Tipperarania Book Fair - 24th Edition - out soon!

The 24th Annual Tipperariana Book Fair will take place as usual on the second Sunday in February (Sunday 10), 2019, in the Fethard Ballroom starting at 2pm.

The Fethard Historical Society- organisers of the fair - are planning to ensure that this year’s Book Fair is another successful event for the society and the town.

It is noteworthy that the town of Fethard - known for its town wall, horses, football and carnival, is now also associated with books through its connection for the past twenty-four years running the annual Tipperariana Book Fair.

What started out then as an idea to generate income for the recently formed Historical Society, soon became somewhat of an ‘institution’ for people from all over County Tipperary who have an interest in books and local history.

The fair has not changed at all in its twenty-four years as it seems to work successfully under its present format. The idea is quite simple; over thirty antiquarian and second-hand book dealers from all over Ireland set up stall for the day and the Historical Society also have their own stall, which is stocked with books donated by supporters of the Book Fair. There is also an in-house café operating during the fair and a piano player wafts the punters from his perch on the stage. It all just seems to work and every year hundreds of people from all over the county and beyond come to Fethard for the day.

From year one also it has been the tradition to invite authors of Tipperary books published in the preceding year to come to the Fair to promote, sell and sign their books. This has since proved to be an attractive feature of the day. This practice then led on to the idea of holding a Tipperariana Book of the Year Award, which is now an established part of the Tipperary book scene and the 2018 winner will be announced by the fair organisers before the end of January.

Anyone wishing to support the Book Fair and in turn to help the work of the Historical Society can help in several ways. Firstly, books can be donated to the society for sale on the day and these will be collected from your home if you so wish. There is also help needed on the days leading up to the fair, sorting and classifying books and manning the society stall at the book fair.

Of course, another great way to help is to use your social media platform to spread the word about the fair, as our usual large ‘mailing list’ had to be curtailed this year due to the high cost of postage.

For further information contact can be made by email: bookfair@fethard.com or by phoning 087 9305232, or 087 9009722. Information is also available at: www. tipperariana.com