PVLF 2025

From Unusual Finds to Literary Treasures: A Bibliophile's heaven is Revealed at Riverina's Largest Book Market

Discover literary treasures at Wagga Rotary Book Fair, Riverina's largest book market. Browse fiction, nonfiction, collectibles, and more on May 18th-19th!
on May 15, 2024

Prepare to browse tens of thousands of books at this weekend's annual book festival.

The Kyeamba Smith Hall at the Wagga Wagga Showground will be converted into a bibliophile's dream for the Wagga Rotary Book Fair.

Booklovers will be able to browse and purchase a wide range of fiction and nonfiction books, including children's literature, romance novels, and everything in between.

The book fair sells a wide range of high-quality jigsaw puzzles, vinyl records, CDs and DVDs, sheet music, texts and references, as well as antique, rare, and collectible things. This year's book fair may be the last to feature CDs and DVDs.

Vicky Donoghue, one of the Wagga Rotary Book Fair managers, said she was excited about this year's fair.

"I'm very excited because our stock is absolutely amazing," Vicky stated. "Many people have provided wonderful books.

"We have first edition books that are 100 years old, as well as other vintage collectible and interesting items, all of which are specially priced.

"We've got a quite rare copy of the first edition of Ginger Meggs and a number of Henry Lawson."

Rotary also got a substantial donation of literature, which would appeal to automobile lovers.

Vicky said Rotary expects at least 3000 people to attend the fair.

"Up to 60% of the novels are fiction. "We've got all the current authors," she stated.

"It appears that folks have read the book once and donated it to us. "It's like buying a new book."

Visitors can fill a $50 eco-bag with books of their choice.

The fair effectively recycles a great amount of stuff while encouraging reading and literacy in the community.
Vicky stated that preparations for the next book expo were "going well".

"Every week, we sort an enormous number of books, and we closed our donations last week," she stated. "We're down here at the warehouse sifting through everything that arrived late because people keep sending us books. That has been overpowering.

"A number of different Rotary clubs and service organizations come and provide us personnel, which is fantastic.

"It's a whole community thing driven by our club and a good way of doing recycling service."
Vicky stated that books were frequently donated back to Rotary in the bags purchased by customers.

"It's good to see they (books) find a home several times, and the community benefits several times from lots of books."

Rotary will use the monies raised from the fair to support other Rotary-run projects throughout the year.

The club sponsors a number of local organizations and takes part in domestic programs addressing homelessness and youth development, as well as international projects promoting health and education.

Rotary raised $65,000 at last year's book fair.

The Wagga Rotary Book Fair will be held on Saturday, May 18th, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, May 19th, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Adults can enter the fair for $2.