Summary: The Welsh village Hay-on-Wye is usually credited with being the first book town and it has certainly directly inspired many imitators around the world over the past 40 years. This presentation will review the growth of the book town movement both internationally and in Australia, discuss the factors that seem key to success or failure, and the prospects for the future of book towns in a digital age of e-books, print-on-demand and Google Book Search. Paul McShane was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 2002 to visit and study 15 book towns around the world. He is the Convenor of BookTown Australia and was a founder of Australia's first formal Book Town project in the NSW Southern Highlands in 1999. Paul created the BOOKtrail concept in the Southern Highlands and is assisting others in Australia and worldwide to develop similar projects to promote their bookshops and the literary heritage of their regions.
