Photographs
Cats in the places they actually choose: the doorway, the chip aisle, the cardboard box behind the register.
Preorders are open
Bodega Cats of New York
A 240-page hardcover about the cats who hold down New York's bodegas. Photographed by Gulce Kilkis across all five boroughs.
- November 3, 2026
- $30
Official trailer
Watch the 83‑second trailer.
Four years of store visits, photographs, and bookmaking across New York City.
Preorder your
copy.
Pick a retailer below. If a retailer page shows stale cover art, the official cover is the blue book shown here.
Bookstores, bulk orders and events- November 3, 2026
- Dan Rimada
- Gulce Kilkis
- Epic Ink, an imprint of Quarto
- Hardcover coffee table book
- 240 pages
- 8 × 10 inches
- $30
- 9798317901585
Find it in NYC
The best way to buy this book is to walk into a bookstore in the city it came from. These stores are carrying it:
Greenlight Bookstore (Fort Greene)
Our featured local partner. Preorder through Greenlight and your copy comes from the same neighborhood as some of the cats in the book.
Preorder from Greenlight BookstoreAstoria Bookshop (Astoria)
Preorder from an independent Queens bookstore.
Preorder from Astoria BookshopBook Culture (Manhattan and Queens)
Preorder through Book Culture for pickup or delivery.
Preorder from Book CultureBooks Are Magic (Brooklyn)
Preorder a signed copy through Books Are Magic.
Preorder from Books Are MagicWORD (Greenpoint)
A few blocks from Zeus, the Greenpoint cat in the book. Copies on order now.
Village Works (12 St. Marks Pl, East Village)
An East Village bookstore in an East Village cat neighborhood. Zorro, Masha, Papelito, and Gigi all live nearby.
More stores are coming as we get closer to November 3. If you run a New York shop and want to carry the book, write to us.
Look inside the book.
Five spreads from the 240-page hardcover, where the photographs and stories come together.
Prince · SoHo, Manhattan
The book came out of store visits.
The cats were already there. The stores were already there. What changed was the amount of time spent asking who the cat was, where they came from, and what the regulars knew.
Some sleep on the lottery tickets. Some watch the door. One won't come down from the ceiling until he's ready.
Inside the book
Stories
First-person accounts from the owners, workers, and regulars who know each cat by name.
The people
The families who built their lives around these bodegas and the regulars who visit the cat first.
Early readers, on the book.
“There are a lot of things that come to mind when you think of New York City, but bodegas—and the cats that live in them—are one of the iconic parts of our city. I introduced the bill to legalize our beloved bodega cats because of the indispensable role they play in stores, and because they are the embodiment of New York City—which this book artfully explores.”
Keith PowersNYC Council Member · Sponsor of the Bodega Cat Bill
“A street-level look at New York that most people walk right past. Rimada captures the soul of the corner store and the cats who call it home.”
Joe Conzo Jr.Photographer · "The Man Who Took Hip Hop's Baby Pictures"
“Growing up in my dad's bodega in the 90s, our cat was merely a worker. Fast forward 25+ years, and they've not only been promoted to store manager, but also to the bodega's official mascot. People like Dan aren't just customers who stop to pet and acknowledge them. They've given these cats a platform for rightful appreciation and, more importantly, protection.”
Kel MurphyFilmmaker · Director of La Bodega Sells Dreams
“New York City is the world's melting pot, and the place where it all happens is the bodega. It is a safe space built into your neighborhood's corner to provide warmth, a hot meal, and the most perfect part of New York City culture—THE bodega cat. Daniel Rimada has captured the soul of these spaces perfectly.”
MichelladonnaActor · Host of Mad Realities' Shop Cats
About the creators
Dan Rimada
Dan writes the stories behind Bodega Cats of New York. Since 2022, he has been visiting bodegas across all five boroughs, usually by asking one owner who else has a cat and walking there. In 2025 he organized the petition that helped put two bills in committee. He lives in Brooklyn with Cocoa and Charles, who are not bodega cats and want it noted.
Gulce Kilkis
Gulce is the lead photographer for the book. She is from Istanbul and has long photographed street cats there, bringing that same eye to New York's bodegas. With over a decade on film and TV sets, she works candidly: no posing, no treats, just the patience to wait for the unposed moment. She documents street cats in Turkey at @turkish_street_cats.
Preorder the book.
Choose any retailer to lock in your first-edition copy.
Choose a RetailerBookstores, bulk orders and eventsGet book updates
Launch notes and events, nothing else.