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Tweed • Lismore • Ballina • Byron

Richmond Tweed Regional Library Newsletter
#91—December 2022

In this issue

Summer Reading Club is on now!
Lismore Area Libraries back in the Lismore CBD!
Christmas Closures
School Holiday Activities
Byte Wise at Byron Bay Library
Indyreads Summer Book Club, 1 December to 14 February
Disaster Response Legal Service
eResource Spotlight—Find Legal Answers
Book Review with Jenny Dowell
Author Birthdays for the Month
New Release Books, eBooks, eAudiobooks, eMagazines, and DVDs

Download your area's monthly events newsletter from www.rtrl.nsw.gov.au/newsletters .

SUMMER READING CLUB, 1 DECEMBER TO 31 jANUARY 2023

The Summer Reading Club is back!

The theme for this year’s RTRL Summer Reading Club is Just Imagine: The Sky’s the Limit! It’s all about dreaming and using our imaginations. When we dream big, we can change the world! The sky’s the limit!

We invite you to visit your library, borrow books, and use our resources to imagine what life might be like in the future. Why not imagine a different reality where you’re a superhero! Or imagine being the Prime Minister of Australia! Or imagine you’re an inventor, creating a new way to recycle and save the world! You never know what’s possible until you imagine…

Registrations and reading logs are open NOW! You can pick up a registration form, a reading log, and an activity booklet from the library. You can also register and fill out your reading logs on the library website at www.rtrl.nsw.gov.au/summer-reading-club.

Just by reading, you can go in the draw for weekly book prizes and a grand prize of a Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite! The grand prize will be drawn at your area's wrap-up party. Don’t forget to RSVP so we know how much cake to order!

Tweed Area Party
Tweed Heads Library
Thursday, 2 February 2023 at 3.30pm
RSVP on 07 5536 3672 or email tweed@rtrl.nsw.gov.au

Ballina Area Party

Ballina Library

Wednesday, 8 February 2023 at 4pm

RSVP on 02 6686 2831 or email ballina@rtrl.nsw.gov.au

Lismore Area Party

Goonellabah Library

Thursday, 9 February 2023 at 4pm

RSVP on 02 6625 1235 or email goonellabah@rtrl.nsw.gov.au

Byron Area Party

Mullumbimby Library

Friday, 10 February 2023 at 4pm

RSVP on 02 6684 2992 or email mullumbimby@rtrl.nsw.gov.au

Now, go on! Get out there, and JUST IMAGINE! The sky really is the limit!

Lismore Area Libraries back in the Lismore CBD!

Open now!

After the popular Lismore Library was destroyed by the February natural disasters, a new temporary Pop-Up Library has opened its doors at 146 Molesworth Street!

Lismore City Mayor, Steve Krieg, said Council was determined to open a new temporary library while the permanent one in Magellan Street is rebuilt, to bring a sense of normality for library users and community.

“We decided to open a temporary library because this service is very popular with our community,” he said. “I would like to thank the Library staff who have worked extremely hard to make this possible, and especially the many volunteers who have helped to fill the shelves with more than 20,000 donated books.”

The new pop-up library, will provide access to the brand-new community donated collections, computers, printing, and a space to connect, discover, and escape.

Lismore Area Librarian, Michael Lewis, said it was wonderful to have the library back in the CBD.

“This move, with the support of Lismore City Council and General Manager John Walker, strives to support the revitalisation of the Lismore CBD,” he said. “Lismore Library has over 20,000 items ready for the reopening. These donations and community support shows the meaning libraries have in their communities, and will support the positive recovery for our library and our community."

“The library is a safe space for many, and by opening in the CBD, it will provide accessible services, collections, and programs for all in our community.

The Lismore Pop-Up Library is located at 146 Molesworth Street and is near parking, public facilities, and local eateries and shops.

The library will be open 7 days a week.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday 9.30am – 5pm

Thursday 9.30am – 7pm

Saturday 9am – 1pm

Sunday 1pm – 4pm

With the opening of the new CBD library, Goonellabah Library will have a change of opening hours.

