In Our Languages: Readings, Performance, Music - Lost in Books: A multi-lingual pop-up bookstore and festival within a festival

Lincoln Square in Carlton comes alive on Saturday 7 November between 11 and 1 with multilingual writers exploding the myth of English language being the only game in town for Melbourne's writers and readers alike. Listen to writers read across English and Italian, Urdu, Bahasa Indonesia, Spanish, Persian etc etc all accompanied by the ethereal sounds of the qanun, a string instrument that originated in ancient Mesopotamia. Come to hear languages you love, live in, or have never heard before spoken and sung.

Please register each adult and child attending separately, selecting the appropriate ticket type. Places are limited to 30 children.

Lost in Books: A multi-lingual pop-up bookstore and festival within a festival

Discover Melbourne as a richly multilingual city, with languages, stories and literary traditions from around the world. Lost in Books, a mobile bookshop caravan, will pop up on the University of Melbourne campus and then in Carlton offering multilingual reading, browsing and conversation, with books available to explore and buy.

This is a family-friendly space, with plenty of things for kids to do, and is for everyone who wants to connect, create and converse. Read from your favourite multilingual work (or your own!) at our special open mic event. Visit us during the day to browse our thrilling selection of multilingual books and share your stories to one of our programmed events, including a multilingual writing workshop open to all, a multilingual book-making workshop for kids facilitated by a multilingual storyteller and a featured author talk.

What to expect: 

A multilingual mobile bookshop caravan located at the University of Melbourne’s Parkville campus from 5–6 November and then at Lincoln Square, Carlton, from 7–8 November.

Being Human 2026 

This project was produced in collaboration with the 2026 Being Human Festival. Founded in the UK as the only national festival of the humanities, Being Human is now a global celebration dedicated to demonstrating the breadth, diversity and vitality of the humanities. 

View the full Festival program here. 

Image: Benjamin Tiger La, My Tiger Productions

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