From David’s Desk

So, if anyone asks what moving a bookshop is like, we have an answer, HORRIBLE.

It is the summer break you have when you’re not having a summer break. Over the three weeks after Christmas, starting on Boxing Day, we undertook the task of boxing (in alphabetical and section order) all of our books. Our second-hand collection wasn’t going to fit, so they were trucked up for a year-long holiday to a barn in the Kanimbla Valley. They will return, refreshed, when 49 Glebe Pt Rd re-opens. Meanwhile, every book, greeting card, magazine, invoice, pen and paper clip was boxed, trucked, unpacked and shelved by our valiant and committed team. And 1098 cartons later, it was done. In between that, 120 bookcases, plus counters, office cupboards etc., made their way up the hill to our temporary new home that would accommodate all of this.

Inevitably, when you move, you come across documents, photos and memorabilia that evoke your history. Certainly, we have. One day we’ll try to collect and collate the many photos of events and bits and pieces in our possession. But in the meantime, we’ve taken the opportunity, in this Gleaner, to share a little bit of history and offer a few fun trivia quiz questions (with a prize, of course!) to welcome you to your first Gleaner for the year.

And, if you are wondering what’s become of our events program, fear not, we have one. It’s scaled back from our usual packed program, as we’ve no dedicated space at the current location to do curated events. But we will have launches there and are booking lovely spaces at the old Glebe Town Hall and The Tramsheds, where we can match author and space availability. We’re working on it.

It has been exhausting, but there are two splendid upsides. One is that we’ll be moving back into a sparkling and “brand-new” bookshop at the end of this year (fingers crossed on timing, who knows with construction). The other is that our “pop-up” home (in the old Glebe Post Office at the corner of Glebe Pt and St Johns Rds) is quite lovely. It is a late 19th century building, honouring the glory days of post, and we’re proudly showing it to advantage. It’s lovely to be back in the heart of Glebe, very close to where gleebooks began almost 50 years ago, at 191 Glebe Pt Rd. And I think only the iconic Galluzzo family fruiterers have traded for longer in Glebe Pt Rd, so here’s to the past and the future.

I’ll wait until next month to look at some enticing new releases and to look at who’s coming to May’s Sydney Writers’ Festival. Still, I’m honour-bound to mention Don Watson’s masterful, tender and oh-soinsightful The Passion of Private White. Please read it.

See you around the shop, David