Track 13: Independent Booksellers

On the wall we have portraits of booksellers. Many of the faces may be familiar to you. One of the faces missing is Kris Hemensley, from Collected Works Bookshop, an Australian institution. This home of ideas and poetry was born in 1984 as a venture of the Small Publishers Collective. What started as an employment project training people in the skills of book production became one of our most important literary sites – a place where lovers of literature can congregate and where this community can grow.

For almost ten years the bookshop existed as a collective, with over 30 people on the roster, including Robert Kenny (who had the initial idea for the bookshop), Jurate Sasnaitis, Nan McNab, Des Cowley and Pete Spence. But what began as a venture to promote and sell the work of Australian small presses evolved into a place where the best literature in the world can be found.

The place has the allegiance of scores of local writers and a great many international stars too. Seamus Heaney, Patti Smith, Barry Humphries and Clive James have all browsed its shelves, and Thurston Moore (from punk-rock band Sonic Youth) has visited on a couple of occasions to find those New York publications he can no longer find in New York.

By about 1992 the collective had begun to dissolve, leaving Kris and Retta Hemensley, and Cathy O'Brien. Now Kris and Retta's faces are those you'll see behind the counter as Collected Works celebrates its 25th year. But how can a bookshop specialising in poetry continue to exist in this day and age? Kris thinks it's a miracle. He says:

We're quite a niche. And in spite of my non-existent business skills we're protected commercially because we're not a business. It's an irony. The niche itself is a defence; it's a positive. In business terms it's an absolute folly, because we exist to promote poetry rather than sell poetry. Maybe our own business ineptitude will save us.

I hope you have enjoyed this tour and if you are interested in seeing more examples of literature, you can visit the Library's free exhibition Mirror of the World: books and ideas, upstairs in the Dome Galleries on level four. And, I hope you'll join me at The Book Show on ABC Radio National and online at abc.net.au/rn/bookshow for even more exploration of the wonderful world of books and writing.