From December 1

Monday - Friday 9.30am–5pm (closed 12.30pm to 1.30pm daily)

Goonellabah Library will remain open for the next two weekends (Saturday and Sunday). Last day will be Sunday, 11 December 2022. Check the library website at www.rtrl.nsw.gov.au/goonellabah-library for more information.

RESERVE THE BOOK HERE

Christmas 2022

All branches of Richmond Tweed Regional Library will be closed for the Christmas period from Friday afternoon, 23 December. We reopen on Tuesday, 3 January 2023.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for being part of everything we do. Our libraries are amazing places because of you. We wish you a happy and safe festive season and look forward to bring you more incredible resources, programs, and events in 2023! We're already planning for what's shaping up to be our best year yet! ♥

The online library is available 24/7 from www.rtrl.nsw.gov.au/online-library.

Not a member? Join at https://rtrl.spydus.com/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/MSGTRN/WPAC/JOIN.

VISIT THE ONLINE LIBRARY HERE

SCHOOL HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES

It's almost time! The school holidays are almost here! And have we got a lineup for you!

Come on into the library and join things like Christmas Story Time, Christmas craft activities, and kids yoga sessions! We're adding more events all the time, so check the library website at https://rtrl.nsw.gov.au/cp_themes/default/events_list.asp.

CLICK HERE FOR ALL LIBRARY EVENTS

BYTE WISE AT BYRON BAY LIBRARY

Byron Bay Library

21 December to 30 January

Byte Wise, a showcase of twenty four exhibitions from the National Science and Technology Centre in Canberra, will be at Byron Bay Library from 21 December until 30 January 2023.

This interactive exhibition, developed by Questacon, engages visitors with challenges drawn from mathematics and computer science. The exhibit pieces are targeted toward students 10-15-years-old, but can be enjoyed by visitors of all ages.

Byte Wise contains 24 individual exhibits offering a range of experiences to challenge and intrigue visitors, from logic puzzles and code breaking, to geometry.

So much to see and do!

Challenge yourself, and your friends!
Play naughts-and-crosses against nothing but cards!

Challenge a non-electric computer to a game!

Discover how images are represented on digital displays!

CLICK HERE TO SEE WHAT ELSE IS ON NEAR YOU

INDYREADS SUMMER BOOK CLUB—One for the grown-ups!

The Indyreads Summer Book Club is back for 2022!

Throughout summer, you can read Grace Chan's acclaimed debut novel, Every Version of You, along with the rest of Australia! Indyreads has the eBook available as a simultaneous loan, so there's no waiting! Download the Indyreads app from your app store and login using your library card and PIN.

Every Version of You is also available as a physical book, and you can reserve it on the library catalogue now!

Post your thoughts about the book as you read on social media. Make sure you use the hashtags #indyreadsNSW #indyreadsSummer #NSWPublicLibraries. To conclude the book club, join us for the live online author talk with Grace Chan on Tuesday 14 February from 6pm! More details on how to join will be on the library Facebook page, closer to the date.

About the author

Grace Chan is an Aurealis and Norma K Hemming Award-nominated speculative fiction writer. She can’t seem to stop scribbling about brains, minds, space, technology, and identity. Grace was born in Malaysia and lives in Melbourne, Australia. In her other life, she works as a psychiatrist.

Her short fiction can be found in Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, Fireside, Aurealis, and many other places. Her debut novel, Every Version of You, was published in September 2022 by Affirm Press. You can find Grace online at www.gracechanwrites.com, on Twitter as @gracechanwrites, on Instagram at www.instagram.com/gracechanwrites, and on Goodreads at www.goodreads.com/author/show/17694378.Grace_Chan.

About the Book

In late twenty-first century Australia, Tao-Yi and her partner Navin spend most of their time inside a hyper-immersive, hyper-consumerist virtual reality called Gaia. They log on, go to work, socialise, and even eat in this digital utopia. Meanwhile their aging bodies lie suspended in pods inside cramped apartments. Across the city, in the abandoned ‘real’ world, Tao-Yi’s mother remains stubbornly offline, preferring instead to indulge in memories of her life in Malaysia.

When a new technology is developed to permanently upload a human brain to Gaia, Tao-Yi must decide what is most important: a digital future, or an authentic past.

Never Let Me Go meets Black Mirror, with a dash of Murakami surrealism thrown in, this is speculative literary fiction at its best.

