We’re crazy about books here at The Fold and you’ll often find us browsing the shelves of local book shops, scrolling through the BookTok world of trending books on TikTok or rolling up at book launches with our pens at the ready for signed copies of our latest fave book!
And it’s no wonder!
The Southern Highlands offers up a unique range of bookstores, history, collections and not to mention a huge number of local authors.
Here’s a guide for the bibliophile in your life on where and how to live your best book lover’s life in the Highlands.
Author Events
The wonderful collab between the Bookshop Bowral + Centennial Vineyards Restaurant offers up a range of literary events giving us locals the opportunity to get up close and personal with local, Australian and international authors with all sorts of stories to tell.
Their Literary Morning Tea series and regular Supper Club are super popular and always entertaining.
The Bookshop Bowral also regularly hold in-store signings too so keep an eye out for that.
Home To A Pioneer
After the death of her husband James in 1821, Charlotte Waring Atkinson became the first children’s author in Australia and later, the first woman to win the legal right to retain custody of her children.
Her daughter Louisa Atkinson became the first Australian-born woman writer and journalist.
Given all these ‘firsts’, there is a movement in the Highlands to give the Atkinson women their rightful place in history.
In 2022, plaques were unveiled at All Saints Cemetery in Sutton Forest and in 2023 The Charlotte Project, an initiative Wingecarribee Women Writers, is raising funds for a statue of Charlotte to be erected in Berrima Park.
Celebration Of The Written Word
The annual Southern Highlands Writers’ Festival is a must visit on many locals’ calendars!
While the pandemic played havoc with the festival in recent times, it has actually been running since 2012.
Run by the super passionate team behind Creative & Co, a local business creating unique events and experiences, the Southern Highlands Writers’ Festival has had some amazing authors grace their stage.
And it always has such a buzz!
Spiritual + Special Home Of The Berkelouw Book Dynasty
Sadly, and just recently, the patriarch of the Berkelouw family and doyen of the Australian antiquarian book landscape, Leo Berkelouw, passed away.
Berkelouw Book Barn at Bendooley Estate in Berrima is an absolute book lover’s dream…..walls and shelves for days of all sorts of books!
Stunning coffee table books, biographies, new creations, antique books, books of poetry, history books…..so many treasures under the one roof.
What an incredible legacy…..read the story of his life and the history of Berkelouw Books here……we are so thankful.
Rising From The Ashes
The irony of Phoenix Bookstore in Bowral living up to its name when the building it was housed in on Bong Bong Street sadly burnt to the ground with all its lovely second hand books!
Thanks to the community rallying around them, they quickly found another location in Lamond Lane behind Bong Bong Street near Corbett Plaza and rebuilt their collection of quality second hand books.
Free For All
Core memory alert!! We have fond memories of the family heading to the library on the weekend when we were young and all of us choosing books to borrow for the weeks ahead……anyone else remember doing that?
While the world of Kindle, iBooks and Amazon may have impacted the regularity of the trip to the library for many locals, you still can’t beat walking into a local library, feeling the silence wash over you [or getting shushed by a librarian if the silence is broken] and just wandering through aisles and aisles of beautiful beautiful books.
We love that our local libraries at Moss Vale, Bowral and Mittagong can still provide that wonderful feeling, and of course, provide access to free books.
Romance Was Born
Not only was it born, it was also written about in every single genre you can possibly think of!
And Books Ever After is a newly opened fab book store in Bowral selling romance, erotic and sexy books to well…. LOTS of people actually!
Run by Kat [who is an author herself and has a US #1 bestseller on Amazon to her name], it’s a quaint space filled to the brim with fun book accessories and of course, some fabulous and fun books for us to escape with for a while.
Collectibles, Antiques + Historical Finds
Who doesn’t love a good rummage around an antique or second hand store, an emporium of vintage goodies or an op shop looking for hidden literary treasure?!
We LOVE it, and often find some very cool and unusual books.
Here’s a list of local antique, second hand stores, op shops and local emporiums to hit up for a book foraging expedition.
Going Down Down Down…..To Booktown
Back in the year 2000, the Southern Highlands became part of the international Book Town movement, which started in the UK town of Hay-on-Wye a number of decades ago.
The Southern Highlands became Australia’s first Booktown at the turn of the century, a celebration of all the wonderful literary history we house here, the quirky and unique book shops, stores and sellers that reside here, and of course the huge amount of amazing authors who have made their homes here.
Local Talent
And speaking of…..there are so many incredible authors here. Way too many for us to list but over the past five years of The Fold Southern Highlands, we have interviewed and written about these local authors.
- Authors of the Southern Highlands
- Pam Slattery
- Sarah Clutton
- Lee Richie
- Huw Kingston
- Peter Ramm
- Miriam Margolyes
Of course, we know there are so many more and are gradually working our way around to speak to as many as we can!
In Da Club
How fun is a book club?
There’s plenty in the Highlands….from official ones run by local businesses or a more informal one….there are Book Clubs from Wingello to Bargo!
It won’t take you long to find your word-lovin’ tribe.
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
You know when you have to say a word out loud while you’re spelling it?
Yep, we just did that because if you didn’t know, the author of Mary Poppins – PL Travers – lived in Bowral with her family from 1902-1917 at 45 Holly Street.
And it’s thought that the idea of Mary Poppins was created in the author’s imagination while she was in the Southern Highlands.
That’s certainly why there is a wonderful statue erected in her honour at Glebe Park in Bowral [in the Bradman Oval precinct] as well as many local events like Tulip Time drawing on the story of Mary Poppins for inspiration, giving a lovely local nod to the wonderful book that became a worldwide, family favourite!
So, there you have it!
Super interesting even if you’re NOT a bibliophile…..and an awesome guide for book lover’s to have on hand when exploring the Southern Highlands.
The End.
***
This blog features friends and advertisers of The Fold Southern Highlands and is fully endorsed by The Fold Southern Highlands. We strongly believe in the businesses and all the information we share with you on The Fold and we’re excited to share the amazing stories and adventures of our local businesses. We want to say a BIG thank you to you for supporting our sponsors who help make The Fold possible.