Lifeline Book and Gift Fair

Overview

This spring, the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre is hosting a sales event of most peculiar stock. Strange things they are, full of pages, rampant with words and with covers of the most beautiful colours. You can't charge them, they don't run out of battery, their brightness is unalterable and they won't smash when you drop them.

If you're a Lifeline Bookfest fan — and therefore you've spent plenty of summer and winter days trawling through table after table of secondhand books — then you've probably started to guess where this is going. But it's currently October, so it isn't quite Bookfest time just yet. Instead, Lifeline is hosting its first ever Book and Gift Fair.

Obviously, there'll be vintage reading bargains. Yes, you'll probably find everything from Australian Women's Weekly cookbooks to a bit of cheeky erotica, as well as games, DVDs and puzzles. If you've been to Bookfest before, you'll know there are warehouse quantities of books for sale – your grade five diary is probably hidden under a copy of Shantaram, and you'll come across at least three copies of Cooking with Days of Our Lives. In total, there'll be more than 500,000 books on offer, with prices starting from $2.50.

Wondering about the gifts? Given that Christmas really will be here before we know it (again, it's already October), there'll be a range of brand-new items up for sale. That includes homewares, lanterns, plant pots, garden gnomes, photo frames, clocks and candles, plus soaps, diffusers, jewellery boxes and toys.

You'll still want to bring a trolley and your glasses, obviously, and to clear some space on your shelves at home. And, you'll want to bring your cards, because this fair is cashless. Also, you'll need your own bags; however, if you're buying a gift, you can get it wrapped for a donation.

Head along from 7.30am–6pm on Saturday, October 23, or from 8.30am–6pm across the rest of the fair.

Images: Bookfest.