The beloved Pride Month event is back and event more free books are up for grabs.
The Melbourne-based skincare brand Aesop has earned itself a cult following, and it’s for reasons like the Aesop Queer Library.
From March 7 to 11, the pop-up returns, packing the shelves of Aesop QV with books by Australian LGBTQIA+ writers that visitors are welcome to take home, free of charge.
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
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With a strong belief in the transformative power of storytelling, Aesop has hosting the popular event for three years now. This year, the central theme of the collection is “contemporary stories that empower, and writers of the current and the next generations who are challenging boundaries and shifting the narrative for positive change”.
There will be 45 different novels to choose from spanning poetry, literary fiction, non-fiction and more.
Titles include Gary Lonesborough’s young adult coming-of-age novel We Didn’t Think It Through, Paul Dalla Rossa’s debut short story collection An Exciting and Vivid Inner Life and Rebecca Jensen’s zesty poetry collection Ask Me About the Future.
Melissa Lucashenko’s multi-generation Indigenous fiction book Edenglassie and Ellen van Neerven’s non-fiction analysis of sport and colonialism Personal Score will also be available, both of which just picked up prestigious prizes at the 2024 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards.
Driven by its goal of amplifying queer voices and uplifting the community, Aesop has sourced the books from the independent queer bookstore Hares & Hyenas, as well as Allen & Unwin and University of Queensland Press.
Readers in Sydney and New Zealand will also have a chance to access the library, with pop-ups taking place at Aesop Bondi Junction from 28 February to 3 March and Auckland’s Aesop Ponsonby from February 16 to 18 featuring 11 titles by authors from the country.
For more on the Aesop Queer Library, happening in Melbourne from February 7 to 11, head here.
