Robertson Street Library

29/03/2025

Last night at the Sydney 2025 Room to Read Gala we were generously gifted a copy of 'Two Homes in Omar's Heart', a children's book by Ibtisam Barakat and illustrated by Melquea Smith. It tells the story of Omar, an immigrant Palestinian child, making his first friendships in a new country and a new home.

Room to Read is a global non-profit organisation working to transform the lives of millions of children throughout Asia and Africa by improving literacy and gender equality in education. They are recognised as one of the most effective and fiscally responsible organisations in global education.

Worldwide 250 million children, almost 40% of all primary school-age children, are not learning basic skills like reading and writing. The world’s poorest children are also four times less likely to be in primary school, as compared to those in world’s richest countries.

'Two Homes in Omar's Heart' arrives in the Robertson Street Library today. Learn more about out Room to Read Australia here: https://www.roomtoread.org/regional-offices/sydney/

10/11/2024

Thank you to the generous reader who left a complete set of Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Novels in the street library! Book 1 in the series, My Brilliant Friend, translated from the Italian by Ann Goldstein, was recently voted the Best Book of the 21st century by the New York Times. Be quick!

My Brilliant Friend tells the story of Elena and Lila, and begins in the 1950s in a poor but vibrant neighbourhood on the outskirts of Naples. Growing up on these tough streets the two girls learn to rely on each other ahead of anyone or anything else, as their friendship, beautifully and meticulously rendered, becomes a not-always-perfect shelter from hardship.

A memorable portrait of two women, My Brilliant Friend is also the story of a nation. Through the lives of Elena and Lila, Ferrante gives her readers the story of a city and a country undergoing momentous change.

18/09/2024

Our street library is back! With a new face and in a new place - outside the CTC Robertson on Hoddle Street. Please make it feel welcome by stopping by to take a book, give a book, or share a book.

“The thing about Street Libraries is their openness, their democratic nature”
Tim Winton - Street Library Patron

18/06/2024

In case you're wondering... Our street library has not been stolen!

It's being refurbished by the clever and generous people at Robertson Men's and Women's Shed 👏. In a couple of weeks it will have a fresh face and a BRAND NEW HOME across the street, outside the CTC Robertson 🙏. We can't wait to see you there soon!

06/12/2023

The street library is jam-packed with new reads!

13/06/2023

Some great titles arrived in the library today. Be quick!

07/11/2022

One of our first featured authors and honorary Robertsonian, Maryam Master, Author, has been shortlisted for the 2022 Prime Minister's Literary Awards for her 'witty, vibrant and achingly beautiful' middle grade book, Exit From the Gift Shop.

Congratulations Maryam and best of luck!

22/06/2022

Our Robbo writers are soaring!

Treat yourself to this article from The Guardian written by local Michelle Haines Thomas Journalist celebrating fellow local and prize-winning poet Peter Ramm.

Robertson might be tiny but for poet and schoolteacher Peter Ramm, it is the secret weapon that helped him win the UK’s biggest prize for unpublished poetry

27/05/2022

He's done it! Robertson local Peter Ramm has won The Manchester Poetry Prize! Congratulations Pete, what a huge achievement!

Pete’s collection of poems Landfall was praised by judges for 'luxuriating in the musicality of the language” and for the “richness and beauty portrayed'.

'We were impressed with the poet’s ambitiousness and confidence, and seduced by the opening lines. We felt that this was contemporary poetry at its best.'

As Pete said in his speech, 'Writing, and poetry in particular, is not an easy road to tread. There are many rejections, little acclaim, and almost no income, but we are a stubborn bunch us poets; who seek to not only observe our own lives, but also to honour language, and let it unlock so much more than an ordinary existence.'

Look out for Pete’s debut full length poetry collection Waterlines to be released later in 2022 with Vagabond Press. The elegant cover art is by his wife, Ashley Ramm. A true Robbo collaboration!
https://www.mmu.ac.uk/writingcompetition/news/story/?id=15131

23/05/2022

Congratulations to Robertson's own Peter Ramm who has shortlisted in the UK’s richest prize for unpublished poems, The Manchester Poetry Prize. Best of luck, Pete!

Two shortlists have been revealed which make up the Manchester Writing Competition 2021, the UK’s biggest awards for unpublished writing

09/03/2022

Our Robbo Street Library is a tough little thing! Despite this week's deluge, all the books inside have stayed dry. New titles added today including:

📚 When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi, an incredibly moving memoir about his life and illness, and a New York Times bestseller.

📚 Lilian's Story by Kate Grenville, first published in 1985 and hailed as a masterpiece, loosely based on the life story of famous Sydney eccentric, Bea Miles.

📚 The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone by Jaclyn Moriarty, a high-spirited fantasy adventure novel for middle grade readers.

Plus titles by George Orwell, Ian McEwan, Geraldine Brooks, Bruce Pascoe, Liane Moriarty, Jonathan Franzen, Teju Cole, Eimear McBride, Morris Gleitzman, and many more!