Hard culling and soft-banning

Last week I had the wonderful task of culling the bursting literature shelves 
in order to make way for the fabulous new releases coming this week and through to Christmas, many of which will feature in our annual Summer Reading Guide. To be honest, during a normal working day, we're often too busy to peruse the shelves and I was incredibly impressed with the breadth and depth of our backlist, the many classics and books in translation,  as well as the downright out of left field titles. So just to say, next time you come in, instead of just heading for the new releases, take some time to browse the literature wall. You never know what joys you will find. 

Regular readers will know I've been following the book banning in America and last week was Banned Books Week there, with activities and events run by bookshops and libraries across the country. This year the focus is  ‘soft-banning’ where schools and libraries don't order a book in anticipation of it being banned. Dr Seema Yasmin, debut author of The ABC's of Queer History claims her book was soft-banned by a prominent ‘big-box’ company (read Amazon, Barnes & Noble etc)  who canceled a very large order. Knowing how often this is happening is impossible because unlike those books officially banned, the very nature of soft-banning means there are no records.

Love Your Bookshop Day - 12th October

On Saturday 12th October  is  Love Your Bookshop Day and to celebrate we will be hosting children's events and shenanigans  all day long.  At 10.30am for the youngsters, Rory Mather will read Brunocorn and Heart of a Tiger, and Chris Kennet will draw up a storm!  And then at 2pm for the older kids, Louise Park, Mo Johnson and Jules Faber get up to some serious pranking fun, and then at 3.30pm we welcome the legendary RA Spratt ant the launch of Nanny Piggins and the Origin Story. Awesome activities and reading.  Keep across all the details and other school holiday events at: gleebooks.com.au/kids-club-with-rachel/

 October Events

Double Pass Giveaway - Memoir of a Snail

We have a handful of double passes (and also a stack of 'two for the price of one' passes) to give away to Memoir of a Snail - the latest film from Academy Award-winning director, Adam Elliot ( in cinemas from 17th October).  Ask at the sales desk of any of our branches (first in, best dressed) to pick up a pass!