BORROW THE EBOOK ON INDYREADS

BORROW THE BOOK FROM THE LIBRARY

Disaster Response Legal Service

Many of our communities have being affected by floods and storms. The Disaster Response Legal Service NSW provides free legal advice and information to anyone affected by a disaster.

You can pick up a card with contact details for the service and a free Dealing With Insurance Disputes book from your local branch of Richmond Tweed Regional Library. Find out more about the service, links to videos and podcasts, and the Disaster Assistance Finder at https://legalanswers.sl.nsw.gov.au/news/disaster-response-legal-service?fbclid=IwAR1PG2SZFoLbDeF4E1C5k7kvj0c89VmLSKjm3B36Z2R9Oi_W3QGuMMSj0f8.

CLICK HERE TO FIND YOUR NEAREST LIBRARY BRANCH

eResource Spotlight—Find Legal Answers

Find Legal Answers is a service provided by the State Library of New South Wales for the NSW community. Free legal information is available through links to fact sheets, online books, legislation, and publications.

You'll find material on a wide variety of issues including:

family, relationships, and children
wills, estates, and planning ahead
work and employment
health and ageing
accidents, compensation, and insurance.

Information on legal advice, support, and guidance services for NSW residents is also available.

Your local branch of Richmond Tweed Regional Library will also have the Find Legal Answers Toolkit—a collection of easy-to-read, practical books about the law—and Hot Topics publications, which puts legal issues in plain language. To start your research, visit the Find Legal Answers website at www.legalanswers.sl.nsw.gov.au or visit your local public library.

VISIT FIND LEGAL ANSWERS

book Review With Jenny Dowell

Nimblefoot
by Robert Drewe

For the second month I’m reviewing a book with a horse theme, and again, one based on historical events and people embellished by the imagination and writing of another wonderful Australian author.

Nimblefoot was the horse that won the Melbourne Cup in 1870 but in this book, the title applies to its jockey, Johnny Day. Four years before Day won the famous horse race, he was the 1866 world champion in Pedestrianism as it was known, or race walking. Pedestrianism swept the globe and was not solely based on speed, but endurance and strength. As a ten-year-old, Day beat much older men who walked with such encumbrances as a goat around their shoulders to demonstrate their strength and to attract wagers. Just like the Melbourne Cup, crowds of onlookers and gambling accompanied the sport.

Johnny Day’s father was his son’s promoter who took him to England for the world championships—retaining the winnings.

The novel is clearly based on many well researched facts but Drewe invents a story of what became of Day after his famous racing win. Wikipedia has Day racing until 1877, when he had a bad fall at Yarrawonga—dying in Inglewood in 1885, aged 29. Drewe told an audience at the Byron Writers Festival in August this year, that his own research into what became of Day proved fruitless and so he invented this story.

Historical figures who frequented Melbourne in the era appear in book with convincing detail, such as imagined letters and newspaper reports. Prince Alfred who attended horseracing events and was reported to frequent various notorious hotels, brothels, and gaming rooms in Melbourne, is a key figure in an incident that Drewe invents to set Day on the run to a new life in Western Australia. Other well-known figures in the book include poet Adam Lindsay Gordon, actress and dancer Lola Montez, and writer Anthony Trollope.

The chapters are generally written in the third person, but several about Johnny Day are in his own voice. I was particularly attracted to the chapters in which he interacts with Clara, a young teacher. Without all the clumsy awkwardness of The Sentimental Bloke, there was a shyness in those chapters that was captured beautifully by Drewe.

Nimblefoot is a ripping yarn of adventure, escape, violence, romance, intrigue, corruption, and luck. It’s a great book and would make a terrific Christmas gift for any reader.

5/5

That's another full year of reviews by Jenny all wrapped up!

Head to Jenny's web page at www.rtrl.nsw.gov.au/book-reviews-with-jenny-dowell to read all her reviews from the past year, and follow the links to reserve the books.

As always, we thank Jenny so, so much for taking the time to review books for this newsletter. Your words are always thought-provoking and eloquent. Looking forward to more in 2023!

Reserve your copy of the book on the library catalogue now!

RESERVE YOUR COPY HERE