Collections at your library!
Welcome to the latest edition of Library Collection News!
Discover fresh titles, exciting resources, and all the latest updates from Coffs Harbour Libraries. Let’s dive into what’s new this month! 📚✨
In this edition, we’re:
- learning with Gale databases 📚💻
- celebrating the 2026 Stella Prize winner ✨🏆
- going whale watching with the library's new binoculars 🐋🔭
- acknowledging National Reconciliation Week 🖤💛❤️
- getting ready for the Sydney Writers' Festival's live-streamed events 🎤📖
Make yourself at home and browse the wonderful new finds, events, and reads waiting for you at Coffs Harbour Libraries.
eResource of the Month
Gale Databases
Gale offers a variety of resources for education, lifelong learning, and academic research. Whether you are looking for peer-reviewed articles, full-text magazines, newspapers, and eBooks, primary source documents, and videos or podcasts, Gale puts the right vetted content and tools at your fingertips!
Collection Feature
Binoculars
May to November is whale watching season, and the Coffs Coast offers some of the best locations in Australia to see Humpbacks and their rarer relatives Southern Right, Sperm and Minke whales. The library has binoculars for loan to assist your whale watching – pop into Woolgoolga or Coffs Harbour Libraries to borrow a pair or reserve online today.
NSW Law Week
18-24 May
NSW Law Week is a week dedicated to learning more about the law. It is held in May every year. Do you know about the Find Legal Answers Tool Kit and Law Books for Libraries collections held by the library?
Find Legal Answers Tool Kit: The books in the Tool Kit summarise and explain the law in simple terms. They provide strategies, sample letters and forms, procedural information, practical tips and references to cases and legislation. Library users can find answers to everyday questions about the law using these books.
Law Books for Libraries: The Law Books for Libraries collections contain more complex resources, eg law text books. This collection is provided to help people who need more detailed information that can be found in the plain English books in the Tool Kit.
Collection Feature
BorrowBox
The best titles without the wait… Borrow now on BorrowBox!
Find a range of titles, in eBook and eAudiobook, always available on BorrowBox. Current titles on offer:
Heart the lover by Lily King 🎧 📖
The heir apparent by Rebecca Armitage 🎧
Katabasis by R F Kuang 🎧
The let them theory by Mel Robbins 🎧 The magic faraway tree by Enid
Blyton 🎧
Offside by Avery Keelan 📖
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir 🎧
2026 Sydney Writers' Festival:
Live & Local
Featured Authors
Stella Prize 2026
Winner
The Stella Prize is a beloved and well-respected annual literary prize awarded to the most excellent, original and outstanding book written by an Australian woman or non-binary writer.
This year’s winner is Lee Lai for her second book Cannon, a history-making win that sees a graphic novel awarded the prize for the first time.
Trending New Titles
Adult Fiction and Non-Fiction
Across the vanishing sky by Catherine Cowles
Braedyn "Brae" Winslow returns to the mountain town of Starlight Grove with her young son to find answers about her best friend, who vanished without a trace years ago. Her search for the truth leads her to her brooding neighbor, Dex Archer, a reclusive mountain man and former FBI hacker with a dark family legacy.
Like, follow, die by Ashley Kalagian Blunt
For fans of Lisa Jewell’s None of This Is True and Netflix’s Adolescence, this shattering and provocative psychological thriller dives into the darkest corners of the internet and the powerful bonds between parents and children.
Smother by Eve Thomson
Smother is a novel about chasing dreams, and how the quest for victory can risk losses far beyond those on the scoreboard. It's a story about the forces of love, ambition and fear, and finding the right balance before it all comes undone.
Staged by John M Green
When a Hollywood star is killed live on stage, the entire cast falls under suspicion. Can a disgraced journalist and a rule-bending detective with a PhD in AI crack the case?
What happens in the dark by Kia Abdullah
What Happens in the Dark by Kia Abdullah is a gripping courtroom thriller and mystery that follows disgraced journalist Safa, who investigates her estranged childhood best friend, Lily—a famous TV presenter—after Lily is found standing over the dead body of a man in her home.
All about allergies by Dr Zachary Rubin
In All About Allergies, Dr Rubin explores and explains dozens of allergies and diseases and provides actionable treatment options and information.
Aunty Beryl's cookbook by Aunty Beryl Van-Oploo
The term 'dead-set legend' often comes up when talking about Aunty Beryl Van-Oploo, a respected Elder and advisor on incorporating bush foods into a range of cuisines. Now, Aunty Beryl is sharing her life's work with this beautiful cookbook, featuring recipes that she holds close to her heart and stories from her life of cooking.
Crocheted dinosaurs
by Vanessa Mooncie
This fantastic collection of crocheted dinosaurs will enchant children and adults alike. Inside this book, there are ten Jurassic giants to choose from. Each project contains detailed, easy-to-follow patterns, photographs and hand-drawn charts. There is also an extensive techniques section explaining all the stitches and techniques needed to bring these prehistoric creatures to life.
Home, forever by Anna Dombkins
After watching a heart-wrenching documentary about orphaned children, Anna and her husband, Mark, were moved to adopt. Frustrated by the "maze of delays" in the Australian adoption system, they relocated to Tanzania with their two young children to find a more direct way to help.
How to be selfish by Suzy Reading
Drawing on somatic therapy, neuroscience and psychology, alongside highly effective coaching tools and techniques, Suzy presents seven steps to guide you towards reclaiming your peace and your power.
Reconciliation Week
27 May – 3 June
National Reconciliation Week is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.
