3 women run bookish businesses you should know about
Meet the women behind three brilliant Aussie bookish businesses you need to check out!
In the last few months I’ve met some brilliant women who’ve started bookish businesses and I think you should know about them. From selling book merch to book boxes and organising amazing events in their cities, here are some inspirational women who might just have something delightfully bookish that you’ve been looking for.
Meet Renee Tam, Owner and Host of Bookish Bandits
A&U: Tell us about your business.
RT: The Bookish Bandits book club is an online and in-person book club that champions Australian fiction and gives readers a more connected, engaging experience than simply reading a book and moving on. We feature two new-release titles each month, then come together for an online group yap session to share our thoughts and theories, followed by a separate Q&A with our featured author to discuss the book in detail. Spoilers and all!
We focus exclusively on supporting Australian authors, emerging voices and the broader local publishing industry. Celebrity book clubs and social media already do a fantastic job of helping international authors and popular titles reach wider audiences, and our incredible local talent deserves the same visibility and support. What better community to champion our homegrown voices than book lovers who can deeply resonate with these stories?
A&U: How did you come up with the idea?
RT: I love attending author events and have met many incredible Aussie authors through them. Living in Sydney makes this easy, but the more I posted about attending these events, the more comments I received from fellow book lovers wishing they lived closer to Sydney or that authors could come to their towns. This sparked the idea of creating a community that bridged the gap between reader and author, going beyond surface-level conversations and removing the constraints of travel and location.
A&U: What do you love about being part of the bookish community?
RT: I have been part of the Bookstagram community for six years, and it's always felt like a place where I can be myself and share the joy of reading with others. I love how inclusive and supportive the book community is, especially of small businesses. I've made so many great friends through reading, and I always have a five-star book recommendation ready. I also love how approachable and kind the Aussie author community is. They always show up for one another and genuinely try to get to know their readers. This is why supporting them in any way I can feel right to me.
A&U: What are you reading and loving right now?
RT: I just finished The Cruise by Naima Brown, and I absolutely loved it. Anything with morally grey female characters is a yes from me! I switched between the physical book and the audiobook because I was so locked in. I have to say, the audiobook production with a full cast is fantastic.
Next up for me is Match Fit by Leesa Ronald, which is one of our December features. I'm also hoping to read Our Dark Unravelling by Margot McGovern, a YA gothic horror about manipulation, grief, and ghosts. Spooky season is in the air, after all!
-
Meet Sarah Noonan, Chief Book Bestie from Bookish Besties Darwin
A&U: Tell us about your business.
SN: Book Besties Darwin is a book club and lifestyle brand that focuses on celebrating and enhancing the entire reading experience for book lovers. I design and sell everything from accessories for e-readers, reading lights and even stickers that celebrate all kinds of readers.
A&U: How did you come up with the idea?
SN: It was purely a selfish idea - I was on the waitlisted at a local book club but couldn’t get it so I decided to start my own. I’m really passionate about supporting local so we rotate through local venues rather than having one ‘home’ and this allows people to find new venues across the region. After a few months people wanted merch so I started with one cap style. Then I caught the bug of product development and the rest is history. Once I started the lifestyle brand side I couldn’t stop, I continually come up with new ideas and designs that I believe enhance reading for people so I just can’t help myself!
A&U: What do you love about being part of the bookish community?
SN: Something I’ve found is that bookish people are so open and accepting of all kinds of people. We are all so so different but reading unites us. It’s a special community to be apart of.
A&U: What are you reading and loving right now?
SN: Right now, I’m reading Zoe Foster Blakes newbie Group Chat - my happy place is reading about friendship. It just gives me all the warm and fuzzies for my female friendships. I’m also reading Daggermouth by H.M.Wolfe after so many besties recommended it to me. It’s a fantasy unlike anything I’ve read and I am only 150 pages in! HOOKED!!
-
Meet Annabel Walsh, Owner of Bound & Co
A&U: Tell us about your business.
AW: Bound & Co creates bookish experiences designed to bring readers together in real life, while also giving them the chance to connect with the authors behind the books they love. We run everything from bookstore crawls and author dinners to trivia nights, creative events and multi-day reading retreats, often working with authors to make them part of the experience in ways that go beyond the traditional author talk or signing.
A big part of what we do is making our events genuinely welcoming for people coming on their own. So many adults of any age want to meet new people and make friends, but walking into an event alone can be intimidating. We take some of that pressure away by making introductions, creating opportunities for easy conversation and designing events where you can participate as much or as little as you like. I like to say books bring us together, but it’s the experience and opportunity for connection that make Bound & Co special.
A&U: How did you come up with the idea?
AW: The idea really started after I attended my first book event for author Louisa Carmody. I remember looking around at this room full of people who clearly loved books as much as I did and thinking there should be more ways for readers to actually meet and connect with each other. There were traditional book clubs and author events at bookstores and libraries, but I felt there was space for something in between - experiences built around books that were also social, creative and a little bit different. Our first event was a bookstore crawl through Paddington in April 2025, and Bound & Co has grown from there.
Though the idea for women’s reading retreats was sparked by me trying (and failing!) to organise a weekend away with my bestie that was purely for reading. She has two kids, and finding a weekend that actually worked felt almost impossible. We started talking about how surely this was a problem for a lot of women, and surely we weren’t the only ones who wanted a weekend where you could just get away, switch off and read. And then we thought… SURELY we had something here.
A&U: What do you love about being part of the bookish community?
AW: I love how enthusiastic readers are. We will happily talk for an unreasonable amount of time about fictional people, passionately recommend books to complete strangers and immediately bond with someone because they loved the same book or genre we did.
But my favourite part has been watching those bookish connections turn into actual friendships. I’ve seen people meet at a Bound & Co event and then return to another event together, organise their own catch-ups or go from arriving alone to suddenly having a whole group of bookish friends. I've seen guests inspired by those they meet to start their own content creating, posting their thoughts and having a new creative outlet for something they love. Seeing that happen is incredibly special!
I love that no matter what you read, where you’re from or what stage of life you’re in, you will find a space in this community that you can belong in person or virtually.
A&U: What are you reading and loving right now?
AW: Actually, two Allen & Unwin books! I swear I am not brown-nosing!!
Pillar of Ink by Claire Benson. As a lover of tattoos this epic fantasy where magic is bound with tattoos has been high on my list of TBR's.
The Shifting Fog by Kate Morton. Kate is my favourite author of all time and yet someone I actually haven't read in years!
I am also listening to The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter, it may be a little too gory for me though... so I am not sure I will finish. UT MOE
Comments