Books are a lot of things to a lot of people, from sources of knowledge, to the greatest escapes, from the mundane into a world of fantasy and excitement. In school I loathed textbooks, I didn’t want to stare at pages and pages of numbers and graphs. I much preferred to escape reality into a world of adventure, mostly of the crude-comedic nature. How else could you experience an invasion of Zombie bottoms from Uranus but within the pages of an excellent book and no, it didn’t stink, as humorously ironic as that would be. That oddity of a series of books for me represents a great time in my life, various memories of summer schoolyard days of old, intricately interwoven with my memories of the tale inscribed on each of its pages as I read and re-read the series through my younger years.

Reading educates, inspires and cultivates the imagination and is just as important for adults as children, albeit sans walking zombie buttocks post teenage years. This September, you can indulge yourself at the Kawana Waters’ Community Centre Book Fair while helping to fund Lifeline, one of our society’s most important public charity services.

Lifeline is a crisis support and suicide prevention service that is entirely non-for-profit. This invaluable organisation does everything it can, from suicide hotlines, to substance abuse and addiction support. They do this through a twenty-four hour hotline service, putting those struggling in touch with people in a position not only to listen, but to offer advice and steer them in the direction of the help they need. They also provide an online chat service, a free directory for local health and community services, mental health resources, youth services, gambling addiction services, disability services, school based education programs and so much more. Lifeline was founded in 1963 by the late Reverend Dr Sir Alan Walker, when he took a call from a distressed man who later took his own life. Determined not to let isolation and lack of support be the cause of more deaths, Sir Alan launched a 24-hour crisis support line. This service (13 11 14) now answers around 1,800 calls each day, with around 50 calls from people at high risk of suicide. Lifeline’s services are now made possible through the efforts of around 1,000 staff and 11,000 volunteers, operating from over 60 locations nationwide.

Book Fairs are amazing places. People milling around, reading, chatting, laughing, reminiscing and all just because this shared laugh of literature has brought them together, given them something to bond over. There is a strange connection built between people when you offer a recommendation to another reader for your favourite book and it strikes them just as it did you. You are both bonded by that shared experience that can only occur in such places. So this September, from the 18^th to 20^th make your way down to the Kawana Waters Community Centre on Sportsmans Parade and pick up a brand new adventure to cherish for the rest of your life. With over 10,000 books set to go on sale there’s something for everyone, with a vast array of mystery, fantasy, humour, crime, romance and all matter of fact and fictitious paperback creations.