The theme for National Reconciliation Week 2026 is All In, a call for all Australians to commit wholeheartedly to reconciliation every single day.
All In makes clear that reconciliation is not a spectator sport and that all of us must step away from the sidelines and take action to make change.
The theme also reminds us that reconciliation and advancing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ rights isn’t a passive activity, and it is not solely the responsibility of First Nations people, who have carried the weight of championing, explaining and acting for far too long.
Reconciliation will not happen by itself, and it will not happen without all of us.
Reading Radar
What our community are reading...
One golden summer by Carley Fortune
The perfect beach read! The author writes perfect sun-drenched summer romances in small town settings. She's the next Emily Henry in my opinion. One Golden Summer is a great follow up to Meet me at the lake, but can be read out of author.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Sycorax by Nydia Hetherington
A very well written and accessible reporting of a shocking abuse of power - one that happens the world over - and about the women who spoke out.
The wake by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir
Another enthralling Icelandic crime story by this author. A free flowing narrative - another of hers that keeps me coming back for more. The twists & turns keep the reader guessing to the end.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Sydney Writers' Festival:
Live & Local
Get all the goodness of Sydney Writers' Festival at Harry Bailey Memorial Library
Thursday 21 to Sunday 24 May
Harry Bailey Memorial Library, Yarrila Place
Big ideas, great stories, and a little bit of everything in between — Sydney Writers’ Festival – Live & Local is back!
Love cooking & food, into film, or curious about AI? Enjoy fascinating conversations about how we live, think and connect? This year’s program has something for every kind of brain whether you’re here to learn something new or just enjoy a good story.
Pick a session (or a few!) and settle in as we livestream the festival straight from Sydney to the big screen at Harry Bailey Memorial Library.
🎥 Watch it live
💬 Join the conversation
📍 Stay local (no travel required!)
Come along, bring a friend, and dive into something interesting.
Check out some of the highlights!
Yann Martel: Son of Nobody
Thurs 21 May, 12pm
Unravel ancient traditions with Yann, in conversation with ABC Radio National’s Claire Nichols (The Book Show).
Trent Dalton: Gravity Let Me Go
Fri 22 May, 2pm
Join Trent for a discussion of his latest hit novel, in conversation with Cassie McCullagh.
Great Adaptations
Fri 22 May, 4pm
Get behind-the-scenes insight into adapting stories from page to screen with writers Mick Herron (Slow Horses) and Suzie Miller (Prima Facie) in conversation with Benjamin Law.
Florence Knapp: The Names
Fri 22 May, 6pm
Explore the profound force of family with Florence, in conversation with ABC Radio National’s Claire Nichols (The Book Show).
Lily King: Heart The Lover
Sat 23 May, 8pm
Revel in this unforgettable story of love, desire, friendship and loss as New York Times–bestselling author Lily King discusses her latest novel, Heart the Lover, with Melanie Kembrey.
Power up with Dav Pilkey
Sun 24 May, 12pm
Dav Pilkey, the world-famous creator of Dog Man and Captain Underpants brings his ‘Power Up with Reading’ book tour to Sydney Writers’ Festival. See Dav draw his beloved characters live, hear his inspiring life story and prepare yourself for some hilarious onstage antics.
Upcoming Events
National Simultaneous Storytime 2026
Wednesday 27 May, 10:30am
Story Space, Harry Bailey Memorial Library
Come to the fun-filled Simultaneous Storytime where libraries across Australia and New Zealand all read the same book at the same time!
Toormina & Woolgoolga Libraries will celebrate during regular Storytime sessions with a very special appearance from Mayor Nikki Williams at Woolgoolga Library on Tuesday 26 May, 10:30am.
Online Author Event: An evening with Colm Toibin
Wednesday 3 June, 7pm
Join us for an exclusive online event with Colm Tóibín. Don’t miss the award-winning author of Brooklyn and Long Island, as he discusses his latest release, The News from Dublin, followed by a live audience Q&A. Hosted by BorrowBox.
Karina Nannestad: Australian Children's Author visits the Coffs Coast
Tuesday 23 June, 4pm
Join us for an afternoon of stories and imagination with Australian award-winning children’s author Katrina Nannestad!
Children & families in years 3-7. Door Prizes!
Woolgoolga Library re-opens!
Our beautiful and refreshed Woolgoolga Library has reopened!
Woopi Library has reopened to the community, and it is looking great! The library team look forward to welcoming you back to the library with all services back to regular hours! Our regular events and programs have restarted, please keep an eye out for our regular offerings and some exciting new ones on the horizon.
Acknowledgement of Country
Coffs Harbour Libraries is on the land of the Gumbaynggirr people, who we recognise as the traditional custodians of the land and who have cared for the land since time before immemorial. We pay our respects to their elders, past, present and emerging, and commit ourselves to a future with reconciliation and renewal at its heart.
Harry Bailey
Memorial Library
Yarrila Place
27 Gordon Street
Coffs Harbour
NSW 2452
Tel: (02) 6648 4900
Monday to Friday
10.00am to 6.00pm
Saturday & Sunday
10am to 2pm
Toormina Library
Minorie Drive
Toormina NSW 2452
Tel: (02) 6648 4925
Monday to Friday
10.00am to 5.00pm
Saturday
10am to 12noon
Woolgoolga Library
Ganderton Street
Woolgoolga NSW 2456
Tel: (02) 6648 4902
Monday to Friday
10.00am to 5.00pm
Saturday
10am to 12noon
