Adele Walsh
Adele Walsh
Library Leader & Reader Advocate

Library leader. Reader advocate. Twenty years thinking about how reading happens in people’s lives, and what gets in the way.

“One of Australia’s most passionate advocates for young people and their literature.”

I'm a senior library leader based in Adelaide. Lead Coordinator, Library Strategy - City of Charles Sturt, Adelaide.

My work is about how reading happens in people's lives, particularly for people who feel like reading was never really meant for them. I'm interested in reader discovery, format flexibility, and the quiet conditions that let reading take hold.

“She is the kind of person who forms the glue that holds together diverse teams and people in a workplace.”

A few rooms I've been in…

 

About Adele

I've spent more than twenty years trying to understand why some people love reading and others feel like it was never meant for them.

I'm currently Lead Coordinator Library Strategy at the City of Charles Sturt Library Service in Adelaide, where I work on practical, community-centred approaches to public library strategy and service.

Before that I spent years at State Library Victoria as Program Manager of the Centre for Youth Literature — running the Inky Awards, the biennial Reading Matters conference, and Inside a Dog, the national teen reading platform. I've also held roles at La Trobe University Library and State Library Victoria's library sector engagement team.

I've written about reading culture for Meanjin and Books+Publishing, and spent years as one of Australia's first dedicated YA bloggers at Persnickety Snark. I co-host the Bridgerton podcast What Would Danbury Do? with Kate Cuthbert.

I'm based in Adelaide. Views my own.

If any of this overlaps with something you're working on, I'd love to hear from you.

Available for speaking, workshops and facilitation on reading culture, reader development and public library strategy.

LinkedIn

 

Writing & Talks

Selected writing, events and conversations.

Writing

Talks & Events

  • Reading Matters conference — State Library Victoria

  • Inky Awards — State Library Victoria

  • Sydney Writers' Festival

  • Melbourne Writers' Festival

  • Perth Writers Festival

  • Bendigo Writers Festival

Podcasts

 

What I’m Thinking About Right Now

How reading happens outside libraries - in the spaces between programs, without funding, without anyone officially making it happen. What conditions actually let reading take hold in people's lives? And why do so many adults feel like reading was never really meant for them?