SSA is an institute of research and publications which disseminates knowledge in printed form. Suriya Bookshop which functions as a separate unit within the organization helps achieve this objective.
The bookshop has an interesting history. It got its name from the Flowers of Suriya Movement which was launched to counter the pro-war fund-raising programme at the time of the Second World War. The original Suriya Bookshop was established in the 1950’s and soon became a hub of readers of radical literature. In the year 2000 the ownership of the Suriya Bookshop was transferred to the SSA.
The Suriya bookshop is situated in the SSA premises and is open from Monday to Friday from 9.00a.m. to 5.00.p.m. Books, journals, pamphlets of SSA and other local and foreign publications in the Social Sciences and Humanities are sold in the bookshop. Publications by well known publishers such as SAGE, Rawat, Asian Education Service in India, Indian Book Trust, Zed (London) are sold in the bookshop. The Suriya Bookshop specializes in books on political economy, democracy, feminism, gender and human rights, cultural studies etc. There is also a second-hand books section which often sells rare books.