In the world of tomorrow… can we still use this gift voucher?

News | Published 15/06/2012 11:41

Each year in Melbourne, the Emerging Writers’ Festival re-emerges to explore the craft and business of writing. This year, one of the questions it asks is: what lies ahead for reading, and what will tomorrow’s bookshops look like?

One of the ways they’ve tried to explore this is via an exhibition (at the National Gallery of Victoria’s NGV Studio) called, aptly enough, Future Bookshop. We’ve been lucky enough to inhabit a pillar of the space, turning it quite literally into a listening post.

The exhibition is open until this Sunday, when it will culminate in an informal discussion about the future of writing (Sunday June 17, 2-3:30pm, NGV Studio – The Ian Potter Centre, NGV Australia at Federation Square, Melbourne). It’s a free event.

But hey – maybe you’re not quite sure what all this Future Bookshop business is about? Jessie Borrelle spoke with Sarah L’Estrange – reporter-at-large for Radio National’s Books and Arts Daily – alongside fellow contributor Matt Blackwood and EWF director Lisa Dempster.

Have a listen to the interview here. And a ‘megabrill’ weekend.

Image of typed page from Future Bookshop exhibition