‘By the time I was eight my recurrent item on my wishlist was to be given a bookshop--Jeffreys Bookshop in Malvern, Melbourne--to live in. I could so clearly feel the anticipated delight of closing the doors, setting up a little bed in one of the aisles and steadily reading my way through the entire store for the rest of my life. Buying a personal bookshop was beyond my parents, but ten years later I was working in the bookshop a few doors down from Jeffreys, Books in Print, where I lived, at least between the hours of 5 to 9 on Fridays and 9 til 5 on Saturdays (and then more and more days) behind the counter: happily enthusing about books to customers, restocking shelves, quietly reading in the idle moments, dusting and straightening the beloved shelves and counting myself rich, if not in coin, then in fortune and an absolutely endless supply of books. Book customers are fellow souls, booksellers the best of colleagues, and bookshops themselves some of the last enclaves of enchantment and wonder in the concrete world. What astonishing repositories they are, more alive than libraries, everchanging in stock but reliable too, full of optimism and offering, even if I find that entering a bookshop, now I'm a customer but also an author, can give me a bittersweet sense of overload verging on the panicked from time to time. Most of us spend only a trancelike half hour or so in a bookshop every now and then, but I suspect I'm not the only one who still wishes, sometimes, that we might linger on after closing in these sweet, safe, welcoming and wonderful places.’—Kate Holden, author of Winter Road

‘I don’t know about these days, but when I was single book shops were great places to pick up. What better way to meet someone than rubbing forearms as you both reach for the same copy of Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus? Or butting in when you overhear someone ask a bookseller where to find all the books on gibbons? I once went out with a girl after we met on our knees scanning boxes of shop-soiled editions of Human Anatomy for Artists. I’m not suggesting for a minute that book shops are overrun with hot-blooded bibliophiles champing at the bit and you should shop online if you’re not in the mood. But book shop browsing could lead to running into like-minded folk who share your passions, like the history of snooker, say, or the lyrics of Billy Idol. Still, even if you don’t end up bumping into someone near the bargain bins, book shops are still the best place to put your grubby little mitts on a real book.’—Oslo Davis, author of Oslo’s Melbourne (coming November 1)

‘Bookshops are a gateway to new experiences, thoughts and friends. They're a salve for loneliness,  a gateway to a broader mind and a ticket to travelling via our imaginations. Since being published, I have seen that shops are the pillar of the publishing industry - supporting authors, and also employing passionate readers. Every time I walk into my local bookshops, I feel valued and supported as an author. That feels special.’ —Carly Findlay, editor of Growing Up Disabled in Australia

‘There's nothing better than spending an hour or three browsing in a bookstore and chancing upon a new favourite. Find me in the shelves of Gleebooks and I'll happily sign a copy of one of my Black Inc books on AI.’ - Toby Walsh, author of Machines Behaving Badly  

‘When I was 10, I visited my first bookshop in the city. It had three floors of brand-new books on topics I’d never seen in the library. The two books we chose were on animal languages and Australian seashores. I still have these books and they always remind me of that first amazing bookshop.’ — Danielle Clode, author of Koala

‘Bookshops are a place to marvel at the infinite brilliance of the human mind. Somewhere, on those shelves is the answer I am looking for.’—Andrew Wear, author of Solved! and Recovery

‘I love my local bookstore 'Stoneman's Bookroom' in Castlemaine. The atmosphere, the smell of fresh books, the fact you can spend so much time inside the shop floating around looking at all the incredible books. They have such a varied range. I always come out with a huge pile of books, I can't resist!!! They are a huge part of what makes my hometown so wonderful.’—Eliza Hull, editor of We've Got This: Stories by Disabled Parents

‘My first job was in the Asimov Bookshop, a second-hand sci-fi and fantasy nook in the front room of the booksellers' house. I was paid in books, a remuneration model that prepared me for life as a writer. I loved the smell of dust and paper and when things were quiet (most of the time), I could read the merchandise. The couple who owned the shop were dedicated to sharing their love of reading with the local community and were just as happy chatting about books as selling them.’ —David Hunt, author of Girt, True Girt and Girt Nation

‘I love wandering into a book shop without a plan and waiting for 'the one' to leap out. I usually find that the right book lands in my hands when I need it most.’—Nicole Haddow, author of Smashed Avocado: How I Cracked the Property Market and You Can Too

‘The thoughtfully curated bookshelves of our bookshops save us from slow death by algorithm and, like the best books themselves, open our eyes to the possibilities of the world. As readers and writers, where would we be without them?’ —Sarah Krasnostein, author of QE85 Not Waving, Drowning

‘When the international borders closed in 2020, my career disappeared. Overnight I was expected to just adapt and adjust to a world in which everything I knew how to do no longer existed, and I went from being a customer to being staff at my local bookshop. And am I glad I did! Leesa, Leni and the team at Neighbourhood Books and The Little Bookroom gave me the space to grow, learn and adapt to a new career. They are the most thoughtful, encouraging, generous and supportive employer I have ever had. They gave me a home in which I could thrive. I certainly would not have my current career path without everything they taught me during my time working with them. And now that I am back to being a customer there, they will always have my heart and soul.’ —Emily, Sales & Trade Marketing

‘Bookstores are what help us to find our place in the world or to imagine a better one. Whenever life is hard or joyful or boring or a Tuesday I gravitate to a bookstore because not only do they contain everything wonderful within the pages but they are a safe place full of people who are working to make the world slightly better each day.’ —Jessica, Sales Manager

‘Book shops are vitally important to our business. Nothing can replace the joy of browsing shelves for hidden gems and the recommendations of booksellers for that perfect gift or the next addition to your reading pile. Without book shops we'd be lost. I've had many moments of feeling deeply grateful in book shops, particularly when travelling. No matter where I find myself in the world, a book shop always feels like home and a force for good.’ —Sophy, Publisher

‘In all my years of being an editor, the thrill of seeing a book I have edited being displayed in a bookshop has never waned - all the love and effort I have poured into a project only reaches fruition when it appears on those shelves.’ —Jo, Editor

‘Booksellers are the lifeblood of the book industry. When a bookseller reads a book, recommends it, maybe even falls in love with it -- that support changes the trajectory of the book's life, and carries it into the hands of many many more readers than it ever would have found its way to otherwise.’ —Nina, Trade Marketing

‘I worked in a bookshop for years and spent happy days shelving, selling, receiving and ordering books and organising events. Now I'm on the supply side, but the business is ultimately the same. Bookshops are the oases of our culture, the places where imagination and knowledge dwell. The more we have of them, the better.’—Chris, Editorial