3 pm, Sydney, Australia - BOOKLOVERS IN SYDNEY FILL THE EMPTY BOOKCASES!

The first of around 30 ILAB Pop Up Book Fairs is coming to an end, while the ILAB booksellers in  Seoul, Cape Town, Budapest and Vienna are going to open up their Pop Ups to the public soon. And so, the great wave of bookish events will be proceeding from Australia and Japan to South Korea, South Africa and Europe, before it will finalize in New York, Chicago, Portland and Seattle in the United States. This will be many hours, many blog posts, many pictures, many symbolic book spines and many donations later ...

Have a look at what is going on right now in Sydney!

April 2016 – For immediate release. Pictures: ILAB, UNESCO, the organizers

2 pm, Sydney, Australia – SKYPING, TWEETING AND POPPING UP AT THE STATE LIBRARY OF NEW SOUTH WALES

One might blame the internet for many things, especially when you are dealing with rare books and manuscripts. However, there is one big advantage: it helps us feeling connected with the world and being part of a global event during the ILAB Pop Up Book Fairs on UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day.

Guess, who are the people on these pictures? Australian booksellers Michael Treloar, Paul Feain, Jorn Harbeck, Sally Burdon - and myself here in Germany, on the iPhone in Sally's hand.

 

Thanks Sally, for showing me around the Sydney Pop Up Fair. It was great to meet you there!

April 2016 – For immediate release. Pictures: ILAB, UNESCO, the Organizers

11 am, Sydney, Australia – THE FIRST ILAB POP UP FAIR OF THE DAY STARTS IN SYDNEY

"All going well in the Antipodes", Rachel Robarts of Hordern House writes. She is one of the exhibitors of the first ILAB Pop Up Book Fair of the day. Half an hour ago it was officially opened at the State Library of New South Wales by State Librarian Dr Alex Byrne. And now: SYDNEY GOES SHAKESPEAREAN.

This year, being the 400th anniversary of both Shakespeare’s and Cervantes death, there is no better place for East Coast Australian booksellers to pop up than The State Library which will  be celebrating all things Shakespearean on Saturday 23 April. There will be wandering players, a Sonnet Slam, the beautiful Shakespeare room will be open, the first folios will be on display – and Shakespeare fairies have already been seen among the 15 Australian booksellers who are offering rare book treasures at the ILAB Pop Up Fair.

The Sydney Pop Up Fair will be open from 11 am to 4 pm - with the booksellers popping in right in time. This is 5 hours not to be missed by any book lover!

 

April 2016 – For immediate release. Pictures: ILAB, UNESCO, the Organizers

23 April, 3 am, Tutzing, Germany - GOOD MORNING ON UNESCO WORLD BOOK AND COPYRIGHT DAY 2016!

It’s 3 am in Germany and dark outside. Very dark. Humans and felines are still asleep, while I am turning on my computer. Another great chain of worldwide ILAB Pop Up Book Fairs will start right now at the other end of the world – and the first pictures from Perth and Sydney in Australia are coming in.

Last year on 23 April 2015 hundreds of antiquarian booksellers worked together for the first time on one day in one big celebration. ILAB affiliates across the world decided to Think Global and Act Local and celebrate UNESCO’s World Book and Copyright Day with events within their communities while coordinating their efforts in the internet – via Skype, Facebook, Twitter and on the ILAB Pop Up Blog. The local celebrations made a global impact. Rare books found new homes and over 10,000 Euros were raised to buy school books for the children of South Sudan.

Today we will do this again … and hopefully even better!

At this moment the Australian booksellers are setting up their books, maps, prints and manuscripts at the State Library of New South Wales. There, at 11 am, local time, Dr Alex Byrne, State Librarian and former President of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), will officially launch the 24 hours of rare book activities around the world. 

Stay tuned. Pictures will follow - and I will have my very early morning cup of tea.

April 2016 – For immediate release. Pictures: ILAB, UNESCO, the Organizers

AUSTRALIA THE FIRST LINK IN THE CHAIN OF WORLD POP UPS ON UNESCO WORLD BOOK AND COPYRIGHT DAY 2016

SYDNEY GOES SHAKESPEAREAN

Being the first in the world chain of rare book fairs is a pleasure and a responsibility. This year, being the 400th anniversary of both Shakespeare’s and Cervantes death, there is no better place for East Coast Australian booksellers to Pop Up than The State Library of New South Wales (SLNSW). The State Library, justifiably proud of their collections of both Shakespeare and Cervantes – including 1,100 different editions of Don Quixote in many different languages – will  be celebrating all things Shakespearean on Saturday 23 April 2016. They will be inviting children and adults to come into the library for, dare we say, a dramatic day. There will be balloons, wandering players, a Sonnet Slam, the beautiful Shakespeare room will be open, and their first folios will be on display – and that’s just some of what is happening!

As the The State Library of New South Wales “goes Shakespearean” on April 23 the Sydney Pop Up Book Fair will fit in beautifully. At 11 am Dr Alex Byrne, State Librarian and a former President of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), will launch the 24 hours of rare book activities around the world. ANZAAB’s Rare Book Pop Up Fair will be open from 11 am to 4 pm on Saturday 23 April. That gives Sydney book people just five hours to come and see the highlights from the stock of booksellers many of whom will have come from a great distance. This is 5 hours not to be missed by any book lover!

The Pop Up Fair will display large posters showing an Empty Bookcase. We hope all visitors will buy a symbolic spine and place it on the bookcase. Each spine sold symbolises another world opening for children who need this help so badly.  Across the world book lovers will be filling book cases just like these in an effort to make a change in South Sudan, a country where literacy rates are shockingly low.  We think Shakespeare would definitely have approved.

