Doors open at 9am on Friday and will run to Sunday 21 March at the Illawarra Sports Stadium at Berkeley. One of the key attractions this year is it will be the biggest collection of well-loved children's books ever seen at the event.

A great range of rare and collectable books will be on display in the 'Something Special' section, as well as thousands of other best-selling novels that are up for grabs starting from $3.

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The major fundraising event comes as the service grapples with the highest number of calls to Lifeline's 24-hour crisis support line in its 50-year history.

Lifeline South Coast CEO Renee Green said of the 10 busiest days ever recorded by Lifeline, five were last month.

"Across Australia, Lifeline is regularly taking over 3000 calls a day-and in February we had five of the busiest days for calls ever," she said.

"In our Wollongong and Nowra centres, we responded to 2744 calls last month-that's a 30 per cent increase on the same time last year.

"So, while life is getting a bit more back to normal, there's still significant numbers in the community who are struggling and fortunately reaching out for help."

Every bag of books purchased at the event, can change a life by helping fund a call.

It costs the organisation $25 to answer one call on its 13 11 14 crisis support line, making book sales a purchase with a purpose.

The Book Fair is open:

The Big Book Fair is held at the Illawarra Sports Stadium in Berkeley, near Fred Finch Park. Entry is by small donation either coin or payWave.

All proceeds go directly to our local 13 11 14 crisis support and suicide prevention service in the Illawarra and South Coast.

For more information, visit: https://lifelinesouthcoast.org.au/

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