After missing Booktown last year, it was lovely to get to Clunes today for my third Booktown festival. I caught the special service train that VLine put on for the festival and spent the day helping out at Clan Destine Press’s table, talking about books and wandering among the bookstalls.
Fellow Clan Destine author Jane Routley, dressed strikingly for the day and cut an elegant figure on the main street of Clunes, handing out postcards for her book and directing people towards our table.
Clunes likes to put on a bit of a show for the punters, and there were roaming performers reciting Shakespearean speeches in the morning, and a juggler/magician (who is a regular here) and the delightful Creswick Brass Band, who provide a musical soundtrack for the day which I always enjoy.
I also poked around a few of the bookshops – which is what you do when you come to Clunes Booktown. To tell the truth, I love just loitering around the main street, watching all these people who’ve come to this little rural Victoria town for the joy of books, even without going bookhunting myself.
Still – you can’t come to Booktown without scoring an excellent book or four, and I was delighted to find some great books relating to 19th century forensics and toxicology (which I need for a new book idea). I also picked up a little book from a small press that looked intriguing.
Booktown is still on tomorrow, so you can drive up or catch a VLine train to Ballarat to meet one of the special Clunes trains.
Go, fly, be free, and find beautiful books!