Can books change lives? The University of Queensland's UQ Alumni Book Fair has been proving that they can since it was first established in 1979 by UQ's Alumni Friends volunteer group. The idea is simple: our community donates their unwanted second-hand books, and we sell them on at an annual book fair, with all proceeds going towards much-needed student scholarships, and to helping our world-leading researchers and educators at UQ do their great work. But the reality of bringing this major event together every year, and the extraordinary history and dedicated volunteers behind it, are a much bigger and more inspiring story.