Supporting our Community
University Book shop advocates for literary pursuits and arts in the city, supporting book awards and festivals, book launches and more.
As a proudly independent and locally owned bookshop, giving back to our community is a critical part of what we do.
We support reading and literacy in the wider Otago region:
Key sponsorship
- We gift a book to every Otago newborn through the Books for Babies programme with Dunedin Public Libraries and supported by Friends of the Library
- We also support the popular Summer Reading Programme for children through Dunedin Public Libraries
- We donate books and vouchers to many Otago kindergarten and pre-schools, primary and secondary schools, student clubs and community organisations
- We are founding sponsor of the bi-annual Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival helping bring a range of authors and book-related events to Dunedin
- We provide many University of Otago Class Prizes, for first-in-class
- We donate several thousand dollars in book vouchers annually to schools for quiz night and school fair fundraisers
Summer Writer in Residence (in association with the Robert Lord Writers Cottage Trust)
In 2016 University Book Shop had great pleasure awarding our inaugural Emerging Writer in Residence to Hannah Bulloch. This annual residency opens for applications each year from July 20-August 20. It mirrors the University of Otago Summer School in early January-mid February.