Paperbark Merchants celebrating Love Your Bookshop Day

Upon walking into a bookshop, faced with that soft, pulpy smell of books, my mind is instantly piqued by the myriad possibilities of what I might find, of the places any one of the books on the shelf could take me, the characters I could meet, all the potential problems solved and revelations made together.

With such an array of prospects at one’s fingertips, it is clear bookshops possess a veritable elixir for the imagination and afford us escape from the everyday.

The last book I read, The Escapades of Tribulation Johnson, transported me back to the grit and grime of 1700s London, treading the boards with the theatrical riff-raff of the Dukes Theatre Company.

Karen Brooks is an Aussie author who knows how to celebrate the senses of her readers, pulling no punches when it comes to the finer details of the visual and olfactory notes of time and place.

With a towering To Be Read pile next to my bed, who knows where I will go next?

This Saturday is national Love Your Bookshop Day and this year’s theme, “giving the gift of imagination”, recognizes local bookshops as the places of wonder and imagination that they are.

To celebrate Love Your Bookshop Day 2023, and all the places your bookshop can take you, here at Paperbark Merchants we are holding a sweet little competition to win a $50 voucher to be used in-store.

All you need to do is share with us a description of your favourite place a book has taken you and you will go into the draw to win the book voucher.

Written entries can be shared via social media, just make sure to tag us in your posts (@paperbarks for Instagram - @paperbarkmerchants for Facebook).

Enter as many times as you like.

The voucher will be randomly drawn by close of business on Sunday, October 8.

Make sure to pop in-store and say hello on Saturday, too.

We book lovers will be here waiting to help you find your next literary destination.

Billie-Jo Whitbread is the events co-ordinator and box office manager at Paperbark Merchants in Albany