The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery turns 100 years old this year!
Nimbus will be republishing it with a brand new cover illustrated by Dartmouthian Briana Corr Scott, June 16th. We will be joining author Sarah Emsley in reading it this summer. Pre-orders can be made at the counter, if you wish to join in.
Online Facebook Spotlights and In-store Events for 2026
- Wednesday, June 3rd- Monthly Book Swap- Come by, meet and mingle, and then share and swap your favourite used books! Bring in a wrapped, gently used book that you are willing to part with and that you know someone else will enjoy! Write a few things that you liked about the book on the front. We will draw numbers and take turns discussing our books without revealing the titles. Then each person will choose a book in the order they were presented. A book can be stolen only once.
- Thursday, June 11th- 6:30-7:30pm- Blind Date With a Book Speed Dating Night with special guest donalee Moulton. For our Speed Dating event, Blind Date books use their first line(s) as their “pick-up” lines, so donalee will be here to tell us all about first lines: how she came up with her first line and their importance. She’ll also discuss her novels. There will be games and lots of laughter. Everyone gets one of these, never seen before, specially made, high-demand Blind Dates. Dress to impress. This is an adult event. A $12.60 fee- pre-registration is required for this event to monitor numbers. You can register at the store, by phone with a credit card at 902-435-1207, or by e-transfer to dbex1187@gmail.com.
- Sunday, June 14th- 3pm-5pm- Vernon Oickle’s Eleven Crows for Good Health book launch, published by Moose House Publishing.
- Wednesday, June 17th- 6:30 pm-7:30 pm- Locally Authored Book Club with guest author Vicki Grant. See the bottom of this page about our one-of-a-kind book club.
- Sunday, June 21st, 3pm– Loose Ends by Frankie Nobles Book Launch
- Monday, July 6th- 12th– Online Spotlight Acadian Shorelines by Pat d’Entremont
- Saturday, July 11, 7pm. Between the Lines: An Evening In conversation with Donna Jones Alward (When the World Fell Silent & Ship of Dreams) and Sarah Emsley (The Austens) at Scott Manor House, Bedford. $20 per ticket with proceeds going to Scott Manor House. Space is limited. Register at https://tinyurl.com/SMHevent
- Saturday, July 18th- 6 pm Jane Doucet’s Blood Typed Dartmouth Book Launch
- Thursday, October 8th- 6:30-7:30pm- Blind Date With a Book Speed Dating Night with special guest Michelle Hébert. For our Speed Dating event, Blind Date books use their first line(s) as their “pick-up” lines, so Michelle will be here to tell us all about first lines: how she came up with her first line and their importance. She’ll also discuss her novel, Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic. There will be games and lots of laughter. Everyone gets one of these, never seen before, specially made, high-demand Blind Dates. Dress to impress. This is an adult event. A $12.60 fee- pre-registration is required for this event to monitor numbers. You can register at the store, by phone with a credit card at 902-435-1207, or by e-transfer to dbex1187@gmail.com.
We are currently limiting all our in-store author or book-themed events to:
- Already well-known, established authors that we know will draw a crowd and be of interest to our local customers.
- Or to group, and themed events, where we host several authors at once.
- Or to community groups that are interested in us hosting a particular author or themed event for their group to attend.
We do offer week-long online spotlights and book giveaways for local authors
What a Spotlight entails:
What a spotlight entails is for a week (Monday- Sunday) we do posts on our Facebook page promoting the author and book. At the end of the week, we give away a copy of the book spotlighted, provided by either the author or the publisher. The authors, in advance, provide us with any interviews, reviews, or special posts about their book or of them, that we can share. The more the author/publisher provides the more that we can post.
Dartmouth Book Exchange Events Group
Authors, bloggers, aspiring authors, reviewers, publishers, editors, professional storytellers, and other supporters of local authors are more than welcome to join our Book Events group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/899347560587433
***If you are a Local Author/ Publisher interested in having an online spotlight done on our social media pages, please contact us on our contact page. Thank-you
Our Locally Authored Book Club Exchange
We generally meet on the third Wednesday of the month from 6:30pm to 7:30pm.
• Each participant will bring a locally authored novel that they have recently read and can part with. Locally authored will be defined as an author living within the Atlantic Bubble.
• During the meeting, each person will take a turn telling everyone what they liked about the book they brought and why the others should read it.
• Each book will go into a basket and at the end of the meeting, if a book sparked your interest, you’ll be able to take it home to read.
• If there is more than one person interested in reading the book, it will be brought back to the next meeting, for another person’s turn.
• We may even host an author occasionally, and Dartmouth Book Exchange may even seed the basket once in a while.
• All are welcome to come and listen during the meetings, but only the people who brought a book will be guaranteed to leave with a book.
Our Book Club aims to promote local authors, their books, and the writing of reviews. #supportlocalauthors
Meeting space
***If you are looking for a meeting place for your small group of 10 people or less, such as your book club group, we have a space. We charge a small $25 set-up and take-down fee for a 2-hour meeting, but should your group spend that or more in our store, the fee is waiv
