Australian Reading Hour announces author events

Wednesday, 29 August 2018 Books+Publishing

The Australian Reading Hour (ARH), which will take place on Thursday, 20 September, has announced a number of events for the day.

The annual campaign encourages Australians to ‘pick up a book at any time of the day or night and read for an hour’.

Authors will give talks at libraries as part of The Books That Made Me series of events, which includes former governor-general Quentin Bryce at Indooroopilly library, Rachael Johns at the City of Perth library, Toni Tapp Coutts at the City of Darwin library, Rebekah Clarkson and Fiona McIntosh at Adelaide City Library, and Tracy Sorensen at Bathurst Library.

Bookstore events include Pip Williams at Mostly Books in Adelaide, Stephen Dando-Collins at Stories Bookshop in Launceston, and Garth Nix at Better Read Than Dead in Newtown.

Authors Mick Elliott and Oliver Phommavanh will be travelling to Yetman in New South Wales to engage with the kids of six different local schools.

Judy Nunn and children’s laureate Morris Gleitzman are this year’s event ambassadors and will present the benefits of reading to MPs at Parliament House on 18 September. Gleitzman will also be part of an event at the Wheeler Centre, with hundreds of children from local Melbourne schools due to attend.

Queensland Transport has offered free advertising space to promote the event and will disperse 1000 free books on Queensland trains. In Melbourne, Books on the Rail will be hosting a romantic book club on a train and the YA Room will be celebrating with three #LoveOzYA authors at Library at the Dock.

Booksellers, librarians and teachers interested in organising a reading event are encouraged to register at the Australian Reading Hour website, where additional resources can be downloaded.

Category: Local news