DUNKELD BOOKSHOPS FEATURES EMPTY BOOKCASE POSTERS

In the beautiful country Victoria the desire to improve literacy rates in South Sudan is very strong indeed. Last year the owners of Roz Greenwood Old & Rare Books organized a great ILAB Pop Up Fair in a woolshed nearby, this year the Empty Bookcase posters will be prominently displayed at Roz and Marg’s lovely bookshop in Dunkeld. They are asking their customers, friends and neighbours to help turn around the life of many in South Sudan by purchasing a symbolic spine. In South Sudan 84 % of women are illiterate – and 70 % of the adult population as a whole. Something unimaginable to most of us, fortunately, but this is reality for South Sudanese and something that we can and will change.  Join Roz and Marg as book spine by spine they affect a change!  And as if this were not enough, they will pack their boxes with beautiful books right in time to travel the long way to Sydney to exhibit at the ILAB Pop Up Fair at The State Library of New South Wales. Bravo!

PERTH BOOKSELLERS POP UP UNDER THE BEAUTIFUL PERTH SKY

Perth, in Western Australia, is the most remote capital city in the world – and one of the loveliest. In 1962 Perth became world famous as the "City of Light" when the inhabitants lit their house lights and streetlights as American astronaut John Glenn passed overhead while orbiting the earth in his spaceship. This year Perth booksellers will shine a light on literacy. They will be joining the world celebrations and popping up together in the very large courtyard in front of the beautiful two story heritage listed stables where Muir Books is located. Here, in walking distance from the State Library, the Museum and Art Gallery of Western Australia Robert and Janet Muir, Tara Surry and their colleagues will show an abundance of rare and fine books, maps and prints from all centuries, while raising funds for UNESCO’s literacy projects in South Sudan. Perth has enviably wonderful weather – so be prepared to enjoy an amazing bookish event as part of the great chain of worldwide ILAB Pop Ups on 23 April 2016. And just in case it should rain (or be too hot), Janet, Robbie and Tara from Muir Books have hired a marquee for the day.


Perth booksellers are a very collegiate group and a number of Muir Books bookseller friends are bringing their best books and coming along for the day to sell books and raise money for South Sudan, too, and – I have no doubt – have a lot of fun.  I just wish it wasn’t on the other side of the continent as I know that this would definitely be a great place to visit on UNESCO’s World Book and Copyright Day. 

JOIN US ... ORGANIZE IT ... ILAB POP UP BOOK FAIRS ... ACROSS THE WORLD ... ON UNESCO WORLD BOOK & COPYRIGHT DAY ... 23 APRIL 2016!

March 2016 – For immediate release. Pictures: ILAB, UNESCO. Shakespeare Room, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, Roz Greenwood Old and Rare Books, Dunkeld, Victoria, Muir Books, Perth. Courtesy: Sally Burdon and the organizers.

1.30 pm, Sydney - Hordern House highlights of the ILAB Pop Up Fair

1 pm, Sydney, Australia – A virtual visit at the State Library of New South Wales

The Australian booksellers are doing great in Sydney! I know, because I have been there via Skype. Sally Burdon took me with her through the rooms, showed me the most exciting books, and introduced me to some colleagues and visitors. Sure, one may blame the internet for being anonymous and not the real thing. And of course, it IS not the real thing, but meeting the booksellers down under, while half asleep sitting in front of your computer screen, is indeed a kind of experience I would not like to have missed!

ANZAAB President Jörn Harbeck told me that the preview for librarians from 11 am to 12 noon was a big success. And despite of the weather outside – thunderstorm in Sydney – the visitors are coming in. The sales are good, says Jörn Harbeck. Sally Burdon introduces me to the exhibitors. I meet Kay Craddock, Louella Kerr, Paul Feain, Nicholas Pounder, Peter Tinslay and many others.

The Empty Bookcase Posters – 10 at a big wall – are filling with spines. Tory Norton of Hordern House is collecting the money for the UNESCO literacy projects in South Sudan. Congratulations! The Australian Pop Up has been open for an hour, and there are already 850 Australian dollars for the school children in South Sudan!

An excellent start!

12 noon, Sydney, Australia – The Mexican wave of ILAB Pop Up Fairs begins!

24 hours of ILAB Pop Up Fairs across the world on April 23, 2015! This is how the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) will celebrate UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day 2015. It’s amazing! From Sydney to Portland, Oregon, there will be over 30 bookish flashmobs across the world! Books in abundance!

At 12 noon, local time Sydney, the worldwide series of ILAB Pop Ups was officially opened at the State Library of New South Wales by Professor Dame Marie Bashir, former Governor of New South Wales, book collector and much loved Australian, together with ANZAAB President Jörn Harbeck and Sally Burdon, ILAB Committee and  co-convenor of the ILAB Pop Up Book Fairs.

 

 

Sydney, 2 April - The Australian booksellers prepare for UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day!

This is how the Australian booksellers are inviting to their ILAB Pop Up Book Fair at the State Library of New South Wales!

Do you want to know more?

> Shakespeare's First Folio Lends Drama to the Sydney ILAB Pop Up Bookfair on UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day

Canberra, 15 March - Preparations for the great day!

Behind the scenes of the ILAB Pop Up Book Fairs the preparations are in full swing, in all countries where the Pop Ups will take place as well as in Australia, where ILAB Committee Member Sally Burdon and her husband Martin are packing parcels to send out posters for the great fundraising campaign!