Huge bookfair has got your covered

THE biggest bookfair in town will be back next weekend.

Held twice a year at St Andrew’s Uniting Church, the event is known as biggest event of its kind in Ballarat.

Alan Hinton, who organises the sale with his wife Anita, said the bookfair has taken off from humble beginnings, with a group of volunteers sorting and setting up books year-round.

“We got invited years ago to Clunes and we didn’t do particularly well so we decided to run our own and it sort of magnified from there,” he said.

“The last bookfair we had in November we made $18,000. Money raised goes into the Uniting food program and to Lifeline so all the money stays in Ballarat.”

Mr Hinton said the huge number of books, and the organisation of them, sets the bookfair apart.

“We have a very large range of books, people have commented on it being one of the best bookfairs they’ve ever been to,” he said.

“We’ve got a terrific range of novels and about 100 well known novelists.”

Books are arranged alphabetically to save visitors hunting though thousands of titles, with children’s books starting at just 50 cents.

“Language, lifestyle, media, science, art, history, you name it we’ve got it,” he said.

Entry is by gold coin donation and the fair will run from Saturday, 11 March until Monday, 13 March.