed for those over 25, a stage at which many begin actively looking for long-term relationships.
"People are genuinely tired of apps, of the cycle of endlessly meeting people on dates, which generally feel like interviews," he says. "Here, people come with the idea that you are not evaluating as much as just meeting people."
That philosophy extends beyond the singles nights. Board game evenings, writers' circles, silent reading sessions and book clubs all spill over into dedicated WhatsApp groups, creating smaller communities that continue long after an event ends.
If there's one vision he hopes visitors carry with them, it has little to do with dating. Nair says, "It's a place to embrace the slowness of life; that is what Fictionary is. It's a place to meet people and make friends. You slow down from your daily life, leave your worries behind, and just sit. You literally end up talking to somebody or the other. Conversations are very easy here. That's the wholesome kind of corner that I want to build in the city."
