Ballarat Libraries

06/09/2026

🎉Bookings are now open for our Spring School Holiday Program!🎉

Find our complete list of programs, including drop-in sessions, in our program flyer. Pick up a copy at your local library or read it online now: https://libraries.ballarat.vic.gov.au/school-holidays

06/09/2026

📚Book recommendation: Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer📚

A Young Adult romance book that follows two lost teenagers as they navigate the world.

Juliet Young is left dealing with the loss of her mother seemingly alone, leaving notes at her grave as a way to cope. Until one day someone responds to one of her letters. Outraged, she responds back. How dare they impose on something so private! The mystery writer responds and their communication grows as she realises maybe this mystery writer is not as bad as he seems...

It's feel-good book with themes of hidden identity and grief. Perfect coming-of-age book.

– Amber, our industry placement student

Letters to the Lost is available as an ebook from BorrowBox.

03/09/2026

Just five sleeps until our Author Talk with Tess Woods! 🥳

We’re so excited to be presenting award-winning and best-selling contemporary fiction author Tess Woods who will be discussing The Cairo Bridal Shop, her highly anticipated new novel.

📖Nestled at the bustling foot of the pyramids lies the iconic Albi Bridal Boutique, where three sisters are about to break the shackles of tradition to fight for their futures…📖

Presented in partnership with Collins Booksellers Ballarat on Lydiard and Penguin Random House Australia.

📅Tuesday 8 September

⏰10.30am

📍Ballarat Library

🎟Book now: https://events.humanitix.com/author-talk-tess-woods

03/09/2026

Did you know City of Ballarat Community Hubs host a variety of free and low-cost programs like this Screen Printing workshop?

📍Vickers Street Community Hub
📅 Friday 4 September, 10am-12pm
Cost: $15 per person

🎫 Bookings: https://events.humanitix.com/screen-printing-vickers-street-community-hub

🎨 Create your own screen-printed tea towel!

Join local artist Jessica Schroeter for a hands-on creative workshop where you’ll transform an original artwork into a vibrant, lasting print on high-quality fabric. Each tea towel is individually hand-printed, making every piece completely unique.

Bring along your own sketches for inspiration or choose from one of the facilitator’s designs.

Please bring an apron and wear closed-toe shoes.

📍Vickers Street Community
📅 Friday 4 September, 10am
Cost: $15 per person

🎫 Bookings:
https://events.humanitix.com/screen-printing-vickers-street-community-hub

01/09/2026

Who says bookish dress-ups are just for kids? Manly medics, brazen billionaires, virile Vikings… our large-print romance collection will leave you breathless!🔥🪭 Which Mills & Boon trope are you reading?

31/08/2026

Curious about our Maker Space tech? To celebrate Adult Learners Week (1 - 8 September), we are bringing our creative technologies out on display for everyone to discover, play and create with. Our Maker Space team will be on hand to demonstrate the 3D printer and scanner, Cricut machines, badge maker and virtual reality headsets.

📅 Tuesday 1 September and Thursday 3 September

⏰ 10am-12pm

📍 Ballarat Library

🎟️ No bookings required

31/08/2026

✨ This Friday: Blak & Bright Writers Festival at Ballarat Library ✨

Brooke Blurton, Zac James and Julie Janson examine the ways memory shapes identity, relationships and belonging, considering what we inherit from previous generations and what we choose to pass on. Chaired by Claire G. Coleman.

📅 Friday 4 September
⏰ 6.30pm
📍 Ballarat Library
🎟️ Book now: https://events.humanitix.com/bbwf26-the-memory-tense

30/08/2026

It’s absolute chaos at Wendouree Library this week, with more Pets of Ballarat Libraries popping by!

Who would you most like to visit the library with?

29/08/2026

We’ve had so much fun celebrating a Symphony of Stories for CBCA Children’s Book Week! Thanks to all who joined in the dress up and storytelling fun.

The Children's Book Council of Australia

28/08/2026

Bookmark of the week 🔖

What a find! A pressed fern was found between the pages of a book (History of Australasia by D. Blair) at Ballarat Research Hub at Eureka.

The book was originally gifted to Robert Clark from his son. Yes, that’s the Robert Clark that the Conservatory at Ballarat Botanical Gardens was named after! It was built in his honour as part of the two million dollar bequest of his grandson Bob Clark. Could the fern we found be from these same gardens? Pressing ferns was quite the craze during Victorian times!

For more on our Australian Research Collection, visit BRHAE: https://eurekacentreballarat.com.au/research/ -research